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21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Beginning to Lunar Chronicles Series, December 10, 2011
This review is from: Cinder: Book One in the Lunar Chronicles (Hardcover)
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Where do I even begin with this book? I went in a little skeptical, unsure if I would really enjoy it or not. Quickly, though, I was sucked in. The first chapter kept me interested and each chapter urged me into the next. It was ridiculously difficult to convince myself to set it down long enough to do anything else. Needless to say, I finished the novel very quickly. I loved the characters. Cinder was convincing and real. She reacted the way I would have in most situations with which she faced. The choices she had to make were sometimes completely heart-wrenching, but it only enhanced the story. The fact that she is a cyborg really enhanced the story. It was very fun to read and such a fascinating, strange concept that I believed every single word of it. I loved the little descriptions of how she could feel the technology working in her body, sometimes against her human flesh. Another thing I loved about her was the fact that she works hard. This is sometimes hard to find in YA novels, but Cinder really works for what she gets. She doesn't just sit back and complain because her stepmother hates her and makes her work. She's good at what she does and she is just all around awesome. Cinder's stepsisters and stepmother were, of course, necessary characters, and I think they were done quite well. It was nice to see one of the stepsisters in a kinder light and to see the other stepsister and stepmother both had a degree of humanity in them. They are not one-dimensional, flat, lifeless characters who just hate Cinder for the sake of hatred. While yes, their motives behind the hatred may not be spot on, they are somewhat realistic and understandable. It will be interesting to see how these relationships develop in further stories. I thought Prince Kai was a great hero. I noticed several other reviewers did not agree with his ability to be so distracted by Cinder despite the utter pandemonium happening in his life, but I do not find myself agreeing at all. I think that even if your life is going crazy and you're unhappy and trying to figure out how to make it to the next day without going insane, you still need something to keep you afloat. For Prince Kai, this something was Cinder. The romance was also believable. I believed every word they said, every hope they dared dream, and every possibility of their togetherness. I also loved most of the miscellaneous minor plot quirks and secondary characters. I thought that restoring the car was fun, but I did wonder how she managed to learn to drive it. I loved Iko and I hope to see her again (a lot!) in future books. I loved the doctor and Cinder's storage compartment located in her leg and the descriptions of the city. The entire world was really beautiful and alive in my head, which always makes for a pleasant reading experience. The plot kept me completely entertained the entire time. While the story with the Lunar Queen was a little farfetched and, at times, almost a little silly and unbelievable, it was still interesting. I look forward to seeing how this particular plotline continues in future novels. Queen Levana is quite the formidable foe and I'm excited to see how Cinder knocks her down and picks up the pieces. To everyone who complained the questions were not answered: This is the first in a four book series! Of course not all the questions were answered! I'm sure questions will be answered later on and, if they are not, then you can go ahead and complain about it. My best advice? Just read the book! It was great! I can't wait to get my hands on the next novels in the Lunar Chronicles.
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26 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wow, November 28, 2011
This review is from: Cinder: Book One in the Lunar Chronicles (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
A dystopian cinderella story with cyborgs, androids, the return of the plague, and a kingdom on the moon. This is a really amazing retelling of a fairy tale. Good points: *Strong female lead character: Cinder is awesome. She has problems, a lot of problems, and she wishes things were different but she doesn't spend the whole book bemoaning her lot in life. She complains but she moves on, tries to change things, makes plans for the future (acknowledges whether they're realistic or not), etc. She often doesn't realize how much she has going for her, but once she does she owns it and uses it to her advantage. You're rooting for her through the whole story and not once did I drop the book wondering why she was being so stupid (that happens a lot). I also loved that she was a mechanic (I thought making her the best in New Beijing was a bit of a stretch) but it was still and interesting character detail. I liked that she was independent to the point that her step-mother and sisters were actually relying on her for income, though her stepmother especially treated her as little more than a worthless slave. *Strong side characters: While they were definitely overshadowed by Cinder at times, she was backed by strong side characters that you definitely felt an emotional connection to. There was Peony, her nice stepsister who ended up being infected by the plague. That was just heart-wrenching to read about. And Iko, her outdated pretty much unwanted by anyone else android who had an interesting personality and liked pretty things, tried to make Cinder laugh, etc. *Fascinating villain. Queen Levana of Luna. I don't want to give too much away but wow. Psychotic (and what a family history!), extraordinarily vain, manipulative, and power-hungry. She's like a nasty little viper. *Interesting details about the "future". Cyborgs, androids, ID chips, that people on Luna had "evolved", etc. Nothing too unique or groundbreaking, but all elements that made the story a more interesting read. Bad Points: *Predictable. The second Princess Selene is mentioned I knew what was going on and I imagine most readers will make this connection. It's fairly obvious. And a few other major plot elements aren't a big mystery. *Unresolved questions that may or may not be dealt with by the sequels. How is she a mechanic? As a cyborg, it would be nice if she could do her own repairs, especially with a stepmother who would prefer she rust, but who taught her? Did Garan teach her? Did Adri make sure she learn so that both she wouldn't have to pay for any repairs and she could make money off the girl? Was it part of her programming? It's possible I may have simply missed this I suppose, but there are other such questions. *As the first book in a series the cliffhanger at the end shouldn't come as a surprise, but I wish it had been a bit more wrapped up than it was. Instead you're kind of left floundering a bit hoping the sequel will come along in time to throw you back in the water. I couldn't put this book down, I read through it within a few hours. I was so absorbed I almost missed my bus stop on the way home. :) I highly recommend this, it was very worth the read. I did take off a star for the predictability and a few lost details, but wow. Story-wise alone I would give it a full five. Excellently done.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Angieville: CINDER, January 3, 2012
