Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publication Date: January 3, 2012
ISBN-13: 978-0312641894
400 pp.
Reading copy via local library
With one of the most eye-catching covers in awhile, coupled with an awesome concept, Cinder was high on my list of must-reads for 2012. I'm happy to report that it's just as fun as I thought it would be.
Cinder takes the Cinderella story and makes it a fractured fairy tale by setting it in a far-flung future. In that world, Cinder is a cyborg mechanic living in New Beijing while a plague sweeps Earth. The only hope of a cure comes from a kingdom on the moon that's run by an evil queen. The queen wants to marry Prince Kai to form an alliance that will eventually make her the ruler of both the moon and Earth. Prince Kai desperately wants to help his people, but after he meets Cinder, he can't stop thinking about her.
The fun of the book is seeing how Marissa Meyer plays with the trappings of the story everyone is familiar with and turns them into Cinder's own thing (e.g. she finds an old orange car in the junkyard that she fixes up and takes to the ball). The big reveal at the end is only a reveal to Cinder as enough clues are dropped that I knew the reveal by page 44, but it's an entertaining (and dare I say, charming) journey getting there. This is the first in a series, the next volume called Scarlet and to be focused on Little Red Riding Hood. Hope it's as fun.
I would recommend Cinder to readers who enjoyed Entwined by Heather Dixon or Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.
Cinder Book Trailer:
Listen to the first chapter of Cinder:
Comments
Post a Comment