Review Detail

It is very important, when picking up a new book, to look closely at the title page. Then one might notice details that the book itself does not make necessarily obvious until the final couple chapters. Such as the fact that this is the first of a series, that the story of Cinder and Kai and the imminent lunar war upon Earth just might take four entire books to complete.

I am so very tired of first-books-in-a-series, but I suppose that's just what one gets when one (I really will stop speaking in "ones" in a moment) is able to finish a book in six hours. I suppose a six-hour book really ought to be only the start of something greater, if the story is worth its salt.

Cinder is worth it. Set in a very far future almost two centuries after the close of World War IV, Kai is the soon-to-be-emperor of one of the largest of six countries that make up the entire peaceful union of Earth. No longer fighting against each other, Earth's greatest threat comes from the Lunars, a strange people capable of manipulation and illusion, hailing from - where else - the moon. Cinder is a cyborg who's "stepmother" has been using her for free labor, abusing her fascinating talent for fixing machines, and keeping her tethered to service by a claim of ownership. Cyborgs, after all, are not considered human.

As far-fetched as the premise may be, the world-building is so confidently managed and the characters of Cinder and Kai so thoroughly believable that the reader is willingly and delightfully pulled into the narrative. Cinder's mechanical parts are only the first of her problems, and Kai's ailing father is just the tip of the iceberg for him. What begins as a curious and clever take on the Cinderella story quickly becomes a much more complex story of identity, oppression, and deceit - with a dash of hopeful romance thrown in for good measure.

Perhaps I should have mentioned this first, but it was almost two years ago that I first declared cyborg fiction would be the next "it" subgenre for teens. If Marissa Meyer's Cinder is anything to go by, I was ever so briefly a prophet. This is the sort of book that will draw imitations, and plenty of willing fans in the process. Apart from being bitter about waiting for three more books in the series, year by tedious year, I couldn't be more pleased.