Book Name: Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Published: January 3, 2012
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Genre: YA Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Dystopian
Sixteen-year-old Cinder is considered a technological mistake by most of society and a burden by her stepmother. Being cyborg does have its benefits, though: Cinder's brain interface has given her an uncanny ability to fix things (robots, hovers, her own malfunctioning parts), making her the best machine in New Beijing. This reputation brings Prince Kai himself to her weekly market booth, needing her to repair a broken android before the annual ball. He jokingly calls is "a matter of national security," but Cinder suspects it's more serious than he's letting on.
Although eager to impress the prince, Cinder's intentions are derailed when her younger stepsister, and only human friend, is infected with the fatal plague that's been devastating Earth for a decade. Blaming Cinder for her daughter's illness, Cinder's stepmother volunteers her body for plague research, an "honor" that no one has survived.
But it doesn't take long for the scientists to discover something unusual about their new guinea pig. Something others would kill for.
Lisamentary:
DISCLAIMER: There will be spoilers ahead, even though I'll try to not make it too obvious. However, if you are not aware, I am the spoiler QUEEN. I love to both give and receive spoilers. It's just in my nature and I usually can't stop myself. So sorry ahead of time.
I love this book but I hate myself for reading it. I've waited for 3 WHOLE years since this book first came out for the whole series (there are four books) to come out too so that I don't need to wait in case there's a cliffhanger, which there always just has to be one. Yet, I did it to myself anyway. Now, here I am, hanging on the edge, and the last book won't come out until November 2015, which is basically a MILLION YEARS AWAY!!!!!!!! And I literally cannot wait!!!!!!
AHHHHHH!!!!!! I can't take it!!
Tear, tear, tear... I'm. So. Saaaaaaaadddddddd.
Okay, I'm good now. Good thing we're past that because it's time to talk about Cinder. Forgive me if I sound like a robot that's short-circuiting, but, once again, this book is freakin' amazing!!!
Conceptually, it's not new or original but an interesting remake nonetheless. And I don't really don't give a hoot about originality as long as it's not plagiarized and told well. This is a Cinderella-inspired book where Cinder is the ugly stepsister who is treated poorly her stepmother, Adri, and stepsister Pearl. However, only one stepsister since Cinder and Peony really do love each other, even if the Adri can't believe since Cinder is a cyborg.This fairytale-themed adaptation continues to be used in the sequels where each protagonist is a different character like Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, etc.
For the most part, the story was well-written and it didn't take too long to get to the main plot. This book is about Earth after World War IV, I believe, where the continents have become their own 6 nations while others have gone to moon and lived, hence them being named Lunars. The Lunars have special powers and are not accepted on earth for several reasons which you need to read to find out. Over the years, the Lunar Queen Levana has threatened war with the earthlings as she knows they are weakened by the plague. This plague is called letumosis, which is similar to the bubonic plague that wiped out millions in Europe in the olden days, and is constantly killing people with no cure to curb the mounting number of deaths.
This book is obviously very futuristic as it is 126 years after WW4. The people and the world are incredibly technologically advanced and with that comes cyborgs, aka Cinder. Due to things being very techy, there comes technological jargon that makes that book, at several points, particularly difficult to understand as well as imagine. And I don't know about you guys, but when I read a book, it is like a watching a movie in my head and it was really annoying to be confused to the point where I had to put my movie on pause so I can get a few things clarified.
After Prince Kai's dad dies, Queen Levana, of course being the evil queen she is, comes down to visit the Commonwealth to take advantage of their vulnerable state of mind since she wants to get MARRIED to Prince. This is just gross!!! She's probably a 40-something year old lady and here she goes preying on a 19-year-old boy so that she can get married and become Empress. And being the power-crazed queen she is, she has already planned to kill him off once she is crowned. 
Enough with the plot for a bit, I especially enjoyed Iko, the Linh's family android, and Prince Kai, the future emperor of the Commonwealth (Asia). Iko is so sweet and optimistic and this makes her that much more endearing because she's the kind of character who when she thinks of daisy thinks of beauty and love inside of death, which is rampant. (sings "Ring-around-the rosie/ A pocket full of posies/ Ashes, ashes/ We all fall down) However, Iko is a tad, just a tad, off her rocker since she has a mild personality disorder, which makes her believe she's human. Next off, Prince Kai was the perfect idealistic royal. He is not hardened by politics yet and still tries to believe the best in people, unless it's regarding Queen Levana and her "loyal" servants.
I won't say much about Cinder because she's the typical Cinderella, besides being a cyborg and all.
However, I really, really don't like Queen Levana. She's pure evil. So evil that the name Levana should be synonymous with evil. She has no reservations manipulating people with her Lunar powers and is plain cruel. She is the epitome of a royal queen and thinking about this just makes me want a movie adaptation. But, I will stop here about Levana because you have to read it to believe it.
Like I said earlier, I am highly anticipating the last book, Winter, even though I have yet to read Scarlet and Cress, which I am currently reading right now. So, the bottom line is that you should most definitely read Cinder. It has action, romance, mystery, and a WHOLE lot more to offer!!
1. Netscreen: TV
2. Portscreen: cellphone
3. Andriod: robot about the size of WALL-E; not human at all
4. Hover: floating car that doesn't need a driver since there are no more roads and everything is controlled by machines
Rating:
Story: 9
Characters: 8.9
Enjoyment: 9.2
Overall:
I think you should use context clues to identify those words, and not get hung up on it.
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