Title: CINDER (Lunar Chronicles #1)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends (a Macmillan imprint)
Release Date: January 3, 2012
Number of Pages: 400
Source of Book: ARC from NCTE Convention
Author’s Website: marissameyer.livejournal.com

Humans and androids
crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the
population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make
their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen
with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her
stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the
handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an
intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty
and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her
past in order to protect her world’s future.

In this thrilling debut young adult novel, the first of a quartet,
Marissa Meyer introduces readers to an unforgettable heroine and a
masterfully crafted new world that’s enthralling.

I liked CINDER a lot – it was one of those books that kept me turning pages because of the well-paced plot and I didn’t want to stop reading it. It was a little predictable, but also exciting. There were parts I thought I knew what was going to happen, and they ended up a little different, but overall I felt like I knew many of the big things were going to happen before they occurred. Now, because this is a retelling so has a basic structure of familiar things sI would look for, that’s to be expected, but I wanted more of the big moments to be more a surprise to me. However, I still really enjoyed reading it, and can see that this would actually be good for my middle school students.

This book is full of political intrigue, suspense, action, and not knowing what would happen next or how things would work out. There is an intergalactic battle brewing and it adds another whole element to the tension of the story beyond just what is going to happen to Cinder. There was strong world-building as I felt as if I was there with the characters and understood what was happening and why they were dealing with the things they were, but it wasn’t overly drawn out with lengthy sections for exposition. It was worked right in and pieces were slowly revealed to the reader as the characters learned them. There are androids and cyborgs and netscreens and hovercrafts and all kinds of technological advancements which add a great science-fiction element to the story as well.

One of my favorite parts of the book was the characters. Cinder is just a warm-hearted character – I was really pulling for
her to make it through all of her difficulties. I liked her and I wanted
her to come out on top in the end. She is kind and caring even though
she has not received this same treatment from others in her life. She is
brave, but she has no idea how brave until she is faced with some
difficult choices, and realizes what she would and can do to help save
people. She is finding her strength throughout this book, and she does
it all with an integrity of character that is admirable. She may not be
physically 100% human, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have the
feeling and thoughts of one (contrary to what some might believe).

There were some great secondary characters (Peony,
Ito, Kai) who were endearing as well and made it possible to believe that Cinder would have the
will to get through some of the stuff she’s going through. And, there are also the requisite evil characters who I really hated (as I was supposed to). Prince Kai is actually my favorite character and he has the start of a sweet romance going on, but he has a whole lot of other issues to deal with as well. I have to say that I would have liked even more of Kai; although, the third person writing style gives us a lot of insight into his character and feelings, but mostly from Cinder’s perspective. Kai is strong and sweet and young and looking for something to help him through as he is forced to grow up really fast, and I was definitely supporting him throughout.

The ending was intense…I’m not sure where this story could go next. It was previewed a little bit in the final conversation, but I’m still not sure what to expect from the second book. I’m glad this is going to be a quartet of books, but can’t believe that means we’ll have to wait until 2015 to get the end of the story! I will definitely be picking up the rest of the books though to see what happens with Cinder and Kai next!

Goodreads Summary:
Rosie knows that she
and Rob are destined to be together. They are best friends, next door
neighbors, and the soon-to-be cutest couple in their senior class. Rosie
has been waiting for years for Rob to kiss her–and when he finally
does, it’s perfect. But just before their relationship becomes
completely official, Rosie’s cousin Juliet moves back into town. Juliet,
who used to be Rosie’s best friend. Juliet, who now inexplicably hates
her. Juliet, who is gorgeous, vindictive, and a little bit crazy…and
who has set her sights on Rob. He doesn’t even stand a chance.

Rosie is devastated over losing Rob to Juliet. This is not how the
story was supposed to go. And when rumors start swirling about Juliet’s
instability, her neediness, and her threats of suicide, Rosie starts to
fear not only for Rob’s heart, but also for his life. Because
Shakespeare may have gotten the story wrong, but we all still know how
it ends.

I was really excited to see an advanced reader copy of this book at the convention because I had heard about it/seen the summary, and it sounded really good. It ended up not being exactly what I was expecting from the summary that I had read, but I did like it; although, I was a little bit unsure in the beginning. We all know Shakespeare’s version of Romeo & Juliet, but this book says Shakespeare may have gotten it all wrong because it’s really a drama, and Rosaline who loved Romeo is kind of an overlooked character once Juliet shows up – in fact, she may be the wronged party in this whole equation. So in this book, we get Rosaline’s side of the story. Intriguing, right? But, what I didn’t realize, was that this book would be told as a completely contemporary story.

In Act I, I was a little unsure because it was feeling a little bit like a generic high school drama/popularity book, but once we got into the later acts, I started to feel the need to keep reading and not stop until I finished four hours later. I almost put it down after Act I, but still felt there was something about this book that I was really going to like, and needed to keep reading to find it. So, what I’m saying is, if you aren’t sure of it in the beginning, keep going because it gets really good.

This very contemporary high school romance book has the obvious (and some more subtle) references to Romeo & Juliet which makes it a great tie-in to hand to students to compare and spot the connections. I can see it being very popular in high schools. It was a fun read, a little angsty, but it’s Romeo & Juliet, so that’s expected. However, Juliet in this book, is not the same Juliet you remember from the original version! And, this is actually a good story on friendship and family, which at the start I didn’t think it would be, but ended up being my favorite part of the story.

Overall, it was feeling a little surface level to me in the characters – maybe because there were so many secondary people (and I found it jarring to my reading each time they used the first and last names of all these people), but as the book continued, we got to delve deeper into the motivations of these characters later in the book. That’s when it turned really good to me. When we found out more about Len, and some of the reasons the girls were acting how they were, it started to get way more interesting to me.

Towards the end, there were some really strong themes and messages as Rosaline starts to move beyond her feeling that Rob is “the one” for her. It talks about reacting to what happens in life because we can’t control it and having choices and needing to make them and that is what determines how we look at life. By the end, in Acts 4 and 5, I was really into it and felt it evolved beyond the typical and was something deeper that I was really enjoying reading. So, give this one a shot in May, you’ll find a fun read with a sweet boy and a girl who has to go through some deep looking at herself to come out on the other side realizing what’s really important in life and how to make the most of it.