anita_mv's review against another edition
4.0
Hasta en el futuro, la historia comienza con Érase Una Vez.
ana_mv's review against another edition
4.0
Hasta en el futuro, la historia comienza con Érase Una Vez.
ravenclawomanistcyborgwitch's review against another edition
4.0
This story is LIT. I love the plot. Writing is just ok but I LOVE Cinder. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series! I will write a better review later lol.
chirson's review against another edition
2.0
The author was a huge Sailor Moon fan, and the book is largely influenced by the world-building and style of Sailor Moon, but not necessarily in a good way.
I expected it to be better, at least marginally. The ideas are cool, but the execution falters to me, because the pieces just don't fit together terribly well. The personal and the global are tied in a way that is based on coincidence and requires constant suspension of disbelief. Using fairy-tale tropes, instead of helping (providing structure) actually seems to be detrimental to the story (the nods to the original are in turns fun and unbearably cheesy - the pumpkin in particular). The Prince is paper-thin and hyper-emotional, and his constant fury at the villain was simply boring to read. I wish they'd got rid of the prince's royal title, made the story less about the romance - or made the romance at least a bit more gripping - and then the cyborgs and the Lunars and New Beijing could have been given some actual atmosphere. The world-building could have been interesting, but instead felt merely disjoined. I always thought the Hunger Games had some problems with making the entire world fleshed out (the fragments were awesome, but the whole - not so much) but here it just doesn't seem to make sense. There's a Commonwealth of Asia? With an Emperor? But some other countries have elected politicians? And there's the Moon, where evil creatures live, and they have weird superstitions that prevent anyone without royal blood from gaining power, except those royal bloodlines are how long again? Not terribly, if I understood correctly...
And the villain... I wish they'd made her the least bit interesting, but instead she's monstrous feminine, has not an ounce of motivation other than "obtain supreme power over everything at all cost" and is actually secretly ugly (that's why she's evil! just old-fashioned envy!). Such a wasted opportunity.
I expected it to be better, at least marginally. The ideas are cool, but the execution falters to me, because the pieces just don't fit together terribly well. The personal and the global are tied in a way that is based on coincidence and requires constant suspension of disbelief. Using fairy-tale tropes, instead of helping (providing structure) actually seems to be detrimental to the story (the nods to the original are in turns fun and unbearably cheesy - the pumpkin in particular). The Prince is paper-thin and hyper-emotional, and his constant fury at the villain was simply boring to read. I wish they'd got rid of the prince's royal title, made the story less about the romance - or made the romance at least a bit more gripping - and then the cyborgs and the Lunars and New Beijing could have been given some actual atmosphere. The world-building could have been interesting, but instead felt merely disjoined. I always thought the Hunger Games had some problems with making the entire world fleshed out (the fragments were awesome, but the whole - not so much) but here it just doesn't seem to make sense. There's a Commonwealth of Asia? With an Emperor? But some other countries have elected politicians? And there's the Moon, where evil creatures live, and they have weird superstitions that prevent anyone without royal blood from gaining power, except those royal bloodlines are how long again? Not terribly, if I understood correctly...
Spoiler
But it's important because that's the protag's sole claim to relevance.And the villain... I wish they'd made her the least bit interesting, but instead she's monstrous feminine, has not an ounce of motivation other than "obtain supreme power over everything at all cost" and is actually secretly ugly (that's why she's evil! just old-fashioned envy!). Such a wasted opportunity.
laurenevlyn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gun violence, and Child abuse
obsessed_with_books's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
beigents_and_books's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. I mean, it’s not the best book I’ve ever read but it was fun and entertaining, which honestly is all all that matters.
flamingo2023's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
mamphofmischief's review against another edition
4.0
Fantastic world-building and a great fairy tale retelling. I was really really enjoying it, until it became painfully obvious that i'd predicted the ending very early on.
monarcadelibros's review against another edition
5.0
I read this in one day, I couldn't put it down! Once I finished it, I thought I had just read a really good book, but then two days later I found myself STILL thinking about this story, so now I'm eager to continue the chronicles.