Genre: YA Dystopian
Published: January 3, 2012 by Feiwel & Friends
Series: #1 (Lunar Chronicles)
Length: 387 Pages
Source: bought (at Barnes & Noble)
“Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.”
What a fresh read! It is written in 1st person point of view of Cinder, our protagonist, and the book is divided into 3 (or 4 I think) parts. Not only is it a Cinderella re-telling, but she’s a cyborg! How cool is that? Not just a cyborg, but a KICK-ASS one! I also like how the story is set in New Beijing; for some reason I always end up reading ya books that are set in the U.S. . . weird. Anyways, although it is a “re-telling” of Cinderella, there are no mouse, carriage, or any sort of magic in Cinder. There IS an evil step-mother, sisters, and a prince charming which I kind of had trouble with. Prince Kai’s character was hard for me to understand especially how he constantly nags Cinder to go to the ball with him. It feels as if he was a desperate prince. Another part that I did not really like is that the book was a bit predictable especially when the series is called LUNAR CHRONICLES. EHEM LUNAR EHEM *COUGHS, GAGS, CHOKES*. That. Is. So. Obvious. When you’re reading, you’ll see, you’ll see.
Besides the evil stepmother, there’s another antagonist that is worse than her. Why, the Lunar queen of course. She reminded me of the queen from Snow White. Let’s move on to the good part because good parts are good. 🙂 I loved Cinder’s character. Even when the situation was hard she did not whine, over-reacted, etc. Honestly, her character surprised me. I was expecting her character to be someone who is afraid, shy, weak, but turns out, she was the complete opposite.
The plot was really good and the writing style was excellent. It was so easy to follow and the pacing of the story was close to perfect. It wasn’t really a lot like Cinderella, but it is still an enjoyable read. I recommend it to those who doesn’t predict as much when reading, because, like I said, this book is sort of predictable. I also recommend it to dystopian lovers and anyone who’s up for a cyborg tale!
Little Book Star 
I think you need to look at Cinderella and the price differently. Cinderella is a masculine character (car mechanic, main source of income for the household, etc.) while the prince is a feminine character (he constantly apologizes and hides behind his hair), they switched gender roles within the story. Cinderella is female, with female wishes (like a crush on the prince) but her character itself is male. The prince is male but his character is full of female stereotypes.
I do agree about the queen though, but apparently she is important for the rest of the series.
I read it for my dissertation and really liked the originality of it.
I still have to read Cinder, but I want to get to it soon! I’m glad the plot’s great. Awesome review!
Oh, holy cow, I LOVED this book! And Scarlet is a fantastic follow-up! So creative, with a great main character and interesting twist on a classic story.