by Marissa Meyer
Sixteen-year-old Lin Cinder is the best mechanic in New Beijing. That’s where having a cybernetic diagnostic system in your brain helps. That’s about the only benefit to being a cyborg.
As a cyborg Cinder is a second-class citizen, not to mention she has to live with her step-mother/owner, who hates Cinder’s guts.
Things start looking up when Cinder’s little repair shop is visited by the Prince! Little could Cinder know that this simple droid repair will soon suck her into an intergalactic incident involving the queen of Luna, a political marriage, and the deadly plague that has been sweeping across New Beijing.
It’s a great retelling of Cinderella that makes the story new again. Like any good cyberpunk story, this will be a hit with fans of both Scifi and Fantasy stories.
Meyer’s ability to retell classic tales with a cyberpunk slant is top notch. I’ve read a lot of retellings of Cinderella, and this is easily my favorite. A wonderful kick off to a great series!
What I like about Cinder is that the motivations for the character’s actions are clear. Normally I have a pet peeve with the “lair reviled” that can easily be fixed with a simple honest conversation, but this book pulls it off. Every lie that the characters tell is logical.
I really like this series. I’m not going to pretend that it’s great literature, it’s not. Not every novel is the next Of Men and Men after all. I don’t know about you, but I can’t read those heavy great works all the time. I need escapist reading. Sometimes, I just want to read a story about a plucky hero taking down a bad guy. This hits the spot.
Odd Librarian Out 