REVIEW - Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder
Author - Marissa Meyer

Dark days have come upon the kingdom of New Beijing. An epidemic of an incurable plague has killed many people, rich and poor. The emperor himself is ill and dying.  A doctor is trying desperately to find a cure, using cyborgs as test subjects. The testing has killed many cyborgs, and still no cure has been found. With the kingdom in turmoil, Lunar Queen Levana sees an opportunity to force Earth into an alliance by a marriage between herself and Prince Kai. One citizen of  the realm is the key: Cinder, a cyborg mechanic.  Her stepmother thinks Cinder is just property and a nuisance. Cinder just wants to be free and a normal person, not a cyborg treated like a second class citizen. Cinder meets the Prince and he seems to really like her, but she knows he could never love a cyborg. He can never know her secret....but little does she know that even she doesn't know all of her secrets!

This book is an awesome sci-fi retelling of the classic Cinderella fairy tale! Cinderella is a Cyborg. Add in a plague, a conniving, mind-controlling Lunar queen, and a dash of political intrigue, and you get a enormously fun read! This was the most original re-telling of a classic story that I have read so far! I will definitely be reading the rest of the Lunar Chronicles! There are several books in the series, plus short stories based in the Lunar universe.

This first book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Thank God I have the second book, Scarlet, on my tbr shelf already, or I would be trolling Amazon for the kindle edition or putting an online hold on the book at my local library right this second. I think I'd better arrange for the 3rd book to be waiting in the wings if I go through the second book as quickly as I did the first! :)

Definitely a must-read for fans of sci-fi, or re-tellings. Cinder is a very well-written, and new slant on a classic tale. It brings new life to the fairy tale!

I love the cover art as well!

My rating: 9/10
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