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.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder
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.
2. Not enough explanation. I knew the gist of the novel (Cinderella spin on a SciFi novel) based on the back cover of the book. However, when the story opened, it was really hard to understand how the world worked. I mean, I know it’s a foreign land and the author couldn’t just come out and say “Hey this is how things work!”, but I spent most of the first part of the book trying to figure out why being a cyborg was a big deal and how the rules of the land played out…. It was just distracting. So, because of this, it was hard for me to connect to the characters.
3. I just… didn’t believe it. So this could be my frame of mind, or maybe that I haven’t read SciFi/Fantasy in a while, but I just couldn’t believe it. The story felt a bit forced and a lot of events happened without a real reason. For example, Cinder’s sister gets sick. However, we never find out how she contracted the disease and if Cinder had anything to do with it. There were just a lot of gaps that left me wanting more information.
Despite all of the amazing reviews, this novel just wasn’t one that stuck in my mind, and, while I didn’t hate it, I don’t think I’ll be reading the rest of the series.
“Vanity is a factor, but it is more a question of control. It is easier to trick others into perceiving you as beautiful if you can convince yourself you are beautiful. But mirrors have an uncanny way of telling the truth.”
“She briefly wished she did have some sort of magic so she could shoot a bolt of lightning through his head.”
“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.”
“That you prefer to rule through fear rather than justice? So sorry, Your Majesty, I’m afraid I already knew that about you.”
“Lines drawn into his face suggested he had spent many years thinking very hard over very difficult problems.”
