Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Cinder

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

64 reviews

readingqueerly's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

How have I not read this before? That's what I keep thinking. It read so smoothly and quickly. While I wasn't on the edge of my seat the whole time, I also never got bored or felt like I had to work through some chapters. This book felt like going to see a good movie and not once checking your watch but being surprised when it's over.
The story is a refreshing take on a the classic Cinderella Story (obvi). It has quite a few relevant themes and topics not the least of which a scary disease of course.
A few of the plot twists I have to say I saw coming from quite far away but I'm not personally deterred by that (same with spoilers for that matter). In fact, it was fun to see that I was right about things and even looking forward to the reveal moments.
For a book that's a decade old now (yes 10 years!) I have to say it holds up really well imo and the main character is actually really interesting and well written. That can be a downfall with those 2010s strong female main characters.
I'm well chuffed I finally read this book and I cannot wait to get the next one in the series.

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meganpbell's review

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Cinderella is a cyborg, the prince and his palace are in New Beijing, the wicked stepmother is outdone by a vicious queen from outer space, and a plague adds to all the peril, but the adventure, romance,and heroism are as epic and enchanting as ever in this sci-fi young adult retelling of the classic fairy tale. I look forward to continuing the series, meeting more fairy tale heroines in new forms, and exploring more of Cinder’s universe!

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calypso_the_oboe's review

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adventurous emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Cinder by Marissa Meyer is a wonderful 390-page-long sci-fi novel. It was published for the world in 2012. The main theme is how horrible life is for people who are discriminated against. In this future those people are cyborgs and lunars. People think that all lunars are evil because they have a corrupt government and that cyborgs owe their lives to save the rest of the population from letemosis, a virus with a 100% death rate that has turned into a pandemic, because they should have died years earlier.

Linh Cinder is the protagonist and titular character. The book is written in third-person-perspective following her. She lived with her adoptive mother and her two adoptive sisters, Peony and Pearl, and worked as a mechanic. The main love interest, Kai, is the prince of The Commonwealth which is modern-day Asia. His dad was sick with letemosis and was expected to die very soon. Iko is Cinder’s best and only friend. She is a android with a broken personality chip which made her act like a human woman. She loves makeup and fashion and has a crush on the prince like most every other teen girl of the Commonwealth.

The book starts with Kai coming to Cinder’s mechanic’s shop asking for her to fix his android that was his nanny. Then Cinder’s sister, Peony, finds out she’s caught letemosis. The Linh family feels heart broken. They blame Cinder for Peony catching the plague and volunteer her for experimenting on cures. However, scientists find out she’s immune. After that the king died from letemosis and then the evil queen of Luna comes down to earth to try and get Kai to marry her so she can conquer earth. Because of this chaos ensues at Kai’s coronation. The lunar queen convinces Kai to let her hold a trial in Luna, which is nearly always a death sentence because they find out Linh Cinder is actually a Lunar herself.

This book is wonderful and it is impactful. The characters are realistic. The world seems so awesome. However, I romance has to much of a spotlight and I wish more of the romance parts were put into world and character building. The romance is well written, however, it’s quite realistic to how real teens would really act in situations like this. The book was very exciting and it pulled on my heartstrings quite a bit. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good sci-fi or romance. This book is perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and Percy Jackson.

I read this book quickly. It has been one of my favorite reads in recent months. I love how Meyer writes characters with flaws, hopes, and dreams.

Peony’s death and Iko’s temporary one were very sad.

Queen Levana seems like pure evil. No characters are over powered or flawless. I am looking forward to reading the other book in The Lunar Chronicles series.

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macliffe's review

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inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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jasmineslibraryy's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

a perfectly unique cinderella retelling/twist <3 cinder is so loveable i want to give her a big hug. also, i have such a soft spot for strangers to lovers i love cinder & kai

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catsphodel's review

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

This is definitely a poorly aged story. Bringing up a child's fertility after a "trans" joke is weird and quite frankly, distasteful. I appreciate how fans have completely ignored Cinder as European and have instead claimed her as Asian. As for the Asian "influences" of this book I wouldn't consider this hodge podge and mixing of several different cultures anything to get excited about. Oddly both fast paced and a little info dumpy at times.

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hellodebbies's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the book that I didn't expect to love as much as I do !
It took me two months to get to the half but one day to finish the other half. Cinder, who deserves a better life honestly 💀, is a well written character with potential to be developed and I can't wait to find out more about her in the next book. And especially, how she cope with her different trauma (as she is emotionally abused by her stepmom) I would be curious to see how she deals with that since some of her parts are cyborg, and that it was said she couldn't cry. However,she can feel as she's human, thus my questioning about how she'll cope with trauma. Kai, who definitely deserves a break, is really a sweet guy, I can't wait to see his growth as an Emperor and the choices he will have to make.
I am in love with the world building and I am so eager to know more about how the Lunar work.
It was overall a really good book with great potential that I will for sure reread and recommend to my friends!

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carrotsxcks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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renyoi's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Fun and sometimes even innovative YA novel, with surprisingly likable characters and worldbuilding that feels natural, if a bit simplistic at times. The conglomeration of Asian cultures into a single monolith is problematic in some instances, but I do think the author was aware of the differences, even if that wasn’t always the impression in the text. Creative writing and striking characters with clear agency are the strengths of this book.

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angelaocmon's review

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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