This review is from: Cinder: Book One in the Lunar Chronicles (Hardcover)
This cover. This cover is in the running for my favorite cover of the year! I love it that much. And I love the title. And, even more than both of those put together, I love the premise of a sci-fi/cyberpunk retelling of Cinderella with a cyborg as the main character. You should have seen my face when I first found out about CINDER. It's like Marissa Meyer asked me for my list of all that is good and then slapped them together into this book. Add to that the fact that it's the first in a quartet (oh, how I love quartets), and the name of the series is the Lunar Chronicles. I don't know . . . it kind of seemed like this book and I were a match made in heaven. I've been reading sci-fi for as long as I can remember, and I feel like we don't get enough of it these days in young adult fiction. So I would have been on board for that aspect of the book alone. But a sci-fi/fairy tale mashup? Fuggedabout it. And so it was with much relief that I started it and found out it was legitimate on both counts. Linh Cinder is a mechanic and a cyborg. Orphaned as a child in a terrible accident, her life was saved when doctors intervened, replacing her missing hand and foot with metal ones. Now she works long hours in her stall at the market in New Beijing, and she goes home to a loveless household headed by her evil stepmother. There's certainly no love lost between these two. But while her older stepsister Pearl takes after her mother in every respect, her younger stepsister Peony is as innocent and sweet as Pearl and her stepmother Adri are cynical and conniving. Unfortunately, Cinder also has the question of class working against her. Cyborgs are second-class citizens in every way. Looked down on, and often outright loathed, by the people of New Beijing, cyborgs are the first to be offered up for medical testing and the last to be invited to social events such as, oh, say--a ball. Incredibly, our girl Cinder is headed for both, though she has no idea yet. Then one day the emperor's son Prince Kai shows up at her stall with an android in need of repair. The emperor himself is dying of the deadly plague letumosis, which has been decimating the population for the past decade. And before she knows it, Cinder is caught up in both the fight against the disease and an unlikely friendship with a young man who has his own set of problems. CINDER is quite a serious book, both in the sense that it takes itself seriously and that it deals with serious issues, such as death, disease, class conflict, and war. I think I was expecting something lighter, but the whole taking-itself-seriously and the fascinating world building quickly set me at ease. I loved the attention to detail with which Ms. Meyer depicted the grimness of Cinder's life and her world. She's a mechanic and an outcast. She wears castoff coveralls and a worn-out work belt in place of the flouncy dresses and jewels other girls her age are flaunting. And her outlook matches her clothes. Cinder is a realist, and that is my favorite thing about her. She knows the way things work. And mechanics with steel appendages do not make good with emperors' sons. No matter how charming they may be. As a result, there is very little of the lovelorn teenager about this girl. As much as she slowly allows herself to enjoy the prince's company, not once does she fool herself into forgetting the horror that would blossom on his face were he to discover what she is. Instead, she reserves the majority of her emotional energy for fixing up an old car she finds in the junkyard, harboring the long-shot hope that it just might serve as an escape vehicle when the time comes that she can no longer stand her abysmal home life. Then when the plague strikes close by, Cinder taps already flagging reserves of strength to help and support the ones who are stricken. She's tough and pragmatic. We like Cinder, yes we do. Then there's Kai. Prince Kaito. What you need to know about Kai is he's . . . very cute actually. Determined to do right by his own obligations, he won me over as he did Cinder for being more than he seemed. At the same time, this is the aspect of the novel that needed more development, in my humble opinion. I liked that the story took its time, but with all that time, there wasn't actually much of it devoted to these two developing their relationship. What was there was good. I just needed a little more. Perhaps a better way of putting it would be, I wish that the relationships between characters had benefited from the skill applied to the world building and the awesomely creeptastic villain. There's quite a buildup by the end (the end is possibly the best part). But just when things finally get going, it ends. On one big, fat doozy of a cliffhanger. Which is fine. I'm not opposed to cliffhangers, per se. But I did expect just a hint more in the way of resolution depth for such a slow cycling climax. I was left wanting. My needs aside, I thought the characters deserved to have it out. I realize there are three more books in the series, and there is clearly more to come. I just could have done with a little more emotional payoff to keep me believing, if you will. That said, I loved each of Marissa Meyer's clever sci-fi tips of the hat to the elements of the original fairy tale. Word is the next books will incorporate more fairy tales, including Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood, and Snow White. Color me intrigued (and hopeful) for more development in future installments.
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