She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. A connection between Cinder’s forgotten childhood and wicked Lunar Queen Levana is predictable from early on.ĭespite the simplistic and incongruous-feeling telepathic-enslaver theme, readers will return for the next installment in this sharp, futuristic 'Cinderella' tale.Īdventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.Įlisa-Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle-has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. Diluting them is a space-fantasy theme about mind-controlling Lunars from the moon, which unfortunately becomes the central plot. Cinder’s personal tenacity and skill, as well as Meyer’s deft application of 'Cinderella' nuggets-Cinder’s ill-fitting prosthetic foot (loseable on palace steps) a rusting, obsolete car colored pumpkin-orange-are riveting. This doctor drafts cyborgs as expendable test subjects none survive.

But then the heart-thumpingly cute prince approaches Cinder’s business booth as a customer, starting a chain of events that links her inextricably with the prince and with a palace doctor who’s researching letumosis vaccines. Her two sisters will attend Prince Kai’s ball wearing elegant gowns Cinder, hated because she’s a cyborg, won’t be going. Long after World War IV, with a plague called letumosis ravaging all six Earthen countries, teenage Cinder spends her days in New Beijing doing mechanical repairs to earn money for her selfish adoptive mother. Although it packs in more genres than comfortably fit, this series opener and debut offers a high coolness factor by rewriting Cinderella as a kickass mechanic in a plague-ridden future.

Cinder book