Review: Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Hello my wonderful bookworms! I hope you all have had a marvellous week. Today, I’m coming at ya with a review of a book I finished last week that I’m sure most of you have heard of called Cinder by Marissa Meyer. It’s the first book in the Lunar Chronicles series and I’m super excited to tell you all my thoughts on this book! So without further ado, here we go!

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Pages: 395 (US Hardcover)

Publication Date: 3 January 2012

My rating: 3.5/5 stars

“Vanity is a factor, but it is more a question of control. It is easier to trick others into perceiving you as beautiful if you can convince yourself you are beautiful. But mirrors have an uncanny way of telling the truth.”

Goodreads Synopsis

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.

Ah, where to start with this book. There were things I really enjoyed about the book, but I must admit I REALLY struggled to get into the story. Firstly, it takes place in a location that I don’t often read books in and is a futuristic society that is super technologically advanced. I had a hard time understanding what the heck a cyborg was (which is SUPER struggle seeing as the main character is one!) and the practicalities of being a cyborg. I guess I was putting waaayyyy too much thought into the particulars of the book.

Here’s what I liked about the book:

• The time period- I was once the QUEEN of reading all things Dystopian/Futuristic so reading a book that took place hundreds of years in the future was really interesting to me.
• Cinder- Cinder was my favourite character in this book, which is good since DUH the book is named after her! It would’ve been so awful to read a book whose title character annoyed me! Cinder was sassy and clever, two traits I absolutely love to see in book heroines
• Iko- Iko was Cinder’s servant android/friend who was so hilarious and heartfelt that I almost forgot she was a machine instead of a person!
• Letumosis- Okay you’re probably wondering what the heck that is! Letumosis is the disease that has been wreaking havoc on New Beijing in the book. Now I don’t actually like the disease, I just liked the element of suspense that the disease added to the book. Plague running rampant throughout the entire Earth? Sounds like an interesting read to me (I am terrible, I know 😂 🙃)!
• Kai and Cinder- Now I might be jumping the gun with this, but I can totally see the two of them becoming a thing. I would be ALL OVER IT. There were definitely some ~moments~ between these two that would lead one to think they’re on the brink of lurrvveee ❤️

Here’s what I DIDN’T like about the book:

• Lack of explanations/details- Now this is a blanket complaint about the book. I felt like it lacked some SERIOUS explanations about the time period and what’s going on on Earth during this time. The author just throws out random events and things without any explanation behind them. Also, WHERE ARE MY CYBORG EXPLANATIONS? Why doesn’t she give me explanations about the different machinery that she keeps mentioning? Am I just supposed to know about these things?!
• Adri- Adri, Cinder’s stepmother/guardian, was SO IRRITATING. And not in a Dolores Umbridge low-key terrifyingly villianous kind of way. She was just shrill and annoying and I was not a fan.
• Dr. Erland- I won’t go into too many details about him but he is the KING OF KEEPING SECRETS! And I’m not talking about tiny little secrets; I’m talking EARTH-SHATTERING REVELATIONS that he just conveniently does not mention. Come on, man! Share your knowledge!

Overall, I will say that I enjoyed this book. The latter half of it was definitely faster paced than the beginning of it, which helped me read the end a bit faster. I’ve since continued on to the second book in the series, Scarlet, and you’ll soon be hearing my thoughts on that one!

Have you read Cinder? What did you think of it? I’d love to hear all about it!

Until next time!

-K