A review by brucethegirl
Cinder by Marissa Meyer

adventurous hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

An amazing sci-fi retelling of your favorite fairy tales. Cinder opens on the android and human filled crowded streets of New Beijing. Cinder runs a robot repair stall in the over crowded marketplace. Quickly, the authorities swoop down on a woman who suddenly begins showing signs of the highly contagious and fully deadly disease rampaging across the land. In a single scene that post COVID made me check the publication date, the stage is set for an amazing retelling of Cinderella. With robots. 

I loved the way this book introduced the world that Meyer built. From the Prince, to Cinder's step-mother, to all the little details that unfolded as the story progressed. The world building here was stunning. I love this exact kind of slowly unveiled, never to overwhelming, sci-fi. It's high sci-fi without ever getting too wrapped up in over explaining. 

I will say there was nothing revolutionary here, even for when it was published. The twists and turns are almost entirely predictable between genre conventions and the original story itself. There's nothing here that will make you gasp or surprise you. I also didn't care for how the story ends. It really felt like there should have been some semblance of a closing scene. A cliff-hanger in the worst way because there's absolutely no closure to anything introduced in book 1. A personal pet peeve about series. 

All that said, however, it was a super fun book that I finished in one sitting. I am also very excited to start book 2 and hopefully complete the series. Should all books turn out to be as fun as this one, I'll be buying that box set I keep seeing. 
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