Book Review—Cinder by Marissa Meyer

A few weeks ago, I started reading the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I've been posting about this series on my Instagram a lot and fan-girling over it. My heart will forever belong to YA fantasy/dystonian/sci-fi novels, even though some of them have made me scream and cry and throw a fit because of how bad they are, but we're not going to talk about that.

Cinder has restored some of my love for these genres, so I thought it was only right to write a review on it. I finished reading Cinder about two weeks ago. In that time, I've gotten the other three main novels in the series and finished the second book—Scarlet. I say main novels because there are many other prequels/sequels. I'm not sure if I'm going to read those books or not. Right now I'm focusing on the main four—Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter.

I've been contemplating reading this series for a long time, but was a little skeptical. The premise always seemed interesting to me, but I was having trouble finding books that I liked and didn't want another let down. Each book in the series is based around a fairy tale which I love. Cinder is a twist on Cinderella of course, but is really nothing like the original story in my mind.

The book opens in a small market and we meet Cinder who is a mechanic and cyborg. The first time they described her as a cyborg, I was very intrigued and more interested in the story because I haven't come across many cyborgs in past books. It's an unusual choice for a hybrid creature, but as I got further into the story, it made sense and tied well with the futuristic/sci-fi themes of the book. I wasn't expecting a story inspired by a fairy tale to go this route, but I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it.

After the main character is introduced, we meet Prince Kai. Cinder has a little crush on him, though she doesn't like to admit it. She's not super feminine, which I like, but isn't overly masculine and still has girly characteristics which is something I love about her. The author didn't completely crush her femininity, which is often done to female leads in the fantasy/sci-fi genres. Cinder and Kai meet when Kai's android breaks and he needs Cinder to fix it because there is classified information on it.

This first scene is completely interrupted by screams of terror when a case of the plague, Letumosis, breaks out in the market, causing everyone to flee the scene.

I. LOVE. THIS.

I love the "plague" trope. It's one of my favorite tropes ever. "World in crisis because of an incurable disease." "Pandemic that's killed thousands." I don't know why, but stories with this plot line always stick with me. Letumosis has killed thousands of people in the Commonwealth and is the first major conflict introduced in the story.

After that, Cinder returns home. We get to meet her step-sisters and step-mother who are all preparing for the ball, and who are almost as nasty in this book as they are in the original. Cinder's one step-sister, Peony, and her are very close though. Peony and Cinder later go to a junkyard to look for a piece Cinder needs to fix the TV or something? It's not really important, but Peony ends up catching Letumosis while they're in the junkyard.

A group of people come to take her away to a quarantine and Cinder blames herself for getting Peony sick due to the breakout in the market earlier that day. They test Cinder for the plague, but she isn't carrying the disease.

Cinder's step-mother ends up sending her away to the royal palace to be used as a cyborg guinea pig to try to find a cure for Letumosis so Peony can live. We find out Cinder's immune to the plague and the doctor tries to figure out why she's immune and use her to create a cure.

While at the palace, of course things escalate between Kai and Cinder. This is where I started really getting into the story. I finished the last 150 pages in one night, but it was worth it. Lots of secrets are revealed. There's an evil queen named Levana who rules the planet Luna. The queen killed her own sister and niece in order to take over the throne. Luna and earth have been fighting for a long time and Queen Levana wants a marriage alliance with Prince Kai. While Kai wants to research the currently "dead" princess (Levana's niece) find her, and restore her to her rightful place on the throne before Levana starts a war with earth.

It all seems really complicated, but it's really good once you get into it, and it has some of my favorite tropes and a lot of new story lines I haven't seen before. Scarlet, which is the second book, is even better than the first in my opinion. Scarlet's character offers a lot to the story and she also has a fiery personality like Cinder. I'm currently 300 pages into the third book, Cress, and have heard that each book gets better and better, so I'm very excited.

The characters are great in this series. I like the new characters introduced in Scarlet, but I'm not the biggest fan of Cress in the third book. She's naive and doesn't have the same qualities as Cinder and Scarlet. Prince Kai is also not my favorite and is a little cliche. Everyone hates Levana and are supposed to, so no comment on her. She's 100% hateable.

The plot of the first book was a little predictable at points, but I actually liked that. I like plots that are more predictable, not predictable because they're cliche, but because the author has done a good job of foreshadowing and planting hints as to what's going to happen next. The end of the story gives you that sighing/feeling of satisfaction, but also makes you excited and ready to read the next books.

Thank you for reading this review! Have you read Cinder? What are your thoughts on the series and would you like to see more book reviews from me?

It’s been a pleasure writing for you and until next time—stay weird and stay writing. - Lexi