Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

(4/5 stars)

I can tell you the very first time I realized I wanted to read this book. I was sitting in my Writing the Short Story class, fall semester of my junior year, and my professor had us reading the first chapters of books that were really successful. Two things about this book stood out to me right away and made me want to pick this book up: 1. Marissa Meyer wrote Cinder during NaNoWriMo and 2. Cyborg Cinderella. The second I read the first chapter, I was hooked... too bad it took me forever to actually get to the rest of it!

What I liked: Did I mention Cyborg Cinderella? Because it's probably the best thing ever. The world building is excellent, and the character interactions are extremely well done. Meyer does a great job at showing what it's like to feel so different from everyone else. Cinder is a cyborg in a world of humans who look down on other android-like forms. Not to mention there's a deadly plague infecting the world and Cinder is immune. The Sci-Fi feel in this book is awesome, and it really has all the aspects you can want in a Sci-Fi YA novel: hover cars, cyborgs/androids, plagues, moon people, etc. Overall, I'm really excited for the whole story arch as I continue to read this series. The first book was a good introduction, but I'm very much looking forward to what's going to happen next.

What I didn't like: To be completely honest, this book was a bit predictable. Like the second something was revealed (I don't want to spoil anything so I'm going to be vaguely tip-toeing) I knew immediately what it meant for the characters and how it was going to affect the plot. So that was disappointing. I just hope the other two books don't do that...

Regardless, I am definitely looking forward to seeing where the story goes in the next two books and you can bet that I'll be reading those as soon as I can get my hands on them!

-Annie