Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Dec 24, 2014 ☘KathyD☘ rated it really liked it

Shelves: genre-young-adult, genre-romance, genre-romance-series, book-kindle, audio-audible, pages-300-399, genre-fantasy, genre-fairy-retales, genre-sci-fi, zz-2016

What a cool book! I always enjoy seeing how different authors re-imagine fairy tales. Ms. Meyer did not disappoint. Some of the technical stuff got in the way of the story for me...and I really would have liked to see more develop between Cinder and Kai...but I certainly appreciate Cinder being a kick-ass young woman. She may be stuck between a rock and a hard place, but she finds ways to shine and push past the boundaries others put in her path. I look forward to seeing this story continue and ...more

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Feb 11, 2013 Amy Hayes rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I was so hesitant to start this series because it's sci-fi and that's not really a genre I enjoy, but I loved this book. I was fascinated by the story and some of the characters, Cinder, Iko, Peony, Kai and Dr. Erland. I loved to hate Adri and Queen Levana, which I'm sure was the intention. I can't wait to read Scarlet and I hope the characters from this book are in it. ...more

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Mar 27, 2017 Madge rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, young-adult

Full review on my blog.

Meh. I was excited about this for a long time, and a few times I almost bought the rest of the series because I was so sure I would love it. I’m glad I didn’t buy the rest before I read this one, because I’m not sure I’ll finish this series.

I was expecting more from this book. I didn’t have super high expectations, but this really let me down. I wanted more world building, and more culture, maybe more complex characters and less predictability.

Cinder was an ok character. I Full review on my blog.

Meh. I was excited about this for a long time, and a few times I almost bought the rest of the series because I was so sure I would love it. I’m glad I didn’t buy the rest before I read this one, because I’m not sure I’ll finish this series.

I was expecting more from this book. I didn’t have super high expectations, but this really let me down. I wanted more world building, and more culture, maybe more complex characters and less predictability.

Cinder was an ok character. I liked that she wasn’t a damsel in distress, and she got things done on her own instead of sitting around waiting for someone else to save her. She was a good character, and I feel like the “not a girly-girl” thing was done pretty well, but I feel like there was way too much emphasis on making her as human as possible.

Kai was actually not bad, which I liked. He wasn’t one of those creepy YA love interests who stalk or manipulate the heroine, and he seemed like an actual good guy. I wish we'd gotten to know more about him, though.

My favorite character was Iko, hands down. That little android, omg. I want a novella or something from her POV. One stepsister I loved, and that was not fair, ugh. The other was horrible and what you would expect if you know anything about Cinderella. Same goes for the stepmother. I wanted to shove both of them off a cliff. I feel like Levana was just a “bad guy” for the sake of being “bad.” She was pretty one-dimensional for me, and I didn’t really care at all about her or what she was doing.

New Beijing is described as being something of a melting pot of different cultures, and I think it was mentioned that there are cultures that don’t even exist anymore in Cinder’s world. I want to know more about that! I just want to see some culture. I mean, I’m white and American and I’ve never been to any other country, but this whole thing felt very white and like it could be set anywhere.

I just wanted more from this story. I don’t know why cyborgs are viewed as less than human, I don’t know anything about the laws and things that are cyborg specific, I don’t know much at all about the world and how people colonized the moon and why they’re so different from people down here. I don’t need the full history, but I’d like to not come out of a first book with more questions than answers. Nothing really surprised me in this book, either. I knew exactly how it was going to play out very early on.

It wasn't awful, but it's not something I loved, and I feel like it will be forgettable for me. ...more

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Oct 16, 2015 Shan ~A~ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, 1st-in-series, favorites, paranormal, aliens, completed-series-trilogy

I love retellings of classic fairy-tales and I think this is one of the most inventive that I have ever read. Cinder was amazing and I had a hard time putting it down, even though I wasn't surprised by the revelation of who Cinder is. I remember stopping at one point in excitement and asking my daughter (after explaining what was going on) did she agree with what I thought was happening. We were both right. I will definitely be reading the rest of this series.

...more

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Jan 02, 2014 Jessica rated it really liked it

Shelves: z-favourite-ya, z-read-in-2015, x-read-apoc-dyst, x-read-ya

Really enjoyable far-future earth retelling of Cinderella, with a cyborg mechanic and a Prince. Looking forward to the next in the series! Can't believe I waited so long to read it. My only wish is that the ending of this one was a little more complete-as-is. ...more

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