Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Even in the Future the Story Begins with Once Upon a Time.”

Seventeen year-old Cinder had always wanted to be accepted by her step-mother but now all she wants is to escape. But nothing is so simple in life of a cyborg like her. Leutomosis, blue fever, is spreading and a cure seems a dream and now Cinder's only human friend and step-sister, Peony, has the plague. Blamed yet again for something she didn't commit, Cinder is forcefully sent to the palace labs to be experimented on for a cure. Nothing goes as expected. Cinder is suddenly more unique than she ever believed and is crushing on a prince, who will only be reviled by her truth. But most of all, the only way to save the country is her. Could she do that in time?

~

*WARNING: Contains spoilers!*

I could see remains of my blown-up mind whenever I picked up this book. Cinder is definitely one of the best books of 2012. Intricately woven and expertly written, Cinder drew me in from the first page itself. The protagnist was a strong, head-on and kick-ass character. She wasn't the one to just give up and she always put up a fight. A hilarious sarcastic side was another wonderful trait of Cinder's.

“I don't know. I don't actually remember anything from before the surgery."

His eyebrows rose, his blue eyes sucking in all the light of the room. "The cybernetic opetation?"

"No, the sex change."

The doctor's smile faltered.

"I'm joking.”

Cinder is an extremely great mechanic and her brain wiring keeps her connected to world at all times through internet. THAT IS SO COOL. Cinder's cyborg side was very engaging as it left me wondering it's extent. Cinder was definitely one hell-of-a-character.

Now, let's get to my new fictional crush, PRINCE KAI ❤❤❤
He was lovely and sweet and charming and captivating and endearing and charming and every other word in a thesaurus that means charming. Besides being utterly, irresistibly charming, Kai proved to be a great leader, too. Even though things weren't going his way, he made choices that put his kingdom before him. Really made me proud of the boy. Plus, he can be pretty honest, too.

“That you prefer to rule through fear rather than justice? So sorry, Your Majesty, I’m afraid I already knew that about you.”

But most memorable character, in my opinion, is Iko. Even though she was an android, she was particularly lively and effervescent. Also, she totally managed to add to the fan-girl moments which Cinder refused to admit. If you aren't already expecting, an example:

“Oh, my stars! Think about 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.”

And she's choosy and totally girly as well, like:

"Plus, I’m not getting in this thing. There’s probably decades’ worth of rat droppings under those seats.”

That's a lot of personality for an android. Certainly more than a certain frigid girl *cough*Sella Bwan*cough* in love with a dead, sparkly guy.

Overall, Cinder was completely enthralling and riveting. Thank you, Marissa Meyer for such an AWESOME book like Cinder. The sequel Scarlet releases in 2013. SO FREAKING LONG!!!. In the mean time, you can read a short-story prequel to Cinder called Glitches (Lunar Chronicles, #0.5) for free on this link: http://www.tor.com/stories/2011/12/glitches. You can also read my review for Glitches here: http://ravenfic.blogspot.in/2012/03/glitches-by-marissa-meyer-lunar.html

In the end (which was so not a happy ending) :

“Soon, the whole world would be searching for her -Linh Cinder.
A deformed cyborg with a missing foot.
A Lunar with a stolen identity.
A mechanic with no one to run to, nowhere to go.
But they will be looking for a ghost.”

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