Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: Sci-Fi Fantasy
Series: The Lunar Chronicles # 1
Hardcover, 390 Pages
Publication: January 3,2012 by Feiwel & Friend
Source: Personal Library
Buy|Amazon|B&N|
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.
I’ve picked up and put down Cinder countless of times. I read the first few chapters and remembered enjoying it but for some odd reason I never finished it. Until now. What initially drew my attention to the series was the re-imagined fairy tale concept. It also didn’t hurt that this was one of the most loved and raved about series. I was determined to finish it and see what the hype was all about. After finishing it, I gotta say…it had it’s moments but it’s nothing groundbreaking or earth-shattering. In my honest opinion, it was over hyped…or I just had high expectations.
Cinder, as the title is a spin on Cinderella. In this case Cinder(ella) is a cyborg, part human,part machine. Color me intrigued. I thought the general concept was cool, it’s why I wanted to read it in the first place but Meyer didn’t deliver on anything… plot, world-building or its characters sadly. Let’s begin with the plot. I’ve seen all the glowing and gushing reviews for Cinder. Many readers praised how innovated and unique this book was…I started to wonder if we all read the same book? Cinder is neither innovated or unique. The plot is pretty basic and oh so predictable. With the first mention of the lost Lunar princess I already knew who and where this story was going and I was barely a few chapters in! It was also slow and uneventful. Even the big “reveal” (should I even call it a reveal when everyone and their mama knew who Cinder really was?) was anticlimactic. I thought the plot was weak and it didn’t have mystery, danger or anything special to the story.
The world building...the real question is what world building? Because it’s nonexistent. I’m sure Meyer thought she was being different by writing a fairy-tale retelling featuring an Asian culture…nope. Just because the city is called New Beijing and the characters’ name are Asian don’t make it Asian. And honestly that’s the only “Asian” thing about this book. Meyer never once went into the background and history of New Beijing. It’s as if she just picked a bunch of Chinese names and threw it in there. Besides the city and characters’ name…I think she mentioned some sweet rolls and dumplings...apparently that sums up the Chinese culture. Then there’s the notorious and feared Lunar people (people that live on the moon). Again there’s no background, explanation of how they came to be, how Levana came to power, or why they have the powers (glamour) that they do. Readers are expected to take everything at face value but that’s not good enough. This is probably the weakest half-assed world building I’ve ever seen. I know my review is gonna get some flack but that’s my opinion. I’m genuinely surprised this series got as far as it did.
And finally the characters. I had a hard time connecting with all of the characters. Just like the world building, the characters were flat and two-dimensional. Cinder is supposed to be this well renown mechanic but in the entire book she didn’t do much. We are told she’s the best of the best but as far as I saw, the only thing she did was pull out a chip from Prince Kai’s robot and presto! (insert heavy sarcasm) It’s fixed. We are also told that Cinder is a special, miraculous (another snowflake) girl that is going to change the world and the citizen of New Beijing but I never once saw any of that. Instead I saw a self-absorbed teenager who thought of only of the prince and occasionally her sick step-sister. The other characters weren’t any better. Prince Kai was a bland of a male lead if I’ve ever seen one, Cinder’s bff robot was as funny and clever as a cardboard box and Levana as the villainous queen was just laughable...my little seven-year-old niece is scarier than her.
I haven’t been this disappointed in a book in a really long time. Cinder not only didn’t meet my expectations but the more I thought about it, the more I disliked it…realizing it is beyond flawed. I remember reading somewhere that Meyer wrote this book in a span of a couple month during NaNoWrimo (or that the idea came during that month) and it clearly shows, the world building and characters were poorly developed, the writing mediocre and plot lackluster. I cannot recommend this book. There are far better sci-fi fantasy series out there but if you are still curious about picking up Cinder, may I suggest checking out an excerpt before purchasing or borrowing from a library or friend. Otherwise save your money and time and give this a pass because I wish I did.
No comments:
Post a Comment