Cinder Book Review
By Michelle Zhang
Cinder, by author Marissa Meyer, is the first book in an exciting series, the Lunar Chronicles. Cinder is based off of a classic fairytale, Cinderella, and transformed into a sci-fi novel in which the world has been split into different empires through wars and the moon has been colonized.
Cinder is a cyborg teenager living in New Beijing (Asia has been transformed into an empire known as The Eastern Commonwealth) with her stepmother and two stepsisters, Pearl and Peony. She is a talented mechanic who works in the market with her android friend, Iko, fixing broken parts on machinery and androids that people bring to her. One day, Prince Kai of the Commonwealth comes to her when finding out she is supposedly the “best mechanic in New Beijing” to fix his personal android. Embarrassed of her cyborg identity, she hides her metal foot and agrees to attempt fixing Nainsi, the android. Meanwhile, on the streets, Letumosis, a disease with no known cause or cure is raging across the world, killing many, and there is a dispute between the ‘Earthens’ and the powerful mind-manipulating Lunars, who live on the moon. Cinder somehow gets tied in all the drama and the rest you’ll have to read to find out!
Following Cinder is the second book, Scarlet, and then Cress and the exciting ending, Winter. Stars Above and Fairest are accompanying stories told from different points of view through different periods of time. I highly recommend you read this series as it is one of my favorite books because it has so many amazingly realistic characters and a bunch of really unexpected plot twists.