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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
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
megnut's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Medical content
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
noellegrace8's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
This is such a cool modern (future, actually??) retelling of Cinderella. She is NOTHING like any Cinderella we've read or watched before. She is a mechnic with a good portion of her body being mechanical in and of itself. Meyer does a fantastic job creating interesting plot points that surprise the reader yet also point them to the original source material of Cinderella. Overall a quick-paced, clever book. I can't wait to read the next installments! The few issues I had with the book were just that it was a bit hard to get into at first, especially because some of the characters weren't as interesting as they could have been, and sometimes the word usage was odd, almost like she used the word adjacent to what she actually meant.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
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.greenedreader's review against another edition
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Terminal illness, Blood, Car accident, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
_ren's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Gun violence, and Blood
Minor: Vomit and Abandonment
kal_el_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Violence and War
Minor: Gun violence
melissaslibraryy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
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? Yes
5.0
Omg!! The Lunar Chronicles was one of my favorite series back in middle school and being able to reread it the way I’ve always planned too makes me so happy. I forgot how much I loved this book and feeling as though I’m reading it for the first time again makes me live it even more after all this time. If you’re looking for a thrilling, adventurous YA dystopian novel with a romantic side plot, Cinder is the book for you. 1000000% recommend !!
Content Warnings
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