Book Review – Cinder

In Cinder by Marissa Meyer, the author does a wonderful job of illustrating the world in the future. In this book, the main character, Cinder lives with her stepmother, Linh Adri, and two stepsisters, Linh Pearl and Linh Peony. Cinder looks as ordinary as can be, but is everything but that. Part human, part robot, Cinder is the exact thing that the society looks down on: a cyborg. People assume that just because she has a computer in her head, she can’t have emotions. They think that just because that she has a built-in television in her eye, they can say whatever they want about her. And that’s the reason why it seems like that the purpose of her life is to blend in. She never thought once, that she would be in the spotlight.

That day that changes Cinder’s life is the day when she meets Prince Kai at her mechanic stall at the market. That night, she goes with her sister, Peony to a junkyard, and sees something that she would never unsee. There was a huge blue and red rash on Peony’s neck. And not just any big rash- that rash was the first sign of letumosis, the disease that was killing hundreds of thousands of people across the planet. Peony was the only friend Cinder had ever had and she was the only one who treated Cinder like a real person. Now that she has caught the plague, there’s no guarantee that the two will ever see each other again.

After Peony gets taken away to a quarantine, Cinder is sent to a hospital because her stepmother “volunteered” Cinder to be a test subject to find the cure for the plague. Cinder was enraged at her stepmom, but that changes, because her  experience at the hospital pretty much changed her life forever. When the doctor tells Cinder that there’s something unique about her, she suddenly becomes special. She becomes someone who matters.

As Cinder begins to find out more and more about her past and herself, her life starts taking the path of a twisty, skinny road that leads in all directions. When she finds herself sandwiched in between love and obligation, trust and deception, she starts doing things that she had never would have even thought of a year ago. Before she knows it, her past becomes important. Suddenly, the fate of the planet somehow depends on her. Suddenly, she knows what she has to do.

I liked this book a lot because of the way it keeps you on the edge of your seat. It always kept me wondering, and wanting to flip the next page. When I thought I was at the best part, there was always a scene after it that was even better. Also, the story didn’t move too fast or too slow. It was the right speed and length. The plot however, was probably my favorite part of the story. The book was like Cinderella, except retold in the future. And although it’s related to a fairy take, the book also has most (if not all) of the main elements of a science fiction book. And that’s another thing that made this book so interesting: the genre. I like science fiction the most, and that’s because they take place in the future. It allows enough imagination to be able to picture what the setting is like.

Cinder (well, the whole series) was probably one of my favorite books. From 1 to 10, I would rate this series a 9.

I recommend this book to people who are like me and lose track of things easily during the boring parts. This is because the author wrote Cinder in a way which it’s easy to catch up on what’s happening. I would also recommend this to people who like the genre, or anyone who is looking for a good book to read. And even if you don’t usually read science fiction, Cinder might just catch your eye.