Review Detail

Cinder is probably one of my favorite retellings and probably has one of the best ideas. I mean, a cyborg Cinderella?

Cinder herself has got to be one of my favorite characters. She’s whitty, and quirky, intelligent and resourceful. She really can think for herself, and is a less-whine-more-do kind of person. She’s not all strength and spunk – she hides some vulnerabilities, too, and the way she deals with it all and the way Meyer wrote Cinder makes Cinder someone you find genuinely interesting. Prince Kai, too, is a great character, and so far from that cliche princely character we see so much of in books. He really is himself. He neither does everything too rashly, nor lets other people walk all over him.

The two have great chemistry, too. It’s a light sub-plot, though, and doesn’t take center stage – the kind of romance I enjoy reading. Their interactions really helped build up on that chemistry, and much like the characters, the relationship between them seems genuine and likeable – one that I rooted for from the start.

I loved how the author chose a different setting for her futuristic novel rather than the common one – America. But I found myself reading Cinder more for the characters than anything. Because, while Cinder and Prince Kai both had well defined, well-rounded, the world around them wasn’t as much so. The story seemed to depend on the characters to carry it forward, and the world around them – New Beijing – wasn’t as set to stone. What makes New Beijing different from anyplace else in the world that we know right now? There wasn’t anything that really personalized and defined the place. It might as well be colorless and empty for all I knew. Needless to say, the world-building aspects of Cinder suffered a bit, lacking in necessary descriptions and details.

The foreshadowing in Cinder was also not as strong. I could guess what really happened almost from the first time it was mentioned – it was pretty obvious. Like a neon yellow sign. Meyer all but gave it away. And so, though I’ve seen others on squeal and lament over that ‘surprising’ cliffhanger, I found it to be extremely predictable.

Even so, this book is an enjoyable, fast-paced read. With a light romance, and likable cyborgs and princes, Cinder is a nice, easy read. Definitely one to check out.