Review: Cinder

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cinder is one of those books to have interested me for a very long time, and yet it remained sitting on my to-read list. I was curious about reading it, yet a few of the negative things I’d heard had me delaying the read. In the end, even if I am extremely late to the bandwagon, my curiosity got the better of me.

In all honesty, I’m annoyed for waiting so long to read this.

Although Cinder is not a perfect book, it is one of those books that leaves you wanting more. In the best way possible, of course. You want more of the story, more of the characters, and more of all the little things you have come to love throughout the book – in other words, you’re excited to dive into book two.

When I started reading this I was unsure as to how invested in the story I would become, yet I soon found myself addicted. I was turning page after page to see what happened next, curious for more, and soaking in all the little details we were given. I’ll be completely honest and say the main detail revealed in this book was overly obvious from the start – painstakingly obvious, if I’m brutally honest – and it did annoy me at times how clear it was yet nobody, least of all our main character, was willing to make the connection. However, I was able to look beyond this because it is a trope in young adult novels that often comes to play a larger role. With how high my expectations are for the rest of the series, I’m hoping the same will be true here.

The one thing I do feel I should mention is my belief of the Cinderella element being unnecessary. I know this book was created as a futuristic Cinderella retelling, and yet I feel as though the story would have worked just as well had it not focused so much upon the Cinderella elements. In fact, I feel as though those were the weakest areas of the story. The world building was interesting, and there is plenty of room for development. The characters were a lot of fun, and I cannot wait for more. The storyline was gripping, and I’m excited to see how certain elements come together. However, when I focus upon these points in relation to the Cinderella elements I feel as though they’re much weaker. There world building around the Cinderella scenes felt weaker, the characters aimed to be the bad guys from the Cinderella storyline felt like flat caricatures, and the scenes that mirrored the original Cinderella story felt a bit forced. I loved the story, but I could have done without the clear mirroring of a classic fairy-tale. As much as I enjoy fairy-tale retellings, I feel as though some stories are taking things too far – and, in this case, I believe the story could have been even stronger had it not tried so hard to be a futuristic Cinderella.

Overall, though, I had so much fun with this. When I started the story, I wasn’t sure how pulled into it I would become. I was a bit tentative, in truth. I feared I would be one of the few to dislike it, that I would not be joining the hype. However, as the story started to unfold I found myself intrigued by the possibilities of where this story will go. I fell in love with our main characters, and I’m excited to see more of them in the future books – books I cannot wait to pick up.

Honestly, I had so much fun with this one. It was such an addictive read and I cannot wait to dive into book two. The saddest part, of me, is that I’ll be waiting a month to dive into book two – whilst I do own Scarlet, I do not have it in my house. I have the book at my parents’ house, hundreds of miles away, and I will not be able to get hold of it until I go and visit. I guess it’s a good job Christmas is only a little over a month away – as soon as I go for my visit, I’ll be diving into Scarlet.

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