Reviews

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

abbypar11's review against another edition

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4.0

This has been on my TBR list for a really long time. I am sad I waited so long! What a fun and interesting retelling. I am excited to read the rest of the series!

lalaura's review against another edition

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4.0

I've had this book for a while and I'm a little mad at myself that I only just read it yesterday, because it's a lot different (in a good way) than I expected. I was a little disappointed that Cinder was a Cinderella story because I don't normally like retellings, but after reading more I realized that this fairy tale had quite the surprising spin on it.

A problem I had with this book was that the twist was painfully obvious, from the first possible hint at the beginning of the book. Other than that, the book was great. The novel was set in the future (over 100 years since WW4) where cyborgs live among humans, a plague is reaking havoc around the world, and there are Lunar aliens. Cinder, a cyborg, lives with her evil stepmother and two step sisters working as a mechanic. Cinder finds herself caught up in the middle of everything. This book was so enjoyable, I can't wait until the sequel.

rschwendau's review against another edition

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4.0

the cliffahnger alone? unhinged. what a fun cyborg disney-esque fantasy!!

silkxr's review against another edition

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5.0

This book is so good I don't even know how to put it into words.

sj_elli's review against another edition

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5.0

I really wish that I would have gotten around to reading this book sooner than I did. I tracked it until it released, I read reviews, and I STILL didn't read it immediately like I should have.

Cinder was such an incredible read - definitely a beyond-five star book for me in 2013. The story follows Cinder, a cyborg who was adopted by a man who has since passed away. She belongs to Adri (the evil "stepmother") who has two daughters, Pearl and Peony. The story opens with Cinder performing mechanical work on androids at her booth at the market with her android friend, Iko. Prince Kaito visits to drop off an android to be repaired and shortly thereafter, another booth owner succumbs to The Plague (the same one that killed Cinder's "father") and is taken off in a hover. Rumors are flying around that Prince Kaito/Kai will be holding a ball to find a bride. But there are also rumors that the Lunar (a colony of violent and greedy people that live on the moon) queen, Queen Levana, will sink her metaphorical claws into Prince Kai and take over Earth.

Cinder was an extremely unique retelling of Cinderella. Cinder is just the most BA heroine. Prince Kai is very swoonworthy and charming. Both Adri and Queen Levana are DESPICABLE, horrible, and just plain evil.

If you haven't read this book, GET IT NAO!!! Marissa Meyer is a fantastic author. I cannot wait for Scarlet. According to this week's TTT, it's a really great sequel :)

gingarella96's review against another edition

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5.0

Fantastic book. Loved the scifi space elements and the futuristic take on a classic. Cant wait to start the next book.

ingebvh's review against another edition

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3.0

I just don't think YA and I go together. It was a fast and fun read, but some of the characters were a bit too one-sided and the romance didn't work for me. It wasn't badly written, but I'm not a big fan of this kind of romance in general.

Cinder was a fascinating character, a gem among YA heroines. The cyborg part is intriguing and I wish we got to see more of that part of society. Why are cyborgs so looked down on? There is room here to explore what it means to be human.

The biggest "twist" was easy to spot early on, but that might very well have been the intention, as it makes the story more compelling in its own way. This was one of the better YA books I've read in a while, and it's a good starting point for a series. I'm interested to see where it goes.

gowanderinbooks's review against another edition

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4.0

I adore retelling and Marissa Meyer hit it out of the park with this one!

If you like:
-forbidden love
- secret/lost heir
-protagonist female lead
-science fiction meets fairytale

I totally suggest picking up this book!

We follow Cinder, a girl that is adopted by a family who really doesn’t want her. Why? Well she is a cyborg, yup part girl part android. Cinder doesn’t remember how she came to be a cyborg but her step mother, Andir, is not happy that to have her in the family neither is her step sister Pearl. The only bright part to Cinder’s life is her step sister Peony and the family android Iko.

Cinder has a reputation of being an amazing mechanic. One day while working at her stand a stranger walks up to ask if Cinder can fix an android. She soon realizes that this is no strange but the Princes himself, Kai. While Cinder tries to play it cool, it is hard to see past the connection that quickly develops between these two.

While Cinder’s life could be better, these bright spots that Peony, Iko and even Kai bring to her life make it bearable. That is until it all goes wrong! Cinder’s life is flipped upside down. She learns a huge aspect about her past, she losses someone important to her, that an enemy is not what it seems and she is the one thing that can change everything.

kayliec735's review against another edition

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Ok last time we're saying this, this was a reread when my friend said that she adored this series as a child, like was her obsession. And I reread this series as per her recommendation, which is unheard of for me, especially with a series, like wow what a commitment. But here we are.

The first time around I read this, Scarlet, and then the first chunk of Cress. And Cinder was by far my favorite, and I think out of the three it remains my favorite after the reread. I will say Winter was pretty good too, so I'm not sure where I'd place it. But Cinder kind of has a different feel, it's less of an epic and more of a fun story. Things are simpler, it's great in the way every first novel of a series is great in that the author doesn't have to deal with a million problems and resolving them all in time, it's more simple and fun and I don't know.

I remember loving Kai and Cinder together too the first time around, which is saying something because I rarely remember things from old books I've read.

I devoured this one so quickly in rereading it. I think I downloaded the eBook of it on my phone and was reading it slowly at first. And then I think at a time when I definitely should have been studying and doing more important things, I instead spent hours reading this. Classic.

I kind of forgot I thought this, and only remember because I voiced this opinion to my friend, but as I was reading Cinder I guess it was my first time reading a book that was for younger people that I couldn't remember. Like I had reread Harry Potter and the Selection and Percy Jackson all this year (wow what a great year) but those were all rereads and things that I could remember clearly. This one was a faint memory, so it was more similar to reading it for the first time, so it was more similar to reading a children's book without the nostalgia of it. And I remember noticing how predictable things were kind of, which didn't really hold up into the later books. And it's not super fair because it's based on a fairy tale, so of course it's predictable. But I don't know, certain twists and things were just so obvious, even to me which is saying something because I'm very much the type of person to like not pick up on things and to follow the line of thoughts authors or movie directors or whoever want me to follow so that you get surprised. So it felt kind of juvenile. But now after reading the rest of the series, the rest of it did not as much feel like that, it definitely felt less juvenile and predictable.

candece's review against another edition

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1.0

Ok, I'm all for a fresh new spin on things, however, this is just ridiculous. A cyborg Cinderella???? Really, ok so even after I found out I still really tried to finish this book. But it just kept getting more and more ridiculous. I could make it past Chapter 12.