A review by niraverse
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
3.0
This was such a lovely book and I honestly would love to give it more than 3 stars but I can't. And I have my reasons for this, promise.
2.) The treatment of the cyborgs. I feel like it's not properly addressed at all. It's mentioned, eyebrows are raised, pearls are clutched but other than that I don't feel anything else. We see how Cinder's treated and we proclaim it as horrible, we proclaim the cyborg draft as horrible but other than that there's nothing there. I'm not saying we needed an entire rally of people protesting the treatment of cyborgs, I'm saying that there should've been a bit more outrage among the citizens of New Beijing.
3.) The relationship between Cinder and the prince. It felt rushed for lack of better words. It felt rushed and I was bored with every interaction they had. I swear to you I was itching to skip every scene with the two of them. Cinder, in my opinion, was barely interested in Kai. She was intrigued by him sure but a crush? It didn't feel like it. Kai was begging her, BEGGING HER, to go to the ball with her and she dodged and ducked going with him. It felt insanely one-sided throughout the book and while I wanted to root for them I just couldn't.
4.)Cinder's reveal as the lost princess. There was no build-up to this reveal. NOTHING. It just felt like it was there for shock value and shock it did. It didn't shock me because it was so good and had me flipping back on the pages to figure out how I missed it. It had me flipping back to figure out when this was even foreshadowed.
5.) Cinder being Lunar. To be very real, there was an attempt to foreshadow that Cinder was Lunar. Like the doctor's weirdness towards her but other than that? Nothin really. It was a nice twist but it didn't really have me shocked to the extreme.
6.) Kai's POV were lacking. There wasn't anything captivating about it unlike Cinder's. Her's felt more thought and well-written
7.) Peony's death did not hit hard. She should've been fleshed out more and had more scenes to make it hit the readers more instead of just having Cinder be the only one to grieve for her.
8.) Levana and her motivations were vastly unclear, there was much to be desired for her character and I'll leave it at that.
Spoiler
1.) The setting of the book is China, specifically Beijing, but we don't see any of China's rich culture!! The author had ample opportunity to insert some of China's culture but sadly we don't get any of that.2.) The treatment of the cyborgs. I feel like it's not properly addressed at all. It's mentioned, eyebrows are raised, pearls are clutched but other than that I don't feel anything else. We see how Cinder's treated and we proclaim it as horrible, we proclaim the cyborg draft as horrible but other than that there's nothing there. I'm not saying we needed an entire rally of people protesting the treatment of cyborgs, I'm saying that there should've been a bit more outrage among the citizens of New Beijing.
3.) The relationship between Cinder and the prince. It felt rushed for lack of better words. It felt rushed and I was bored with every interaction they had. I swear to you I was itching to skip every scene with the two of them. Cinder, in my opinion, was barely interested in Kai. She was intrigued by him sure but a crush? It didn't feel like it. Kai was begging her, BEGGING HER, to go to the ball with her and she dodged and ducked going with him. It felt insanely one-sided throughout the book and while I wanted to root for them I just couldn't.
4.)Cinder's reveal as the lost princess. There was no build-up to this reveal. NOTHING. It just felt like it was there for shock value and shock it did. It didn't shock me because it was so good and had me flipping back on the pages to figure out how I missed it. It had me flipping back to figure out when this was even foreshadowed.
5.) Cinder being Lunar. To be very real, there was an attempt to foreshadow that Cinder was Lunar. Like the doctor's weirdness towards her but other than that? Nothin really. It was a nice twist but it didn't really have me shocked to the extreme.
6.) Kai's POV were lacking. There wasn't anything captivating about it unlike Cinder's. Her's felt more thought and well-written
7.) Peony's death did not hit hard. She should've been fleshed out more and had more scenes to make it hit the readers more instead of just having Cinder be the only one to grieve for her.
8.) Levana and her motivations were vastly unclear, there was much to be desired for her character and I'll leave it at that.