Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1) in Apocalypse Whenever

May 12, 2012 Kelly Roll rated it really liked it

I bit of a slow starter but I loved the conceit of having Cinder being a cyborg and, instead of the traditional glass slipper, we have a mechanical foot. I was also intrigued by the futuristic setting as well as the fact that it was not set in a European country but rather New Beijing. Meyer does an excellent job of describing what Cinder's city is like. She also did a fine job with the character of Cinder, Prince Kai and Dr. Erland. Some secondary characters are less well developed but even the ...more

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Dec 25, 2011 Tasha rated it really liked it

Shelves: scifi-fantasy, young-adult

Cinder lives in New Beijing, a future city over a hundred years after the Fourth World War. When she was eleven, Cinder received an operation following an accident which left her classed as a cyborg. She lives with her step-mother and step-sisters, earning her keep as a mechanic. Amidst a plague, thought to have originated from Luna, a moon colony, Cinder meets and gets to know Prince Kai, the future Emperor of the Commonwealth. Cinder longs to escape her life, to just be free to do as she pleas Cinder lives in New Beijing, a future city over a hundred years after the Fourth World War. When she was eleven, Cinder received an operation following an accident which left her classed as a cyborg. She lives with her step-mother and step-sisters, earning her keep as a mechanic. Amidst a plague, thought to have originated from Luna, a moon colony, Cinder meets and gets to know Prince Kai, the future Emperor of the Commonwealth. Cinder longs to escape her life, to just be free to do as she pleases, but she is caught up with doing her bit against the plague and the impending war with Luna.

When I first heard of this book I was a bit, "Eh, another retelling" - until I found out more about it. The whole scifi take on the concept made me intrigued to read. The author has developed an exciting future world, using the base of the Cinderella story to come up with an interesting concept for a story.

Cinder was a really likeable character, with just the right balance of gutsy and determined combined with a few flaws to make her realistic. As expected, Prince Kai draws you in right from the moment he appears in the story. Cinder's step-mother is only outshone in nastiness by Queen Levana of Luna, creating a great cast of characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, although, for me, it did have a few things that stopped it from being right up there with the best. One was that I felt like I wanted to know much more about the history and workings of the story world. As Cinder is part of a series, I'm hoping more of that will come in the later books.

As a re-telling of a classic fairy tale, it's probably to be expected that there needs to a be a big twist in the plot to keep the reader engaged and guessing what's going to happen. While there is a twist, I actually figured it out around page 40. Whether it it was really obvious, or whether that was just me, I can't say but I think I would have gotten much more out of the book if I'd been surprised by the reveal.

Still, Cinder is still a really good read and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series - especially as this one ended on a cliffhanger. ...more

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Dec 08, 2012 Samantha rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, ya, read-in-2012

Wish I could say I LOVED it but I did enjoy it. It is part of a series so the end is a bit of a cliff hanger, and if you don't like that kind of thing you might want to wait until the whole series is out.
I loved the characters of Cinder and Prince Kai.I really want to know what happens to them so I will be reading the rest of the series. I think my only problem was that the book was too predictable. I figured out most of the twists before they were revealed. I don't know if this is because of t ...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Jenni rated it it was amazing

Retellings of stories, especially ones I'm fond of, tend to worry me. Luckily Cinder by Marissa Meyer handled it beautifully. The story contains enough similarities to the heart of the original tale to leave any fan satisfied while melting it perfectly with a futuristic sci-fi infused world. ...more

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Feb 11, 2012 Malory rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, not-good, un-finished

So...I got this book because I heard it got great reviews, and I thought the plot sounded interesting. But quite frankly I found it just plain odd. I like books that have weird quirky characters but I just couldn't get into this book. I thought the setting was odd too, New Beijing? I didn't get too far in the book, maybe I'll try and pick it up again later but probably not. ...more

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