Cinder is a retelling of the Cinderella narrative. It is set in an earth that is suffering from a terrible plague, is in hostile negotiations with a race of 'Lunars' and features several technological marvels neatly contrasted with antiquated versions of social custom and tradition. The story takes the Cinderella myth and interprets in an interesting and fun fashion. The world the author creates is compelling, the conflicts are engaging and the plot moves along at a quick pace. What really kept me reading this novel is the world building. One of the great challenges of science fiction and fantasy novels is that they imagine a world that is both different and similar to the one we know. Good fantasy dulls out these differences slowly and in ways that directly effect the characters. If people's lives can be saved by robotics - do androids hold the same social standing as regular, full bodied citizens? If world wars have distilled the globe into super-states, what are global politics like? If a 'royal ball' is a currently vogue thing, then how is the prince received? Meyer delivers these changes, and their consequences, with a surprisingly veteran pen.
If I have one critique of this novel it is its use of foreshadowing. The great 'reveal' at the end of the novel seemed to escape only the protagonist. We all know the story of Cinderella so it is easy to predict where things will go, but the author needs to play more with her audiences foreknowledge, not drop hints about it like the audience is piecing the major plot points together. This might be a problem that will only go noticed by a more experienced reader - a teen audience is less likely to have such complaints.
Overall this novel was very strong and enjoyable. I look forward to reading the rest of the series. In reading the afterwards, I learned all about Meyer and her Sailor Moon and general geekery fangirlness. I don't know why, but that added something to the novel for me. Fans of fairy tale mashups should really start this series soon - the next in the series "Scarlet" should re-tell little red riding hood and is out in February.
Finally, it seems like the characters in this book could benefit from this advice.
If I have one critique of this novel it is its use of foreshadowing. The great 'reveal' at the end of the novel seemed to escape only the protagonist. We all know the story of Cinderella so it is easy to predict where things will go, but the author needs to play more with her audiences foreknowledge, not drop hints about it like the audience is piecing the major plot points together. This might be a problem that will only go noticed by a more experienced reader - a teen audience is less likely to have such complaints.
Overall this novel was very strong and enjoyable. I look forward to reading the rest of the series. In reading the afterwards, I learned all about Meyer and her Sailor Moon and general geekery fangirlness. I don't know why, but that added something to the novel for me. Fans of fairy tale mashups should really start this series soon - the next in the series "Scarlet" should re-tell little red riding hood and is out in February.
Finally, it seems like the characters in this book could benefit from this advice.
So reading this!!! Sounds fairy cool indeed!
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