Cinder

Author: Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles (Book 1)
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends; 1st edition (January 3, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312641893
ISBN-13: 9780312641894

Sixteen-year-old Cinder is considered a technological mistake by most of society and a burden by her stepmother. Being cyborg does have its benefits, though: Cinder’s brain interference has given her an uncanny ability to fix things (robots, hovers, her own malfunctioning parts), making her the best mechanic in New Beijing. This reputation brings Prince Kai himself to her weekly market booth, needing her to repair a broken android before the annual ball. He jokingly calls it “a matter of national security,” but Cinder suspects it’s more serious than he’s letting on.

Although eager to impress the prince, Cinder’s intentions are derailed when her younger stepsister, and only human friend, is infected with the fatal plague that’s been devastating Earth for a decade. Blaming Cinder for her daughter’s illness, Cinder’s stepmother volunteers her body for plague research, an “honor” that no one has survived.

But it doesn’t take long for the scientists to discover something unusual about their new guinea pig. Something others would kill for.

What I thought: I have always been intrigued to retellings of fairy tales and I found this one to be quite a delight!

Honestly, the summary above explains the story quite well. I don’t need to repeat it. But it you can tell from said summary, the action is fast paced and doesn’t let you go well after the story-er-finishes….

The characters are well thought out (I love Iko) but I wish we had more info on the world. This kind of reminds me of the Queen of the Tearling where you have such a cool world but don’t answer any questions about the how and why. This is a world I would love to fully immerse myself in – if only to hang out with Iko. I devoured the next book in the series and easily say that this is one of my favorite series. I mean Meyer stated that she had gotten part of her inspiration from Sailor Moon – I mean, she could have led with that. Go read the Lunar Chronicles; you can thank me later.

The Quote: Even in the future the story begins with once upon a time…

Why I chose it: Simple but clever. It encompasses what you need to know in this story – a fairy tale set in the future. Love it.

About the Author:

One of my first spoken words was “story” (right along with “bath” and “cookie”), my favorite toy as an infant was a soft, squishable book, and I’ve wanted to be a writer since I first realized such a job existed.

When I was fourteen my best friend introduced me to anime and fanfiction—over the years I would complete over forty Sailor Moon fanfics under the penname Alicia Blade. Those so inclined can still find my first stories at fanfiction.net. Writing fanfic turned out to be awesome fun and brought me in contact with an amazing group of fanfiction readers and writers. As Alicia Blade, I also had a novelette, “The Phantom of Linkshire Manor,” published in the gothic romance anthology Bound in Skin (CatsCurious Press, 2007).

When I was sixteen I worked at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Tacoma, Washington, affectionately termed “The Spag.” (Random factoid: This is also the restaurant where my parents met some 25 years before.) I attended Pacific Lutheran University where I sorted mail that came to the dorm, carted tables and chairs around campus, and took writing classes, eventually earning a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and Children’s Literature. Knowing I wanted a career in books, I would also go on to receive a Master’s degree in Publishing from Pace University (which you can learn more about here). After graduation, I worked as an editor in Seattle for a while before becoming a freelance typesetter and proofreader.

Then, day of days, someone thought it would be a good idea to give me a book deal, so I became a full-time writer. CINDER was my first completed novel, though I have an adorable collection of unfinished ones lying around, too.

I married my husband in 2011, two months before the release of Cinder, and we adopted our two beautiful twin daughters, Sloane and Delaney, in 2015. Reading lots and lots of bedtime stories is most definitely a new favorite pastime.