Book Review: Cinder

I haven't posted on here in three months, it's insane! I actually forgot about this blog completely, haha.

Anyway, I finished Cinder a while ago but I've been way too lazy to review it! So now I'm finally making my first review in months on this book.

The Basics:

Cinder is Marissa Meyer's debut novel. It's a futuristic, dystopian retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale and in it, cyborg mechanic Cinder learns that she isn't the plain, orphan robot that she thought she was. This book is a quick read for fast readers, and even for slow readers it's only like three or four days' worth. But even though it's a kind of short book, it's still a good one.




The Goods:

One of the things I loved about Cinder was Cinder herself. Her character was really likable: sarcastic and slightly pessimistic, but also nice and helpful to her friends (which she only had three of anyway--well, now only two--oh, wait, I'm spoiling). I could really identify with Cinder--we have sarcasm in common, and low self-esteem as well. But Cinder's self-esteem isn't so low that it consumes her entire mind. She doesn't view herself as anyone spectacular, but she knows she's hardworking and good at what she does. So I really liked Cinder's character traits.

Also, if you know me, you know I love a good dystopian novel. And, like I said before, this book has just enough sci-fi stuff to make it interesting, but not so much that it's confusing, boring, or unrealistic. It looks like Marissa Meyer wasn't planning on basing the whole book on "scientific theories", but she also did her research on the stuff that she needed to.

The final thing that I really like about Cinder was the very teensy amount of romance in it. When books go on and on about "feelings" and "meaningful glances" and all that crud, it kind of annoys me. And especially when these "love" feelings are felt between two complete strangers? Please. But this book wasn't like that at all. Actually, at the start of the book, Cinder didn't actually have any real feelings for her apparent "love interest" Kai. She thought he was attractive, and obviously since he was a prince he made her nervous, but she wasn't considering marrying him or anything like that. Kai actually seemed to be flirting with her, but even then, the author didn't try to make a big deal out of the "romance" or whatever. I really liked that.

The Bads:

Sooo there wasn't much "bad" stuff in this book actually. No cussing, no excessive violence, and no awkward intimate stuff. Cinder's stepsister and stepmother could be a bit harsh, but they never went too far. There are a couple insults about people's dead family members which are a bit abrasive, and a couple instances of name-calling, but like I said before, nothing too extreme.

The "Oopsies":

*WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!* 

Okay, I warned ya.

So, towards the middle of the book, something sort of predictable (and kind of sad) happens: Iko, Cinder's android helper/best friend, is broken into pieces by Cinder's evil stepmother, Adri. Iko was really awesome (my fave character actually, but you'll hear more on that in a second) and I was sad to hear that she got all broken down. But apparently, Cinder was able to save Iko's "personality chip", which would enable Cinder to create a new, more modern android body for Iko, while still have Iko's personality (which is the most unique android personality in the country, I think).

So I assumed that I would hear from Iko again later in the book. But I didn't. The book ended, and although Cinder still had Iko's personality chip, she didn't have Iko physically. And now that I've started up reading the second book, Scarlet, I still haven't seen Iko! (Of course, I'm only on the second chapter, and I haven't even seen Cinder yet either...) But I really thought Iko was going to show up again in Cinder. She was seriously one of the best characters. Maybe Marissa Meyer did that on purpose, but I kind of wish she hadn't.

Fave character:

So I already sort of "spoiled" my own review, but I still wanna talk about why Iko was my favorite character. As you already know (unless you didn't read the spoiler), Iko was one of Cinder's three friends. She was originally created to be an emotionless android servant, but Iko was given a very unique personality chip. So although Iko was, like all androids, obligated to do whatever task she was told to do, that didn't mean she did it without sarcasm, snark, or sassy remarks (hey, that rhymed!). Iko also said almost whatever came into her head. And when it came to Kai, she never held back her thoughts on how "hot" he was. Like when Cinder and Kai were talking for the first time, Iko said straight to his face, "you're even hotter in person!" Hahaha, Iko was definitely my favorite character.

Least fave character:

So like most dystopian novels, this book gave me lots of people to dislike. But I'd have to say that my least favorite character was Queen Levana, queen of Luna (a.ka. the moon). Although Levana didn't have as much contact with Cinder as the other evil characters (i.e. the stepmom and stepsister), she was still just so...evil. I personally disliked her for trying to seduce Kai with her literally bewitching good looks. And I also hated how she used her powers to mind-control everyone, including the inhabitants of New Beijing (where this story is set) and those of her own country/planet as well. Ugh, I couldn't stand Queen Levana.

Wrap-up:

So overall this book was a clean, quick read, with little romance and a mix of humor, sadness, and action. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Hunger Games or the Maze Runner (seeing as I love those books, too).

(P.S. I don't know exactly which book I'll be reviewing next...I'm reading the second book in the Lunar Chronicles right now but idk if I'll review it on here or not. So I guess I'll just keep you posted on my main blog! :) )