Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) - Review

Cinder

by Marissa Meyer

Cinder is the first book in the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer; as you might have already gasp, by the title and the book cover, it's a retelling of the classic Cinderella fairy tales with a twist. We find our self in a futuristic setting, after the end of the IV World War, peace and alliance had been settling for 126 years on earth - but now a deadly plague ravages the population and from the space, an evil queen threaten to start a war.

The story takes place in the city of New Beijing, under the power of Emperor Rika who rules over the Eastern Commonwealth. Here we get to know the story of Cinder and prince Kaito and who their life will get tangled together.

Cinder is a cyborg and works as a mechanics. She has no memory of her past before falling under the custody of her mean step-mother, Adri. 

Cinder does work hard to bring money for the her family, while being abused by her step mom and sisters, that's something that didn't differ from the original story; even though she does get along well with on of the two sister, Peony. She will cross the charming Prince Kai path, when he comes asking for her help to fix his android - but what did start with a simple mechanical task will bring herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle. 

Caught between what she wants and what she has to do, she will have to undercover secrets from the past in other to protect the future.

It was a light read.

The writing was simple, the story well balanced and paced. I think that the writer didn't do a good job with the world building living a lot of questions unanswered: Who are the Lunar? Why did they come to be on the moon? Why is queen Levana interested in the earth?

So many questions still linger in my head. I would have liked a bit of background; the book focus his attention only on the city of Beijing not even giving you a complex configuration of the it but just an idea. Also the characters, apart from Cinder and Kai whom did have a good complexity, were only sketched out.

It still was an entertaining read and I hope there will more space for all those unanswered questions in the next books. I seems like this is just the beginnings....

3.5/5 stars