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A review by siirup
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
2.0
I'm not so much of a reviewer, and certainly don't plan on making a habit of it, but this book's been mulling around my heavily caffeinated little mush brain all week, and I'd very much like to get the thoughts out of my head and into the ether, if only for the hell of it.
I find it's the kind of book that gives a loose setting to set up other things in. Usually, that'd mean sacrificing world-building because it isn't the point/focus of the story, and prioritizing the romance, or the drama, or the characters, because that is the point/focus. But it feels very much, to me, to be quite empty on all sides. There isn't much world to build on, there isn't much in the characters to grow to or from, and there isn't much in the romance point blank. I find the writing to be bland and lacking, the characters just the same, and the romance boring. I don't care for romance to begin with, but at least if it had been expanded upon I could understand what the goal of the story was. It just feels very empty to me.
The villainization of an entire planet I find to be uncomfortable, and hypocritical in combination with the themes surrounding the mistreatment of Cyborgs, and the seemingly nation-wide fangirling over the prince to be juvenile and silly.
It's an easy read, and not awful, it's just sort of. There. I burned through half the book in less than a week(which between work is not easy for me), but couldn't answer the question of whether or not I was enjoying it. I was happy to be reading again, and reading more often, but the book itself lent only the easy-read writing style to my enjoyment. I don't have strong feelings on it one way or another, trying to describe the experience of reading it leaves me only with the word empty. It sort of just feels empty to me.
A lot of people fall in love with it, and I'm glad for it. Maybe there's something I'm missing, maybe it gets better further into the series, but more likely it just isn't for me. I quite enjoy fairytale retellings, and was very interested in the premise, I feel it just sort of fell flat.
I find it's the kind of book that gives a loose setting to set up other things in. Usually, that'd mean sacrificing world-building because it isn't the point/focus of the story, and prioritizing the romance, or the drama, or the characters, because that is the point/focus. But it feels very much, to me, to be quite empty on all sides. There isn't much world to build on, there isn't much in the characters to grow to or from, and there isn't much in the romance point blank. I find the writing to be bland and lacking, the characters just the same, and the romance boring. I don't care for romance to begin with, but at least if it had been expanded upon I could understand what the goal of the story was. It just feels very empty to me.
The villainization of an entire planet I find to be uncomfortable, and hypocritical in combination with the themes surrounding the mistreatment of Cyborgs, and the seemingly nation-wide fangirling over the prince to be juvenile and silly.
It's an easy read, and not awful, it's just sort of. There. I burned through half the book in less than a week(which between work is not easy for me), but couldn't answer the question of whether or not I was enjoying it. I was happy to be reading again, and reading more often, but the book itself lent only the easy-read writing style to my enjoyment. I don't have strong feelings on it one way or another, trying to describe the experience of reading it leaves me only with the word empty. It sort of just feels empty to me.
A lot of people fall in love with it, and I'm glad for it. Maybe there's something I'm missing, maybe it gets better further into the series, but more likely it just isn't for me. I quite enjoy fairytale retellings, and was very interested in the premise, I feel it just sort of fell flat.