BOOK REVIEW: 4 STARS - Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Title:      CINDER (The Lunar Chronicles #1)

Author:   MARISSA MEYER
Publisher:  PENGUIN AUSTRALIA / PUFFIN BOOKS
Pages/Format:  Ebook & Paperback ARC (372
Acquired:  Received ebook from publisher via Netgalley & Paperback via Publisher

RATING:  4 PRINCELY KAI STARS

Goodreads Description:

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.

REVIEW: 

I'll admit it.....I did wonder how I was going to like a cyborg female lead!  Yes I did struggle to get my head around it...but I am glad that I did!

Marissa Meyer (great name by the way!!) has given us a different outlook on fairytales. One that we would normally see in movies, though she has written Cinder really well and it is very enjoyable.  Becoming engrossed in the story and learning how Cinder became a cyborg made it very easy overlook and almost forget her differences.

Cinder lives with her adoptive mother and sisters. Her adoptive father had organised for her to live with them when she was 11, after a tragic accident left her without parents and over 30% of her body transformed into a cyborg. Unfortunately for Cinder, the man who was giving her another life died soon after and she was left with the vicious taunts and cruel treatment bestowed upon her by Adri - her wicked new guardian.  She did however have a good relationship with her sister Peony - the one blessing from being saved!  

A horrible epidemic is sweeping through the human world with no sign of a cure. The Emporer Rikan contracted the disease and no hope is in sight for him to survive.  His son Prince Kai will then become Emperor. With that comes a dangerous decision, as the Levana, Queen of Lunar is pushing for a marriage alliance to secure a peace treaty with earth.  A treaty which Kai knows will never be honoured.

Cinder struggles with her self worth at being a cyborg.  To her she has no real future. No chance of a family, falling in love - and it being reciprocated - who would want to love a cyborg?

Then she meets Prince Kai.........and just maybe........

Cinder is an entertaining read and the first book of three for The Lunar Chronicles.  Though it's a revamp of old fairytales.......as they say in Bali........"Same, Same, but different" !

ENJOY!

MARISSA