A forbidden romance.

A deadly plague.

Earth's fate hinges on one girl . . .

CINDER, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She's reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen - and a dangerous temptation.

Cinder is caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal. Now she must uncover secrets about her mysterious past in order to protect Earth's future.

This is not the fairytale you remember. But it's one you won't forget.

126 years after the end of World War IV—the last great war that changed humanity as we know it—Earth is the Earthen Union, consisting of six countries formed after the War. Despite the long period of peace and significant technological development, the situation on Earth is far from ideal. A deadly plague, letumosis, is spreading rapidly, taking millions of lives on a daily basis, and a war with Lunars—a society developed from Earth’s colonies on Moon—seems almost inevitable. The only chance of survival is seen in a treaty with Lunar queen Levana, a manipulative and oppressive ruler who is said to have murdered her own sister and her heir, and what she’s asking for might be more than what Earth is willing to gamble.

Cinder—this universe’s version of Cinderella—is a young mechanic, living with her step-mother and step-sisters in New Beijing, the capital of the Eastern Commonwealth. As her family’s main source of income, she holds a repairs booth at a local market and is known as one of the best mechanics in the city—a skill largely owned to the fact that she is, in fact, a cyborg. It is of little surprise then that the crown prince Kai himself brings her his personal droid to repair. What starts as a routine job, soon gets Cinder involved in the whole mess and leads to a dangerous truth about her being uncovered.

Okay, so, I actually did not expect to like this nearly as much as I did. I went into this book pretty much open-minded, with next to no expectations, and ended up being quite pleasantly surprised. Even though the plot was a bit slower paced—it wasn’t until around 50% of the book that things started heating up—Cinder was almost a page-turner for me, mainly because of Marissa Meyer’s wonderful writing style. Witty dialogues, detailed yet not overwhelming descriptions, and ‘flowy’ language kept me thoroughly immersed into the story even when nothing was happening and made all the action scenes all the more enjoyable.





Cinder was everything I didn’t know I needed a futuristic Cinderella to be. I was so glad she wasn’t your typical YA damsel in distress, saved by a third party and swooning over a super popular hot guy (if anything, it was Kai who was swooning over Cinder and not the other way around—so adorable). She was more than capable of sorting her priorities and pulling things off on her own (no matter how ... chaotic the results might end up being xd). Also, her friendship with Iko—her stepmother’s adorable little android—was one of the cutest and purest and most lightweight aspects of the book, and I really hope we get to see more of that in Scarlet as well.

I have to admit, though, that I was a bit sceptical about the whole Cinder(ella)-being-a-cyborg concept. I can’t recall ever reading about a cyborg main character so I wasn’t really sure what to expect of it and how (if) it was going to influence the story. But while I did find it a bit awkward at first—with the very first scene being the one in which Cinder replaces her foot, I’m sure many people can relate—as the book progressed and I gained a better understanding of what being a cyborg exactly means in Meyer’s universe, I minded it less and less. So far, a few interesting concepts regarding cyborgs generally (but also Cinder herself) have been introduced, including the major issue of them being treated as second class citizens, and I’m quite curious to see how those will be further explored in rest of the series.

Kai—a.k.a. Prince Charming of sorts—didn't disappoint either. I was really glad that his point of view was included in the story as well since it added another dimension to his character and made him feel like more than just another spinelessperfect prince. The only thing that got kind of annoying about him was the way he acted in certain sensitive situations. I get it that, with everything that was happening, it wasn’t easy for him to assume the throne, but I still think that a person who has been preparing their whole life for a certain position would know better than to have sarcastic comments (that are I guess supposed to come across as funny) when so much is at stake.


The romance was not nearly as hurried or cringey as I feared it might be considering this is, after all, a Cinderella retelling. Sure, things happened pretty fast, but there was enough time for them to get to know each other a bit and develop some chemistry. Seeing Kai getting all flustered around Cinder was absolutely adorable, and the fact that things ended up uncertain between them only makes me ship them more.

So, why give it four stars?
For me, the weakest aspect of this book was actually the plot itself. While not exactly boring, it kind of lacked suspense and, at times, action. I saw that final twist coming practically since I first read one of the summaries for the book, so I wasn’t surprised in the slightest when it did end up happening. It hadn't affected the way I experienced the book all that much, considering I enjoyed gathering the little clues and tells, and getting further confirmation that my guess is correct, but it is still one of the reasons why this wasn’t a five star read for me.

Also, I wish some things concerning the world and the society (for example the already mentioned discrimination of cyborgs) were a bit better explained or at least given some context since this way it felt a bit underdeveloped. But considering this is only the first book in a series, I can only hope we’re given some answers in one of the later installments.