Even in the future, the story begins with Once Upon a Time...
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...
Sixteen-year-old Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past and is reviled by her step-mother. 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. Because there is something unusual about Cinder, something that others would kill for.
When I first held the book in my hand and read the word "cyborg," I had to take a second look. Cyborg? I thought. Never in my life had I read a book with cyborgs. That immediately caught my attention. I decided to give the book a try although I was not much of sci-fi reader. And gosh, I am so glad I bought it.
If you haven't noticed yet, Cinder is the story of Cinderella retold with a science-fictional badass twist to it. A fairy tale? Robots? Lunar people? A cute Asian prince? Honestly, what could be better?
The story takes place in New Beijing which was built after the fourth World War. Androids roam the place along with humans and basically everything is controlled with high-tech gadgets. Normal cars don't even exist anymore. Instead they were replaced with hovers: floating cars. (Yes, our flying-cars-in-the-future theory came true. *cheers*)
The main character, Cinder, who's half cyborg is sort of an outcast since cyborgs are greatly looked down upon in that time. She's an expert mechanic, nothing special, really. UNTIL, of course, the tension between earthens and lunars (people who live on the moon..say what?) gets stronger and things begin to change. Cinder suddenly finds herself in a sticky situation (many sticky situations) and has to try to somehow sort things out. I really liked Cinder. Like, really really really liked her. She's so relatable and genuine. She's not this perfectly pretty main character. I mean, she's missing a hand and a foot, so... But even with her missing parts, she's still beautiful, from the inside and out, and I love that. I enjoy when authors make their characters flawed and not boringly perfect.
Now, let's not forget Prince Kai. I know I literally just said that it's boring when characters are perfect, but Prince Kai is an exception. He is beyond the definition of perfect, but gosh do I still adore him. Unf. All I'm gonna say is that Prince Kai is the sexiest Asian guy you will ever read about. (So go read the book!)
This book was a total attention grabber. Every chapter somehow leaves you hanging and you just can't help yourself, you have to keep reading to find out what the hell is going to happen next. This book made me so anxious but I loved it! I was at the very edge of my seat the entire time! Before I knew it I had finished the book in only a day. You don't even notice the time fly by.
Please, please, please do me a favor and go read this book! Trust me, you will not regret it. Marissa Meyer is an amazing author and I thank her for writing the amazing Lunar Chronicles! I cannot wait to read Scarlet!
Rating:
5/5 Stars
