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isabel_is_reading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Characters
- Cinder- Cinder is a pretty lovable character, she’s stubborn, caring, kind and tomboyish. I liked the fact she’s a talented mechanic and I enjoyed her relationship with Iko and her younger step-sister. She played an active role in the story, which is always a good thing.
- Kai- Kai is an interesting twist to the ‘Prince charming’ character, he’s focused, he’s pretty smart and he has always wanted to lead his country. But, I got so annoyed with the way he dealt with the marriage storyline.
“We’re going to war!” 💂🏻
“No, I am going to marry her and avoid war!” 🤴🏻
“No, you can’t marry her, war is coming anyway and she might kill you!” 💂🏻
“Despite the fact that I know that marrying her will not help with previous problems and It might hurt me I’m still going to do it for no reason.”
“No, don’t marry her! She’s evil” 👩🏽🔧
“ I have to marry her!”
“I am evil and I will kill your loved one if you don’t marry me!” 🦹🏽♀️
“ I am sorry evil one, now that you want to kill my loved one, so now there is an actual reason to marry you I can’t marry you…despite the fact that I was going to marry you like...one second ago!”
I’m a Libra and I’m not this indecisive.
Plot
I found the plot to be pretty interesting, but predictable. Now you can kinda expect this from a retelling since the basic plot outline is already laid out for you and sent it from an old very well-known fairytale. Most people know how the basic structure is gonna go, but some of the twist which were supposed to be impactful, were pretty obvious to me since the beginning. I’m not a huge fan of this genre anymore, but if you enjoy young adult fantasy you might like it. The romance was ok, but it was to insta loving for me and I wish there was a better foundation for the realtinonship.
World building
The world building is my biggest problem with this novel despite the fact, it was the reason why I actually wanted to pick it up. For one this is in a futuristic Beijing and I wanted to see what it would be like to be in this world white with new technology and especially with a culture that isn’t represented a lot and young adult fiction, especially during the time this book was written. However, this wasn’t really explored. I wish we got more details of how life is to live in this area. I wanted to see more about how the world works and the information that we are given is just confusing.
The cyborg discrimination makes no sense to me.
Just to simplify things;
~Cyborgs are people who have one or more metal parts. A human becomes a cyborg when they experience an accident and need this technology to, you know, NOT DIE.
~Androids are robotic machines that are programmed to act like humans. They function according to commands.
~Lunars are people who posses magic and live on the moon. They have the ability to mind control (glamour) humans.
The biggest problem that I have with the world building is that I don’t understand why cyborgs are look down upon and discriminated in society. I mean first of all the cyborg is just a person who have metal part so someone who for example, gets a prosthetic leg and maybe a prosthetic arm is going to be “ more human” then someone who has like a fully metal brain and heart and lungs and arms and legs, and just everything as prosthetic. So if the problem is that they’re discriminated because they’re not fully human wouldn’t certain individuals be treated better than other individuals? Just like the same way with real life racism individuals wear darker skin experience, colorism compared to light skin individuals who don’t experience colorism. Also, I just don’t understand how someone being saved by new technology that gives him another chance at life after horrible accident would be treated badly by society that just doesn’t make sense to me at all and the author doesn’t explain it in a way that makes sense.
Writing
“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.”
This is a debut novel and the writing is actually pretty good 👍🏻.
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Classism
Minor: Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, and War
noellegrace8's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I don't include the audio performer in my overall star review, but I'd give Rebecca Soler 4/5. There isn't much to say outside of her performance falling a bit flat. It wasn't actively bad, but there wasn't enough excitement and variance in her narration to intrigue me; my inner reading dialogue is much more enthusiastic than her performance itself is.
Graphic: Ableism, Terminal illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Classism
Minor: Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
Those listed in "graphic" are central themes, although the ableism is more of metaphor (Cinder is a cyborg and treated poorly because of it) than a direct commentary. Moderate categories listed are related to the death of a loved one in the plot, a medical research focus due to the epidemic theme, and the aforementioned ordeal of Cinder being cyborg. "Minor" category items are straightforward and not too present in the book.melissaslibraryy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Violence, and Suicide attempt
hollyheartless's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: War
modernhobbitvibes's review against another edition
2.75
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, and Classism
Classic "evil stepmother abusive behavior" that you see in most fairy tales. Labeled the anti-cyborg sentiments as "classism" because I'm not sure what else to call it.parfait52's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and War
ariep's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
thumbeleia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Colonisation, and Deportation
Minor: Hate crime, Infertility, and Alcohol
coryyalva's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
If it wasn't for the fact that I predicted the ending of the book at page 100 (this is a 400 page book, by the way) then I would have EASY given it 4 stars, if not 4.5, but there was no sense of surprise for me.
Nonetheless, I do recommend everyone go read it!!
Graphic: Racism and Classism
Moderate: Death and Terminal illness
Minor: War
msradiosilence's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content warnings at the bottom. :)
I first read the Lunar Chronicles when I was in high school. And that was a LONG time ago. My boyfriend got me the pretty cover box set, so I figured now was as good a time as any to read it!
My first major issue is that the main characters are all 16-17 years old. That’s insanity. Since the whole series takes place in like 9 months, Cinder is a <i> child </i>. She’s a baby. 16 is NOTHING. Too young to be causing all this trouble, that’s for sure. She does so much in this book and the next three, like?? Did she have to be 16?
My second major issue is that, even though this book is set in Beijing, there’s very little of Eastern Asian culture in the book. Mayhaps that’s because the author is a white woman with no ties to China, and we all know how I feel about white authors writing outside of their experiences, but I digress.
I’ve always felt so sorry for Kai. Bless him, he’s always getting the short end of the stick with all of this, and it’s a wonder he doesn’t have a full head of grey hair. Poor guy is always stressed.
Dr. Erland is one of the best unhinged characters I’ve read in a while. Morally grey, funny, he’s just a fun character to read. I don’t agree at all with anything he’s ever done, but I do love a moral grey bitch.
Rating: 4.5
Would I recommend? Yes, especially if you enjoy moon people, quippy robots, and sci-fi fairytale retellings.
Content warnings: Car accident, Child abuse, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Bullying, Death of parent, Gun violence, Ableism, Classism, Medical trauma, Blood, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Death
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic