Book Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1
Date Started: March 30th 2014
Date Completed: March 31st 2014
Genres: Sci-Fi, Romance, Mystery, Adventure, Dystopian
Rating: Three stars
Review:
Cinder was a quick read for me, as I found the writing simple and the plot was quite fast. For me, whilst I did enjoy this book, it just lost some of the magic of the original story (Cinderella) I was brought up on. I also would really have liked more inclusion of the world and development around the story, rather than a spontaneous romance. If I'm being honest, the novel did grow me on as I went through, but it still wasn't as good as all the hype around it for me.
Cinder is a cyborg, toiling over her work as a mechanic to bring in money for a stepmother who would see her dead if it meant no having to admit the shame of having a half-human half-robot daughter. But one day, the prince shows up outside her stall, asking for her to do a special job for him and before she knows it, everything in Cinder's world is changing; her sister falls ill with the plague; her stepmother volunteers her for testing in the palace's labs; and a new danger comes from the skies threatening to wage war on Earth if the prince doesn't do exactly what they want.
The writing, quite frankly, wasn't amazing. There was nothing wrong with it either, but I felt like some of the narration degraded a potentially great book to…not so great. I always have been really harsh on description and that sort of thing because I think it's really important in making an amazing book and is so often overlooked. For me, Cinder was lacking in these things - so much I still haven't actually worked out what Iko looks like, and what parts of Cinder are mechanical. It was just a shame.
The story itself, is taken after the classic fairytale. I love the original fairytale, but if it's going to be remade into a new story, there's got to be something different; and the cyborg element didn't quite do it for me. Along with some of the other little details that weren't explained and just stuck out (e.g. why are her stepfamily allowed to go to the ball? Are they rich? Important?; Why do the robots talk and think like humans? Is there a reason for that?; What is the actual political side of New Beijing and the war?). It just lost the spark that the original fairytale had for me.
Another issue I had was that the parts of the story that weren't even derived from Cinderella were very predictable. And I didn't feel any threat from the antagonists in the story.
On the other hand, some of the comedy bits did make me laugh. When Cinder is announced at the ball made me laugh out loud because it just sounded hilarious. And, in fairness, the book did have a very good, different ending and I am really looking forward to the following books.
The majority of the characters seemed a bit one-dimensional to me, but they fitted nicely into their places in the story.
Cinder annoyed me, even though the idea of her was great. I would just like to repeat the fact that insisting you aren't girly, and seeming constantly annoyed with everyone does not make you not girly or masculine. And furthermore, having a go at your stepmother and then storming off does not really demonstrate not getting pushed around. Just saying.
I would happily just read a book about Kai (with Torin as the side-kick) because he was the only person I was interested in, and I felt like he actually acted like a human being. He made choices that weren't all about him, but he also had a part of him that did want to be selfish, and please himself. But he chose what he thought was best, and that made him the most realistic character to me.
The book was really fast paced which helped to keep my interest, and the easy reading let me fly through it.
I would recommend Cinder to anyone who likes sci-fi and romance. It fitted a bit too nicely with typical Young Adult style books for me, but I did still enjoy it, and I hope the following books are better, as I've been told. But it's still a nice, easy read with some entertaining parts and a good concept.
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12973964-cinder
Cinder was a quick read for me, as I found the writing simple and the plot was quite fast. For me, whilst I did enjoy this book, it just lost some of the magic of the original story (Cinderella) I was brought up on. I also would really have liked more inclusion of the world and development around the story, rather than a spontaneous romance. If I'm being honest, the novel did grow me on as I went through, but it still wasn't as good as all the hype around it for me.
Cinder is a cyborg, toiling over her work as a mechanic to bring in money for a stepmother who would see her dead if it meant no having to admit the shame of having a half-human half-robot daughter. But one day, the prince shows up outside her stall, asking for her to do a special job for him and before she knows it, everything in Cinder's world is changing; her sister falls ill with the plague; her stepmother volunteers her for testing in the palace's labs; and a new danger comes from the skies threatening to wage war on Earth if the prince doesn't do exactly what they want.
The writing, quite frankly, wasn't amazing. There was nothing wrong with it either, but I felt like some of the narration degraded a potentially great book to…not so great. I always have been really harsh on description and that sort of thing because I think it's really important in making an amazing book and is so often overlooked. For me, Cinder was lacking in these things - so much I still haven't actually worked out what Iko looks like, and what parts of Cinder are mechanical. It was just a shame.
The story itself, is taken after the classic fairytale. I love the original fairytale, but if it's going to be remade into a new story, there's got to be something different; and the cyborg element didn't quite do it for me. Along with some of the other little details that weren't explained and just stuck out (e.g. why are her stepfamily allowed to go to the ball? Are they rich? Important?; Why do the robots talk and think like humans? Is there a reason for that?; What is the actual political side of New Beijing and the war?). It just lost the spark that the original fairytale had for me.
Another issue I had was that the parts of the story that weren't even derived from Cinderella were very predictable. And I didn't feel any threat from the antagonists in the story.
On the other hand, some of the comedy bits did make me laugh. When Cinder is announced at the ball made me laugh out loud because it just sounded hilarious. And, in fairness, the book did have a very good, different ending and I am really looking forward to the following books.
The majority of the characters seemed a bit one-dimensional to me, but they fitted nicely into their places in the story.
Cinder annoyed me, even though the idea of her was great. I would just like to repeat the fact that insisting you aren't girly, and seeming constantly annoyed with everyone does not make you not girly or masculine. And furthermore, having a go at your stepmother and then storming off does not really demonstrate not getting pushed around. Just saying.
I would happily just read a book about Kai (with Torin as the side-kick) because he was the only person I was interested in, and I felt like he actually acted like a human being. He made choices that weren't all about him, but he also had a part of him that did want to be selfish, and please himself. But he chose what he thought was best, and that made him the most realistic character to me.
The book was really fast paced which helped to keep my interest, and the easy reading let me fly through it.
I would recommend Cinder to anyone who likes sci-fi and romance. It fitted a bit too nicely with typical Young Adult style books for me, but I did still enjoy it, and I hope the following books are better, as I've been told. But it's still a nice, easy read with some entertaining parts and a good concept.
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12973964-cinder
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