The book Cinder, by Marissa Mayer, is a retelling of the classic Cinderella story. Set far in the future, the book features many technologies not yet known to man, such as eye screens and hover cars. Additionally, title character Cinder is a cyborg, which adds an interesting twist to this well-known story. Though it is a retelling Cinderella, Cinder has a subtle enough allegory to be enjoyed as a story of its own.
Cinder Lihn is a gifted mechanic living in the city of New Beijing. Forced to work to support her spiteful stepmother and spoiled stepsisters, Cinder’s life is mundane. She has only her bubbly stepsister Peony and her robot friend Iko for friends until one day, a fateful visit from the prince changes her whole existence. After she is asked to fix Prince Kai’s android, Cinder’s life begins to get exciting. Events only escalate after Peony catches the deadly plague, and Cinder is volunteered to test antidotes to the plague, a usually deadly job. When the cruel Lunar queen Camilla comes to Earth, things lead to a climax that will shape the fate of the world.
Although this book got great reviews and was very strongly recommended to me by a friend, I did not enjoy Cinder. I found that I needed to force myself to continue reading, even though I expected to like it. The exact reason that I didn’t enjoy this book was hard to pin down, but I was eventually able to narrow it to a couple of things. First of all, I found the book quite dark. There was a lot of hatred, deception and fear between the characters. Also, it was hard to invest in the characters because most of them were acting only in their own self-interest, or were being strongly influenced by ulterior motives. The two exceptions to this were Prince Kai and Peony, who both cared deeply about those around them. Overall, this book did not meet my expectations, even though I really wanted to enjoy it.
Things to watch for: some cruelty and discrimination, minor violence, imprisonment, some mature issues.
Recommended age: 13