Book Review - Cinder

Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1
Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 5th Febuary 2012
Publishers: Puffin
No. Pages: 387
Source: Borrowed
Rating:
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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 centre 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.

When it comes to well loved books, I tend to steer clear of the hype so as not be to be disappointed when I don't like something, some of the biggest books I've regretted being The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Hunger Games but after being encouraged and nagged to start this series, I succumbed and took Cinder out of my library and to my great surprise and joy, I absolutely loved everything about this book. There's probably very little I could contribute in a review of Cinder that other people haven't raved about, squealed over and mentioned already, however, I am going to sit down and give it a very good go.

It's been mentioned previously that this isn't any ordinary tale of Cinderella and that is very much the truth, however, what hints of the original Cinderella story I knew as a child where in Cinder were executed so wonderfully it definitely made my inner child insanely happy. The story of a girl having no choice but to do chores, with two stepsisters and a stepmother worthy of a entire planet of hell brought upon her face was consistent, while the tiniest of details such as the white/silver gown at the ball and losing ones, well 'foot' was also so truthful and fully respectful to the story that it's pretty difficult to not see the retelling inbetween Meyers absolutely beautiful world of New Beijing full of cyborgs, technology and androids. I could go on about how the entire world of New Beijing was beyond anything I could have imagined, how it was clear to me through words exactly as a film would be to my eyes, how Meyer developed and created a world of such depth and beauty encased in a fear of evil, how she intergrated so many different features from machines and cyborgs to special 'magical' talents, to the racism that today's society still struggles from and how there wasn't an inch of this world, a single sentence on the page that I didn't feel fully immersed in, but I'd probably be here all day if I were to do that, so if I say that the world building in this novel was the best world building I've ever read, I think I can qualify that has being enough justice.

However, the world wasn't the only feature other the the plot and characters that was amazing; the show of diversity and the writing style were absolutely beautiful. With the recent uproar of literature needing more diversity, it was a breath of fresh air to have a novel that didn't involve too much British or American population and how there was so much focus on people of European descent as well as the entire Cinder setting taking place in China. For the first time in a very long time, if not forever, I wasn't imaging the characters as White American or British by accident, I was imagining them exactly how Meyer wanted me to and that's compliments to her writing style which was just beautiful. Very few authors have ever been able to immerse or capture me into their world with their writing to the point of taking my attention within the first few sentences and making 200 pages fly by without warning. When I was reading Cinder, nothing else could capture my attention unless forced upon me and nothing could equate to the attachment I formed to the entire novel. It's such a shame I have to give it back to the library or else I'd hold it and keep that copy forever.

When it came to Cinder's plot, Meyer once again surprised me beyond recognition with her plot twists and her revelations which allowed the novel to hold it's own against being the first in series, while also setting up the rest of the series with fantastic pieces of knowledge I'm bound to need later on. The premise of a raging illness throughout the system, a romance so utterly captivating and believable on every level, a war waging throughout the rumours and a secret almost as important as the entire structure of the novel, I kept wondering whether Meyer could actually pull off all of these features and have them work together but no matter the doubts I had, Meyer proved what an absolutely brilliant writer she was and executed all of the plot points, all of the developments and left me with an almost enjoyable cliffhanger and ending that actually makes me excited to continue the series rather than angers me.

Of course, the novel would be nothing without Cinder herself and I was so pleased to finally come across a female lead that had the confidence, the will and the talents to stand up for herself and prove her worth to the people around her, including said very swoony Prince. The fact that Kai assumed Cinder was male before he'd even gone to her booth only highlighted and proved what a talented character Cinder was; she was eager to make a difference to her life and she knew that only she could do that, she never tarnished Peony with the same challenging and argumentative tone she gave her stepmother and Pearl and she overcame her realistic human emotions both towards Peony and Iko so much so that I don't think I could have become more attached to her if I'd tried. The character development Cinder went through throughout this novel was absolutely fantastic, the softening of her heart towards Kai, her trustworthy nature spreading to the Dr and her revengeful, protective nature for herself and others against Queen Levena was just fantastic. Yes, the romance is an important feature in this novel, but it far from overtook all of the other features Meyer managed to work perfectly into the storyline. It was adorable, realistic and honest with not an ounce of insta-love in sight, not a single scene too cheesy or sickly to read and not a moment between both Kai and Cinder where I didn't believe they were made for each other. It was perfection.

I could quit easily go on all day about that fantastic scene at the ball, the revelations and the final plot twist in the final chapters. I could more than gladly talk more about the wonderful details Meyer included in her world or the beautiful connection between Peony and Cinder and even Iko. I could more than likely gush for hours about how so damn beautiful the romance was but this review is already longer than I'd intended and you've already heard it all before, but if I'm not the last person in the world to have read Cinder and you're sitting here now, reading this, I'm telling you now, you're seriously losing out. I regret not buying this book a year ago. I regret not getting it out of the library months ago. I regret putting off reading this amazing book for so long because it really is just that good. What I don't regret is falling head first in love with everything about this novel and I need a copy of Scarlet. Now.