Cyber Cinderella

Finished Cinder the first book in the Lunar Chronicles this week.  I broke my rule about waiting to start a series until a couple books are out so now I have to wait for the next one :-(  The book was pretty cool, it was probably one of the more original retelling's of Cinderella I have read in a while, and there are A LOT of those out there.  This version is set in the future after World War IV and the story is set specifically in New Beijing giving a cool futuristic Asian flavor.  Cybernetics have become advanced enough for use in humans, but they are considered second class citizens to a lot of the population.  Our heroine Cinder has even more cybernetics then your average cyborg, and is stuck as the ward of a woman who wants nothing to do with her...except of course the money she brings in as a mechanic. Cinder has no memory of her life before the age of eleven when she woke up from the surgery that turned her into a cyborg.  Cinder meets Prince Kai when he brings in a robot for her to fix and they hit it off pretty quickly.  Meanwhile a plague is ravaging Earth and the cyborgs are being drafted to be experimental guinea pigs for a cure. After her stepsister falls ill, Cinders stepmother "volunteers" her for the experiments while gaining a payment for the sacrifice.  Cinder

Glass Slipper

turns out to be immune from the virus leading the main doc on the project to change her status to one of a true volunteer.  She runs into Prince Kai again (who still has no idea she is a cyborg) and more awkward flirting ensues.  On the political side of things, Prince Kai is dealing with the devastating illness and eventual death of his father, which makes him have to assume the role of Emperor very quickly.  To complicate matters is Queen Levana of the Lunars.  The Lunars are a people of Earthen origins who moved to the moon many years ago and have evolved the ability to manipulate bio-electrics as a result, essentially they can make almost anybody see, hear, and feel what they want.  Queen Levana is especially skill at this and has used the ability to establish a malevolent dictatorship over the Lunars going as far as to kill her sister and niece to secure her throne.  Queen Levana has her sights set on Earth and is trying to trade a cure for the plague in exchange for a marriage to Kai.  This part gets a little weird and not quit clear for me, so we will move on.  Eventually Cinder finds out some shocking things about herself that most of the readers will have guessed at long before it is revealed to her and the book ends with Cinder escaping and a set up of the next book.

Video Trailer is a little cheesy, but it gets the point across

The author Marissa Meyer did a pretty good job, especially considering this is her first book.  She kept almost every element of the original Cinderella story, while still coming up with a fairly original plot and setting. There also seemed to be bits of other fairy tales in the story as well, a strong Snow White vibe and a bit of Rapunzel as well.   The characters were pretty good, I especially love her little robot Iko.  The plot twists were not to suprising, I could see them coming a mile away, but that did not affect the story too much.  The whole Lunar thing was a bit sketchy, it seemed like there "gift" was just a way to justify some things that would never fly without some sort of reason/excuse, but the idea was still pretty solid.  I am glad that I knew it was going to be a series ahead of time so the ending wasn't as abrupt and I am looking forward to reading the next one.  I give this one 8 out of 10 white chocolate raspberry stars :-)

What do you think of a futuristic cyborg Cinderella?  Is throwing mutated alien/humans into a classic fairy tale insane or genius (or a little of both)?  What fairy tale would you like to see set in space?