Cinder 

Cinder by Marissa Meyer is a dystopian novel based on the classic fairy tale, Cinderella. Cinder takes place in New Beijing. She is a cyborg who needs to deal with her evil step-mother, Adri, and two step-sisters, Peony and Pearl. She needs to start an uprising against the evil queen, Queen Levana, and figure out how she feels about the handsome, Prince Kai. This twisted take on Cinderella involves cyborgs, adventure, evil queens, diseases, romance, and more. I highly recommend this novel because it's insightful.

Before I read the novel I had some doubts about the story. These doubts were just because I didn’t enjoy reading about a fictional character whose physical abilities are more than what humans can do. To sum it up, I believed it would be too ‘fictional’ for my taste. The main reason I started this book was that we were doing an individual novel study in school and because I do love fairy-tales. 

The theme of the book is identity and loving yourself and other people. At the end of the book, Cinder finally accepts who she is. “She kept her head high, even as her eyes stung, even as panic filled her vision with warnings and precautions. It was not her fault he liked her. It was not her fault she was a cyborg. She would not apologize.” She needed to accept that not everyone she met was going to like her. “Do your kind even know what love is? Can you feel anything at all or is it just… programmed?” Discrimination from society can hinder a person's development. One of the main points is the discrimination of Cinder and the social class of society. 

The point of view is the third person. It allows the reader to know the actions and emotions of the characters. One of the main points of the novel is the discrimination of Cinder and the social class of society in the book. Cinder is complex, as her reactions, and by knowing her thoughts and feelings. We get a better understanding of her character.

When I started reading the book, I loved Iko who is Cinder's companion throughout the whole book. I didn’t even know that androids can have crushes and make jokes! “Oh my stars, think of Prince Kai. You could dance with Prince Kai.” ‘This made Cinder pause and squint into Iko’s blinding light. “Why would the prince dance with me?” Iko’s fan hummed as she sought an answer. “Because you won’t have grease on your face this time.” ‘At the beginning of the novel, Cinder’s mission was to escape her evil step-mother and replace her old foot-in order to do this she needed to be organized. When her mission changed, there were many unexpected actions. She starts to care and worry about situations around her rather than her own situations. In the beginning, Prince Kai is naive and apprehensive about his future. After his father dies, he has new responsibilities that he doesn’t know how to handle. The stress gives him a different outlook on life and he ends up falling in love with Cinder. Kai is not your typical prince, which explains why he falls for Cinder. Queen Levana is the perfect example of the Ice Queen. Her mission stays the same throughout the whole novel, which is to do whatever it takes to conquer the world. She uses her so-called glamour to control others and thinks that she’s the queen New Beijing needs.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this book. Especially to those who want to bring back memories of childhood fairytales they read but more advanced.