Amy Reads

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It kept me interested with various characters and conflicts! This story is a spin on the fairy tale Cinderella and for this review I am using the Cinderella I grew up with…the one from Disney. There are several key aspects to the fairy tale: 1. She was treated like a maid. 2. She was a step child. 3. There is a prince and a fancy ball. 4. At the ball, the prince must name a girl he wishes to marry. 5. The step sisters and step mother mistreat Cinderella and she doesn’t get to attend the ball at first. 6. Cinderella attends the ball but loses her shoe. 7. The prince finds Cinderella based on a search for who fits in the shoe and they live happily ever after.

In this book, while the aspects are similar the details are vastly different. Cinder is a mechanic, who must fix everything for her stepmother and stepsisters. She becomes the best mechanic in her area. In New Beijing there is a prince and he will have a ball. During the book it is implied he will also name who he will marry at that ball. Cinder refuses to go to the ball but then must go due to circumstances explained in book. Cinder is a cyborg. She is part human part machine. One of the parts that she struggles with during the book is her foot. While she doesn’t lose a shoe, she does lose a foot, or rather must remove it for a time. And I will not spoil the ending.

As you can see there are similarities in this story and the Disney version of Cinderella. However, Marissa Meyer uses her ability to create a new story and a new world for her characters. The imagery Marissa Meyer creates in New Beijing is vivid and real. With futuristic hovers and androids, she has put the reader in that new world but also keeping it familiar and relatable. She introduces characters in this book that I am interested to see if they play a part in the other books of this Lunar Chronicles series.

I can’t wait for the next story in this series!