Cinder

Summary: 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.

My rating: 3.5 stars

Soo...it's seems like everyone I know has already read this and been talking about it, and I'm excited to say that I've finally read it! And now I shall attempt to organize my mixed feelings about this into a review that makes any amount of sense.

Characters

Cinder: I actually liked Cinder for how she was so fierce and skilled and for some reason for how she rejected Kai 😂. I guess it's because she could have accepted his request and went to the ball and danced in a beautiful ball gown, but she had a plan and she wasn't going to change it just because some prince asked her out.

Kai: Kai was just okay... I didn't particularly like him, but I also didn't hate him. I liked his sarcasm but I felt like he could have held it in a few times, considering his entire country was at stake.

Level of Shipping:

Cinder and Kai were somewhat cute and all, but I still don't ship them because I feel like there was just no Chemestruy between them(for lack of better words). And it seemed like they barely even knew each other since they'd alone met a few times, but honestly, I guess it should have expected there to be Insta-Love since this is a Cinderella retelling.

Queen Levana: I thought she was actually a really cool villain! She was cunning and deceiving, and could control people, but most of all she was really hateable, which is why she was a good villain. But I do think we could have learned more about her.

Side characters I liked:

-Iko!!! She was probably my favorite out of all of them!! Maybe even more than Cinder because she was just so fun and relatable.

-Peony-I liked how she wasn't an "evil stepsister" like Pearl, and also how she was totally game to go to a junkyard, which was super random but also somehow made her more likable.

-Dr. Erland- I have to admit, I was suspicious of him at first, but once I read more, I liked his character a lot more.

Side character I didn't like:

-Adri and Pearl! They felt flat, because it seemed like they were trying SO HARD to be as annoying as possible, but there wasn't a very good explanation ad to why and they didn't seem to have another traits.

Plot:

I thought the twist on the original Cinderella was interesting and very unique and combined with the hype I expected an amazing plot. I guess I wasn't completely disappointed by the events, but I predicted everything before it happened, so it wasn't nearly as suspenseful or exciting.

Dr. Erland: tells Cinder who she is

Cinder: Shocked denies it, and thinks that he's probably crazy and she had nothing to worry about

Dr.Erland: tells Cinder another piece of information

Cinder: Once again shocked. Hopes against hope that he's joking and then proceeds to deny it.

Me:

The World-Building:

Ok, so this is what I felt like could really. have been written better. The setting of this book was in New Beijing, but we barely got to see any of the details that could have made this an immersive setting. So many parts of the culture that could have been added were missing, and we barely get ANY description of the setting, which could have been really beautiful and atmospheric. Also, how did Commonwealth even come to be that way?? We get no explanation of this either.

And then there's the Lunars. This concept really intrigued me, and I felt like there was just so much potential there, but we're never given much information on them. All that's really explained is how they live on the moon and have the powers to control people and how they're perceived, and they have an evil ruler, but that was it. I just had so many questions and none of them were answered!! Why do they live on the moon and how did they get there? What are their customs and what does this world look like exactly?

Yes! So Many!!

So, this wasn't completely terrible, since I did enjoy it and I'm planning to read the next book to find out what happens, but in my opinion, it didn't fully live up to the hype.

PS. I read this as an audiobook and it made it a lot more fun to read because Rebecca Soler did an amazing job! I especially liked Iko's voice since it sounded just like I would have imagined her to sound like.

You can find this review on Goodreads here! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3687507445