Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Date finished: 7 January 2015

Series: The Lunar Chronicles, Book 1

Rating: 5/5 stars

View on Goodreads.

Time to be brutally honest: Of all the classic fairytales I’ve grown up with, Cinderella is without a doubt the most overdone, and therefore has possibly become the most overrated. I didn’t think any more could be done to the original story after Disney edited out the gruesome parts and added in about three million singing creatures in peculiar clothing, then Hollywood decided to modernize it as a semi-musical starring Hilary Duff (A Cinderella Story) and later Selena Gomez (Another Cinderella Story), as well as “take it back to its roots” with Ever After: A Cinderella Story. Oh, and of course there’s the millions of novels out there that rip off Cinderella in one way or another: fairy godmother, ugly stepsisters, evil stepmother, pretty prince…

So it’s not that difficult to imagine the sheer amount of cringing that took place when I stumbled across yet another modernization of Cinderella on the internet.

But Cinder is most definitely not “yet another modernization” of the Cinderella story. Not only does the story take place in New Beijing after world peace has finally been established, and a new plague has emerged, but the protagonist, Cinder, is a mechanic. Oh, and she’s also a cyborg. And thus, Marissa Meyer effectively throws every single Cinderella stereotype out of the proverbial window, and continues to ruin your life in a single novel.

Everything about Cinder is perfect. At least, everything seems perfect now that I’ve just finished it and it’s about two in the morning because I couldn’t stop myself from reading it in one sitting. It’s that good. Storyline – almost flawless. Cinder – role-model-worthy. Writing – made me cry. And Prince Kai…

The sheer amount and range of emotions this book put me through is enough to award it five stars. It’s not often that a book can make me go from squealing out loud and doing a happy dance (because of Kai and Cinder) to wanting to punch a wall (Kai and Cinder) to crying hysterically (Kai and Cinder) to jumping up and down in anticipation and then finally resigning to doing that thing with my face and my hands because the feelings are just too much and my emotions are short-circuiting.

That thing. All because of stupid Kai and Cinder.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a YA novel as good as Cinder. Highly recommended to fans of Beastly.

Oh, and also Cinder doesn’t need a fairy godmother. She makes her own miracles. Consequently, she’s amazing and the reason I’m currently locking away my Kindle so that I don’t buy the sequel before the sun rises.