Cinder – Marissa Meyer

Book one of The Lunar Chronicles. First published January 1st 2012 by Feiwel & Friends.

Genre: YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Note: This review contains spoilers.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the centre 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.

I’m a sucker for all things fairytales. So, of course, the minute I saw the beautiful cover and read the blurb I was hooked. Cinderella as a cyborg? In futuristic China? Bad guys that live on the Moon? Hell yes. I was immediately drawn by the concept. 

Cinder is an original take on a familiar and well known fairytale, but the story is unique and it’s easy to forget it is based off Cinderella at points. The story depicts Cinder’s struggles as a cyborg without memories of her childhood. She meets prince Kai when he comes to her mechanic shop to fix one of his androids. Their relationship grows from Cinder being starstruck to a tentative friendship with a lot of banter. I like how they are not thrown together immediately, but are given time to develop feelings. 

Cinder as a character is very relatable. She’s hardworking and no push-over. Her problems and insecurities only make her stronger. When she finds out she’s immune to the illness that’s plaguing New Beijing, she works with Dr. Erland to find a cure which takes a lot of courage. 

Cinder also has a great supportive cast. My favourite character has to be Iko, a small ‘defective’ android with a cheery personality close to that of a teenage girl. I found her amusing, and she’s Cinder’s best friend and biggest supporter. Her relationship with her adoptive family is also well-drawn and you can see the love she holds for her younger step-sister, Peony. Her stepmother Adri is a horrible, horrible human being, but at the same time you can see that she loves both her daughters and acts so horribly towards Cinder because she’s afraid of Cinder’s negative impact on what remains of her family. 

The introduction of the Lunars – a colony, turned monarchy, who live on the moon and have creepy powers – makes Cinder more than just a fairytale retelling. Queen Levana is a great villain. She’s a strong ruler, manipulative and ruthless. You never know what she’s hiding under her projected illusion of beauty. She’s trying to secure an alliance with Earth through marriage to Prince Kaito, Crown Prince of the Eastern Commonwealth. Queen Levana is threatening war if an agreement isn’t reached, leaving Kai and Cinder’s growing relationship in a precarious position. Her role as a villain grows in the following books, Scarlet and Cress and she’s a link that ties quite a few of the main characters together.

I really loved this book. It has enough elements of the original tale to be a retelling, but the author makes the story her own. All the elements introduced lead nicely into the following books of the series – which I read as soon as  managed to get my hands on them. I am looking forward to book four, Winter, which is out next September!

Score

8.5/10

Recommended to…

Lovers of fairytale retellings. Another of my favourite Cinderella-based novels – with more Asian influence – is Shadows on the Moon by Zoë Marriott. Of course, I also have to recommend Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire – author of Wicked – which is one of my all-time favourite retellings.

Followed by…

Scarlet

 

The Originals – Cat Patrick

First published May 7th 2013 by Little, Brown and Company.

Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction

Note: To view spoilers, highlight the white text.

Lizzie, Ella, and Betsey Best grew up believing they were identical triplets.

Then they learned the truth…

and no one else can know.

Now, to the outside world, the Best family appears to consist of a single mother with one seventeen-year-old daughter named Elizabeth. Lizzie, Ella, and Betsey take turns going to school, pursuing extracurriculars, and even dating. (more) 

I first came across this novel while browsing Amazon. It kept popping up in my recommended books, so I decided to give it a try. I’d never heard of Cat Patrick before, but the synopsis and cover art had me downloading the book onto my Kindle.

I found the concept behind The Originals very intriguing. Three teenage girls, all clones of one ‘original’ girl, living one life? I really wanted to see how that could possibly work out.

The book started off strongly, with Lizzie (our narrator) getting us straight into the mindset behind the peculiar family. I enjoyed the explanations of how their days were split into three sections, and each girl was in charge of portraying Elizabeth during those set hours. However, the book seemed to lose momentum the further I got into it. It became too focused on the teenage aspect and the romance – not that the relationships were badly written – it just seemed pretty obvious where it was all heading. Perhaps the narrative could’ve benefited from more than one voice. I felt I didn’t get to know the other girls well, especially Betsey whom I sometimes forgot was even there.

The intriguing parts, such as the cloning or the girls’ search for the ‘original’ were glossed over. I was so excited when they located a fourth clone, but my excitement deflated when they didn’t pursue that further. I felt the blurb was describing a very different story at points. My expectations were of a thriller – not so much a romance – which might be part of the let down. The character of the mother felt two-dimensional, and I was surprised the girls hadn’t rebelled against her earlier. The story built up momentum again two-thirds of the way through. When Lizzie and Sean drive across the country to locate Betsey and Ella I was anticipating much-needed answers. Then nothing really happened. The resolution felt rushed and slightly contrived. The girls just happen to get what they want. The whole cloning conspiracy stays quiet. Basically, all their mother was running  and keeping the girls safe from just deflated in the last chapters.

The Originals was entertaining, although it dragged in some places. I think it could’ve benefitted from focusing on one aspect, either the teenage/romance aspect or the cloning/conspiracy aspect.

Score

5.5/10

Recommended to…

It had a Maximum Ride feel to it at times, especially the earlier books (The Angel Experiment is the first in the series) with the whole ‘running away from people who want to experiment on them’ aspect. I’ve also heard great things about Cat Patrick’s debut novel, Forgotten which is now on my to-read list. Also, if you liked this you might enjoy Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson.