Cinder

Level: Teen
Genre: Fantasy>SciFi
Obtained: Barnes and Noble
Reviewed by: Maggie W.

About the Book:
This is the first book in the Lunar Quartet by Marissa Meyer. Yes, it's another retelling of Cinderella, but it has a unique twist all it's own. The easiest way for me to describe this book is to call it Cinderella with androids, featuring moon people and a bit of the plague thrown in for fun. 

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...

Rating: 7/10

The book opens with the main character, Cinder working in the market as a mechanic. Though she is a brilliant mechanic and can fix almost anything she comes across, because she is an android no one really wants to associate with her. It's at the market where she meats the son of the Emperor of New Beijing, Prince Kai, who hires her to fix a droid he's had since he was a child. It's after he leaves that we get the first glimpse of the plague that's been killing millions of people all over the Earthen Union. It's highly contagious, and kills everyone that catches it within a a few days to a week. The only ones that aren't effected less often are those that are part android. 

Without spoiling, I'll just say that someone very close to Cinder is struck with the Plague causing her to be forcibly volunteered for the drug trials to find a cure. Once she's brought to the lab where Dr. Erland is conducting his experiments, the story really picks up. In order to test his latest cure, Dr. Erland injects the plague virus, which has been dyed with radioactive dye to show up on x-ray, into Cinder blood stream. After waiting the few hours it takes for the virus to start to take hold they perform a scan and find no trace of the virus. After repeating the same test numerous times they conclude that Cinder is somehow immune to the plague. 

Knowing that she's valuable because of her immunity, Cinder strikes up a deal with Dr. Erland. In exchange for letter her have her freedom essentially, she agrees to give her blood when needed for testing in hopes they can use it to develop a cure. 

After coming down with the plague, the Emperor dies suddenly, leaving the empire to his son, Kai. Fascinated with Cinder since the day in the market after she treated him like just a normal customer, he finds any excuse to spend time with her, even going so far as to invite her as his escort to the ball after his coronation. It's at this point that the queen of the moon, or Luna as they call it there, Queen Levana, decides to come to New Beijing, in an attempt to trick Kai into agreeing to the marriage proposal that she tried for years to get his father to force him into.

While speaking with Dr. Erland in the lab after Levana's announcement, he warns Cinder that while Levana is there she must do everything possible to make sure that she isn't seen by her. He doesn't explain to her why, just mentions that she would be endangering her life if it were to happen. 

The people of Luna, and more specifically Levana, have a way of enchanting people into seeing their way. It seem to me as I was reading it like they had some kind of moon people mass brainwashing technique. For years Luna has made claims of how peaceful their planet is, and how happy everyone is, that's the official government party word anyway. In truth, bits of information and in some cases even people from Luna itself have come to the Earthen Union to escape from the lie. The truth is that the people of Luna aren't truly happy, they've just been brain washed into thinking they are. In fact, any time citizens even attempt to protest they're either brain washed into submission or mysteriously disappear. The only ones truly immune to the brainwashing are androids, which is why there seems to be none of them on the whole of Luna. 

I can't really say much more without giving away huge spoilers but suffice to say I really enjoyed this book and I eagerly await the sequels. I don't usually discuss the covers of the books, because most of the time they're really a non issue for me, but I just couldn't go without pointing out how gorgeous the Spanish language cover for this book is. I actually like it way more than the American cover. 

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