Cinder by Marissa Meyer Review

Title: Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publication Date: January 3, 2012
Source: Bought
Rating: 3.5/5

“Even in the Future the Story Begins with Once Upon a Time.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

Summary: 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.


My Thoughts:  Okay. Ever since this book came out last January, I've seen countless blog posts and book reviews raving about how great it is. Since so many people liked it, I thought I would pick it up and like it too, right? Not quite.
  
  Cinder is a retelling of Cinderella that involves the future, androids, cyborgs, and other futuristic things. It takes place in New Beijing and follows a girl cyborg named Cinder who's a mechanic and lives with her step-mom and two step-sisters. Sound familiar right?

  Don't get me wrong, the book wasn't terrible. But I had a big issue with the pacing. I found myself getting bored and wanting to put the book down, and that's definitely not what I look for in a book. The characters were okay too. There weren't any characters that really jumped out at me and made me want to read more about them. I honestly thought I would like Prince Kai better, based on everyone else's swoon-worthy opinions about him. 

  Despite the pacing at the beginning and middle, I did think the pacing picked up a bit by the end of the book.

  Overall I gave it a 3.5 because the book was just "ehh" for me. Nothing really special. But, if you like robots and futuristic things, this might be a book for you.

~Bradi