The Lunar Chronicles #1 – Cinder

Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Year of Publication: 2012
Series: The Lunar Chronicles
Series #: 1
Goodreads Rating (Avg.): 4.15
Goodreads Rating (Mine): 3.5

I’ll try to keep the Spoilers to a minimum.

Synopsis: Cyborg Linh Cinder lives a life of servitude and works as a mechanic in New Beijing to support her step-mother and two step-sisters. A worldwide plague is affecting thousands of people, and the new emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth must take crucial decisions that may save the lives of his people, or plunge them into war with the Lunars. And where the twain meet, sparks… must… follow?

Well, if they must, nobody told Cinder and Kai.

I’m giving this book 3.5 stars because I really enjoyed zipping through it. It didn’t give me anything to be pissed off about, or be traumatized by. But as a lot of other people have also pointed out, the book is far from perfect.

For starters, the Cinderella parallel is actually unnecessary, and in some places, a little forced. Not a lot, but I’m sure the same effect could have been produced without emphasized identifiers like the protagonist’s name, or the fact that she refers to her guardian as her “step-mother”, and to the guardian’s daughters as her “step-sisters.” And the whole ball thing, obviously. Or the random reference to a “broken down pumpkin” – it’s actually a broken down gasoline car in a world full of hovercars, and the reference makes no sense in this case. Why are they calling it a pumpkin?

The characters just barely manage to stand on their own feet, and the “plot twist” was VERY obvious. I guessed it 12% into the book, and then had to wait until the very end for the protagonist to come to the same realization.

There’s no real reason for Cinder not to know the truth about the plot twist, since the doctor she’s working with knows it pretty much as soon as he meets her, and the rest of the book is a bunch of contrived situations that stops him from speaking just as he’s on the verge.

And I get that Queen Levanna is power hungry and everything, but why is she so obsessed with her looks. Why is it even important that she be beautiful, or that she’s not? So, yes, the gender roles are a little problematic – Cinder is pretty the only female character that isn’t dead, incapacitated, or evil by the end of the book. And while I guess it’s nice that the book is set in New Beijing and the majority of the characters are of Asian descent, the only thing obviously Asian about Cinder is her adoptive surname. We don’t really know what her ethnicity is, which makes it difficult to understand the nature of the dynamics between the characters.

I do really like Cinder as a character, even if Kai is a bit meh. I like that she’s a mechanic, I like that she’s selfless, and human, and brave, and can’t help but poke around. She’s straightforward and comes straight to the point, despite the best efforts of prevaricators like Dr. Erland or Kai. I also like that Kai is very upfront about liking her, even if the love-at-first-sight trope is a little too strong here.

The premise is still compelling AF, and I’m looking forward to the sequels, which I’ve heard are very good, especially in comparison to Cinder.

Next: Shopaholic #8 – Shopaholic to the Rescue
Next in this Series: The Lunar Chronicles #2 – Scarlet