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emiserable's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Terminal illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Death of parent
Minor: Blood and Car accident
ashmeanything's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
4.0
It's always cool when something defies your expectations - I have had this book on my radar since it came out when I was a teenager. My rationale was simple: a retelling of Cinderella seems like something I'd like, and her being a robot is a bonus. Finally picking this book up over a decade later, I was delighted to see the unique and well-crafted world Meyer has built around this story. Being a YA novel with more of a character focus, we don't get tons of information about <i>why</i> things are this way, but that doesn't bother me. I loved seeing the spin on world cultures following a plague, two more world wars, and complete restructuring of global politics. It expanded the Cinderella character with tastes of a bigger world but still kept a lighthearted and pleasant flow that felt appropriate for the tone. I'm glad I finally read it and will continue the series at some point.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
Minor: Xenophobia and War
madi_oasis's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Re-reading one of my favourite young adult fairytale retelling series! I first picked this book up in high school, around 2013-2014, and loved it so much!
The world-building and character writing is very good, and I really like the implications of the larger universe being fairly unknown at this point in the series. The reader knows enough about the overall universe without the book needing to lore-dump or go into lengthy exposition.
Cinder’s character arch is really good, it takes her a long time to realise her potential, and she has to really work for it and grow as a character. The ending is a cliff-hangerbut still gives the feeling that Cinder is going to get out of the prison cell and find her way out of Levana’s grasp . I can’t wait to re-read the rest of the series!
The world-building and character writing is very good, and I really like the implications of the larger universe being fairly unknown at this point in the series. The reader knows enough about the overall universe without the book needing to lore-dump or go into lengthy exposition.
Cinder’s character arch is really good, it takes her a long time to realise her potential, and she has to really work for it and grow as a character. The ending is a cliff-hanger
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Violence, and Medical content
Minor: Gun violence, Torture, and War
cranereader's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, and Classism
Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, and Car accident
Minor: War
op3's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-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
5.0
Definitely a 5/5 rating! The book was such a good and easy read but not in the sense it was too easy. I’d been putting off reading this book for the first time and I regret every moment I did!
This is such a good book and if it’s on your tbr list I HIGHLY recommend you start reading it as soon as possible!
This is such a good book and if it’s on your tbr list I HIGHLY recommend you start reading it as soon as possible!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Gun violence, Car accident, and War
mj_86's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
4.0
Why the worst ending in the world?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Blood and Death of parent
Minor: Gun violence, Car accident, and War
kot_zbigniew's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Child death and Death of parent
isabel_is_reading's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- 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
I found this book to have a very interesting setup and the author is definitely talented. A Cyborg Cinderella living in a post apocalyptic futuristic Beijing is a very interesting premise. However, I do think the book wasn’t executed in the best way. I’m going to split this up into sections on characters, plot, world building, and writing.
Characters
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.
*Let my dramatic interpretation begin*
“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!”
LIKE, Why!!!! Your supposed to be smart, why are you changing ur mind in 6 seconds!
I’m a Libra and I’m not this indecisive.
Rhe rest of the characters we one dimensional and forgettable so I don’t have much to say.
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 👍🏻.
“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 👍🏻.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Classism
Minor: Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, and War
ranee_samaniego's review against another edition
adventurous
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? No
4.0
Rating = PG
I was hesitant to read this book - I thought it would be a predictable romance with a sci-fi twist. Boy, was I wrong - and I am so glad I read this book!
While some aspects of the plot were predictable, the ending completely surprised me and made me eager to dive into the next book in the series.
Meyer did a wonderful job crafted a sci-fi world that was fascinating and different but still easily understandable. She also skillfully took the essence of the classic Cinderella story but added enough unique twists that I was engrossed the entire time. Finally, she created true, heartfelt moments throughout that often left me near tears.
I also really appreciated that this book was a clean sci-fi novel.
I can't wait to read the rest of the series!
I was hesitant to read this book - I thought it would be a predictable romance with a sci-fi twist. Boy, was I wrong - and I am so glad I read this book!
While some aspects of the plot were predictable, the ending completely surprised me and made me eager to dive into the next book in the series.
Meyer did a wonderful job crafted a sci-fi world that was fascinating and different but still easily understandable. She also skillfully took the essence of the classic Cinderella story but added enough unique twists that I was engrossed the entire time. Finally, she created true, heartfelt moments throughout that often left me near tears.
I also really appreciated that this book was a clean sci-fi novel.
I can't wait to read the rest of the series!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism and Emotional abuse
rwnhlfx's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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? No
4.0
Honestly, this book is really fun. I read it & the sequel for a class & I'm thinking about finishing the series on my own time. It does, however, lose a star due to some repetitive phrasing & Meyer's failure to portray an Asian culture in a respectful or believable way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Xenophobia, Police brutality, and Medical content
Minor: War