CINDER by Marissa Meyer, 2012

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. (Amazon)

Reviewed by Debz

CINDER is my new favorite Cinderella retelling (sorry Ella Enchanted!).

It felt fresh. With all this dark, creepy dystopia on the market today, here's a lighter dystopian book with just as much adventure, romance, and all-around awesomeness! It really didn't feel dystopian at all. There were still the big problems of war and incurable disease, but the characters still had hope, which made the biggest difference.

I LOVED all the characters! The good guys were good, the bad guys were bad, and the stepmother remained in the middle of the two. I don't want to say that they felt unrealistic, but they weren't completely realistic either. Except for Cinder, all the characters felt like they were slight caricatures of their true selves. This wasn't a bad thing, though. It just made it kind of easier to point out "Oh, he's prince charming! And that's the evil person! Oh, and don't forget the fairy god-droid!"

I know everyone's been talking about that really predictable plot twist. Yeah--it was predictable. And knowing beforehand that there was a predictable twist like that meant that the first time it was even mentioned I totally figured it out.

Luckily, that didn't take away from the story at all! The plot never lost excitement, and kept me on my toes throughout it all!

I would recommend this book to ANYONE in a heartbeat! It's a fairy tale for the girly girls, with a strong willed cyborg heroine for the not-so-girly girls, and it's got robots and mind-controlling moon people for all the boys!

Market: (Young Adult)

Language: (Mild)

Sensuality: (Mild)

Violence: (Mild to Moderate)

Mature Themes: (Discrimination, Death)