Cinder, de Marissa Meyer

I absolutely love the cover! (both versions - portuguese and english)

I usually fall in love with book covers, please don't judge me.

Cinder is the first book of The Lunar Chronicles (which includes four books: #1 Cinder; #2 Scarlet; #3 Cress; #4 Winter. There are two more books about this series: Fairest, which I think is about Queen Levana, and Stars Above, which is A Lunar Chronicles Collection).

This book takes place in the future, years after the Fouth World War, with a deadly plague called letumosis that is killing thousands of people.

Cinder is a sixteen-year old cyborg who lives with her stepmother and her two stepsisters.

Even though she is seen as a monster, her cyborg abilities make her the best mechanic in the town and that's why prince Kai asks her to fix an android. The prince tries to disguise but Cinder sees that it's important so she does her best to have it ready until the night of the Annual Ball.

But that turns into a hard work when she and her stepsister are exposed to the plague. They are taken to the palace and make some tests. Cinder is okay but her stepsister, and her only human friend, is sick.

Cinder is devastated and is forcibly volunteered by her stepmother to the plague research.

When the first test results are ready, Cinder finds out a lot of things she didn't know about herself. Or important things about her past.

Meanwhile, Earth and Luna face a lot of tensions that could lead to a war where only the Lunars win and take over the planet.

I loved this book so much!I probably say the same thing to another thousand books but I just can't help it.

I loved the idea! The modern and futuristic fairy tale had definitily kept my attention.

First of all, I love Cinder's personality and I love how much into her Kai is. A great OTP for sure.

The first thing that catched me was the first page. It's not that speciall but I think it's so beautiful!

So the base of Cinderella's story is there - the prince, stepmother and stepsisters, the ball - and that made me feel a little afraid about the similar things between the stories so I was very happy when I started reading and saw that, despite the base of the story, it was completely different from Cinderella.

"Even in the future the story begins with Once Upon a Time..."

There is prince Kai who surprised me a lot because of his persistence in looking for his people's well-being even when that can mean loss of freedom and I loved the fact that he shows so much interest in Cinder without that tipical tough bad boy look. Don't get me wrong, I love the bad boy story but prince Kaito's personality really delighted me.

The stepmother, Adri, hates her and use Cinder as her source of livelihood and almost like a slave. Similar to Cinderella but not that similar.

The stepsisters, Pearl and Peony. The older one disdain her but the little one loves her like a real sister and friend.

The creepy and powerful, Queen Levana (Luna's queen), who intends to create an "alliance" between Earth and Luna.

And we have Iko an android that belongs to Lihn family. Cinder's stepmother hates her because of her personality chip. Iko's chip is defected and that makes her act more like a human than like an android and also makes her manifest some "opinions" and Adri hates that "opinions". I love that "opinions" and I just love Iko. I guess we can associate her with the little mouses that helped Cinderella.

"She was a cyborg and she would never go to the ball."

I really liked the way Marissa Meyer describes the places, clothes, people and all that technological stuff.

It's a book that is very easy to read and it has an aspect that can be positive to some people and negative to others: early in the book we can anticipate ourselves about some events and discoveries before they really happen so when they are revealed you already suspected that that was going to happen.

Cinder was, without any doubt, a book that had surprised me in a really good way.

I'm completely rendered and very excited about The Lunar Chronicles. I hope the rest of the books to surprise me as much as this first one.

Book synopsis:

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.

P.S.: I love prince Kai (but I also have a long list of fictional lovers so...)

Music Post: Midnight, by Beth Crowley

#CinderbyMarissaMeyerReview