Cinder

Publisher: Fiewel and Friends (Macmillan)

Publish Date: 03 January 2012

Version: print ARC from Macmillan (Thank you!)

Series: Lunar Chronicles

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

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 center 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.

This story starts out with Cinder’s booth in the New Beijing market.  She is taking off her foot, while Iko retrieves another one for her.  Iko is another android who lives with Cinder in their household with her step-mother, Adri and her step-sisters Peony and Pearl.  While she is waiting, Prince Kaito comes up to her booth and asks for Linh Cinder.  At first he doesn’t believe that they are the same person as Linh Cinder is supposedly the best mechanic in New Beijing.  He then relays to her that he has an android that is in need of servicing.   Cinder is mesmerized by the prince and agrees to work on his android.

New Beijing is fighting against a disease that is widespread and highly contagious.  They have yet to find a cure for this plague known as letumosis.   There was an outbreak at the market when Cinder and Iko were there which caused the market to close and them to go home early.    When they take Peony to the junkyard to retrieve a magbelt for their hover, Peony starts showing symptoms of the plague.  She is quarantined immediately.  Cinder and Iko are checked over to make sure that they don’t have letumosis and they are sent on their way.  Cinder doesn’t know how she is going to explain this to Adri, but when she arrives at her house, she finds out that she already knows and blames Cinder for her daughter catching letumosis.  This doesn’t bode well for Cinder as she is then forced to “volunteer” for scientific research to help find a cure for the plague.  It is during that time that Cinder finds out what she must do.  The question is does she have the courage to do it or is she going to follow her dreams and run away so Iko and her will be free?  Then there are the Lunars.  The Lunar Queen Levana comes for a visit and everything turns chaotic for Cinder and Prince Kai.

I cannot say how much I loved this book.  From beginning to end, it had me in a spell and I could not put it down until I finished it.  I am so looking forward to more books from Meyer.  The way that the fairy tale of Cinderella was weaved into this story, makes it all the more magical.  It was if you knew what was going to happen based on the fairy tale, but then again, you didn’t because this was a totally separate story.  One of the points that I really liked in the book was that of letumosis.  It affected anyone and wasn't a disease that was specific to the poor.

• Cinder.  She is the main character.  She has a lot of guts and does things that she knows to be right.   Even though she is “just an android,” she has a lot of heart and took care of those people that she loved.  She has some tough choices to make in this book, and it made the book even better to see the reasons behind those choices.


• Iko.  The other android living in the household.  Adri has previously mentioned how she wanted to get rid of Iko.   This was said in some kind of punishment and caused Cinder to want to protect her even more.  Iko has a fun personality.  She was quirky. 


• Prince Kaito, Crown Prince of the Eastern Commonwealth.  He seems a little naïve in this book, although I don’t think he was as all.  He doesn’t seem to understand that Cinder is an android.  Or at least, he isn’t giving it away in his actions.  He also appears to be shy in some of the interactions with Cinder.  He doesn't act like his title as Prince should make him better than anyone else and that is the main reason why I like him.


• Peony.  Cinder’s sister.  She is the only one out of the family that treated Cinder like she was a family member.   Out of all the people in the household, the fact that Peony got letumosis is integral to this story.  If it were Adri or Pearl, Cinder probably wouldn't care as much.
• Dr. Erland.  He is the doctor that Cinder is working with on research to cure letumosis.  At times, I didn’t like him because of the way he acted and the things he put importance in, but overall, he is on the like list.

• Adri.  Cinder’s step-mother.  She makes Cinder work in the market so she can live the lifestyle that she is used to.  After Peony is diagnosed with leitmosis, she signs the consent for Cinder to be used as a test subject (or volunteer) to discover a cure for letumosis.


•  Queen Levana.  She is the Lunar queen who is taking advantage of the terrible misfortunes of others.  She controls people by using her mind.  As with other Lunars, she can project an image that she wants people to see.  She wants people to see her as beautiful.

The cover is of a leg and a red, high heeled shoe.  You can also see inside the leg and see the machinations of an Android.  I love this cover.  It really fits the fairy tale of Cinderella because it was all about the shoe left at the ball.  Only in Cinder’s case, she is part Android, so not all her parts are human.    I like the font that they used for the title, Cinder.  It is elegant and again, makes you think of the fairy tale.

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