Disclaimer: This review is spoiler free except for the parts labelled as spoiler
Book: Cinder Author: Marissa Meyer Page Number: 387 Pages Genre: Science Fiction Age: For readers 11 and up Rating: 3.5/ 5 stars He was the fantasy of every girl in the country. He was so far out of realm, her world, that she should have stopped thinking about him the second the door had closed. Should stop thinking about him immediately. Should never think about him again, except maybe as a client--and her prince. And yet, the memory of his fingers against her skin refused to fade. Synopsis: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, 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 letumosis. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, developing 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. Reading Cinder was a very meh experience for me. After hearing everyone raving about it for years, I FINALLY started it. Though it was an enjoyable read, it wasn’t anything amazing. Yet, it also wasn’t terrible either. The fast pacing and plot of the book pulled me in, even though it was pretty predictable throughout. Why this book wasn’t a favorite: The Characters: Kai and Cinder are both super bland characters that have no personality whatsoever. It’s mostly Kai’s lack of personality that made me irritated. When his *spoiler* dad died, his reaction was so underwhelmed! We didn’t even get to read about what he thought about his dad’s death or how affected he was by it. There was an opportunity for Marissa Meyer to add in a childhood memory of Kai and his dad sharing a sweet moment. Instead, we got NOTHING. Like come on! His dad just died! Can we get something other than a lackluster reaction from Kai? At this point I have no idea how the relationship between Kai and his dad is even like. I think the main thing that annoyed me is that we know nothing about Kai. We don’t know about his childhood (like memories with his mom and dad. Did he like his parents? Were they the most influential people in his life? Did they inspire him?) Those are questions which I have no idea about. About Cinder- Just like how *Spoilers*Kai had an underwhelming reaction to his dad’s death, Cinder had even even more disappointing reaction to Peony’s death. (This leads me to believe that overall, Marrissa Meyer just can’t write about a saddening death) It’s said multiple times that Peony was Cinder’s only friend besides Iko…. But Cinder barely thinks about Peony’s death in the later parts of the book. There was also a huge opportunity to show Cinder’s frustration over Peony’s death-especially when she was seconds away from curing her. Instead we get an underwhelming reaction to her death from Cinder and Peony’s name is barely mentioned later on in the book. Like I said, Cinder is just BLAND. Worldbuilding: It’s a super cool world but the lack of worldbuilding ruins it. I was honestly so confused on what a netscreen was until halfway through the book. And what is the deal with the Lunar people? Why didn’t Marissa Meyer write a backstory about them and why they are so driven against Earthlings? Why are they so power hungry without an ulterior motive? These are the boring types of villains. The ones who are bad without any purpose. It seems like the author just got lazy with the villain’s character development and just decided to make them evil. Unrealistic: So you mean to tell me that the Crown Prince, who has all this important top secret national information, would just tell all that information to this random mechanic he just met? Seriously I get this is supposed to show how Kai trusts Cinder and blah blah blah but realistically it doesn’t make sense. He bumped into Cinder three times and suddenly trusts her enough to reveal crucial information about Queen Levana. It’s also unrealistic that after seeing Cinder just two times in his life, he asks her out to the ball. Wow...you fell in love that quick huh? The Romance: Pretty mediocre.. It’s sort of like instant love so I did not particularly like it. The romance was very juvenile and meant for younger readers. What I liked: The Fast Pacing: Cinder was a fast read and it had great pacing! We get right into the story relatively quickly. The Ending: GIVE ME THE SECOND BOOK NOW!!!! I need to read Scarlett to know what happens next!! SPOILERS: “Soon, the whole world would be searching for her--Linh Cinder. A deformed cyborg with a missing foot. A Lunar with a stolen identity. A mechanic with no one to run to, nowhere to go. But they will be looking for a ghost.” AHHHHHHHHHHH I LOVE THIS ENDING Andddddddd that’s all I liked. Sorry, Lunar Chronicles fans. I will be reading the second book and hopefully I like it!
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