Review of Cinder by Marissa Meyer

ByJen
26 Comments

I love a Cinderella retelling! My Review of Cinder by Marissa Meyer will include my thoughts about this futuristic retelling of a timeless story.

New cover of Cinder by Marissa Meyer on a pink background.
 

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Published by MacMillan/Feiwel and Friends on January 3, 2012
Source: ARC swapped with a friend

Review of Cinder by Marissa Meyer

What a great way to kick off my 2012 reading!

A good retelling stays true to the spirit of the original story while giving it a fresh, original spin. Cinder does exactly that.

At its core, Cinderella is a pretty basic tale: with a little help from some friends, an underdog in life and love bests her tormentors and gets her man.

To give this simple fairy tale depth, Marissa Meyer layers on both political intrigue (an ailing king, his son, and a power-hungry Lunar queen) and a dystopian twist (a deadly disease).

Cinder, our heroine, was badly injured in a childhood accident and is now a cyborg. She works as a lowly mechanic in the city of New Beijing and could really use a new mechanical foot, but her evil stepmother spends all Cinder’s wages on her own two daughters.

While working in her shop one day, Cinder meets cute with Crown Prince Kai as he sneaks into her shop with a droid in need of repair. (A bit implausible, but I was still loving it.)

Like its plucky heroine, Cinder is a bit of a mash-up. There are echoes of Star Wars (a droid that harbors a secret message) of the Hunger Games (a young step-sister who is not at all wicked) and of Sailor Moon (a missing lunar princess.) Cinder does throw in a couple of plot twists which I definitely saw coming a mile away, but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story.

Another aspect of the story I particularly admired was the way that the author took Prince Charming, a handsome yet bland guy, and transformed him into Prince Kai, a character I thought was the most compelling in the book.

Kai has a lot to face: his father’s mortality, his own looming responsibility as leader, and an evil, spellbinding villainess. (By the way, I do love a good female villain. I think YA needs more of those!)

I’ve read that the author is planning three more books that will incorporate the tales of Snow White, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood. I’m glad — I look forward to returning to the world Meyer created.

As I got to Cinder’s final chapters, I was really wishing that the four books could be standalones with crossover characters. At least a hint of a happily ever after would have made this remimagined fairy tale perfect and my reading experience complete.

Of course, that’s not the case — Cinder ends with the requisite YA cliffhanger, which means I’ll have add this book to my ever-growing list of stories that left me dangling. Fine. For a story this engaging and imaginative, I’ll happily hang around and wait.

Jen has been blogging about books since 2011. In that time, she has read and reviewed over 1500 books. She loves helping readers find their perfect next read and helping books find their audience.

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26 Comments

  1. I'm still reading a copy someone loaned me atm. I do like it a LOT, but for some reason I am finding it a slow read, for me anyways. Probably just not what I'm in the mood for at the moment. But so far its amazing. Great review and I am anxious to see how the author incorporates the other fairytale stories into the remaining bks.

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  3. I won this ARC and I have started it but haven't finished it yet! I need to get on it since it came out today! Love the cover and the story so far!

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  5. Great review! I have heard great things about Cinder – it sounds sooo good. I'm sure the series will be amazing 🙂 but I long to read a standalone.

    I think Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairy tale, though.

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  11. Loved the review!! I'm really intrigued by the stuff about the droid. You don't see too much of that in YA. As for fairy takes, my favorite would definitely be Snow White (I heart the dwarfs!!). So much so that I wrote an alternate version of Snow White last year…and I don't have a creative bone in my body.

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  12. My favourite fairy tale is a difficult one. I just finished studying Children's Fiction as a module at University, so my view of fairy tales has changed somewhat. I'd say Little Red Riding Hood is my favourite though, simply because I enjoy Angela Carter's version.I've been after this book for a while, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this one! 🙂

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  19. Great Giveaway! I loved cinderella when I was younger and will definitely buy this book if I don't win the giveaway. Thanks for the opportunity 🙂

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  21. This one definitely sounds interesting :o)

    My fav fairy tale is Beauty & the Beast, with the 'sub-selection' being East o' the Sun, West o' the Moon ((Norse version, Prince is a POLAR BEAR!)) :oD

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  22. Little Red Riding Hood is a pretty great fairy tale but for romance, I do love Beauty and the Beast. I have heard so many great things about this book so thank you for this fabulous giveaway opportunity!

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  26. My sister read Cinder and told me it isn't that great. However, since I love YA, I'm still going to read it. Sometime. Soon. Yaaas. 😀

    Reply