Review – Cinder – Marissa Meyer

Raise your hand if you love a good reread? *hand shoots up in the air, very Hermione-esque* I decided to do a reread of The Lunar Chronicles series for a few reasons:

1 – It’s been ages since I read them

2 – I love Cress and Thorne

3 – I sneakily wanted them to help me reach my goodreads reading goal

And so I very eagerly threw myself back into the post-apocalyptic world of New Beijing, complete with cyborgs, androids, a deadly plague and some good old fashioned Cinderella moments. Because what can be better than Cinderella being a cyborg?

This was one of the first fairytale retellings I ever read and it was so well done that it has possible ruined all other retellings for me! That is how much I loved this series! Cinder is not your typical heroine – for starters she has almost no memories and is part of one of the most hated societal groups – cyborgs. Watching her deal with the pressure of being a cyborg and trying to hide her ‘true self’ from people was actually so real and hard hitting. We’ve all at one point tried to hide something about ourselves and Cinder’s just happened to be physical! But she is a fantastic well rounded character who we feel for and want the best for.

But she’s not the only amazing character we meet. There is a plethora of great characters – I want to specifically mention Kai, Iko and Queen Levana. These three are just a part of the world building and characterization that makes this whole series such a joy to read! The addition of Queen Levana – one of the best villains I have ever read – may be an interesting point, but she is just such a perfect mix of psychotic and enigmatic that she needs to be mentioned.

The world Meyer creates is a blend of everything familiar, with the touches of unfamiliar. Having a race of people living on the moon is so close to being real, but also so completely foreign to us that it just makes this story so much more engaging. The same feeling surrounds the disease that plagues New Beijing – and the rest of the world. We’re familiar with plagues throw out history, so completely understand the hysteria that surrounds them and can relate to the character.

Overall, the book is completely engaging. I love each page and can not wait to finish the series again!

What are your thoughts on rereads? Do you love them?

Happy readings!

– B x