CINDER BY MARISSA MEYER REVIEW (SPOILER-FREE)

           

 Cinder is a sci-fi, dystopian novel, which is written by Marissa Meyer. When I started reading the book, I couldn’t put it down.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

It is loosely based on the classic fairytale “Cinderella”. Everything takes place in New Beijing 100+ years after the 5^th World War. Cinder is gifted mechanic and a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction.

The book is fast-paced and written extremely well. It is told from 3^rd person’s POV which was a good choice. There is a lot of foreshadowing in it. I am not quite sure if I like that because you find out many things before the characters themselves and everything leads to these huge reveals and turns.

The characters are relatable and very well build. Especially the evil stepmother cliché. God, I wanted to punch that woman.  Same goes for Queen Levana.

Cinder was not your typical girl character. She was strong and seeked for information herself. As I said I could relate to her with ease.  She was very believable and wasn’t irritating. This can be said about Kai too, excluding the fact that he is naïve.

I was impressed the plot. It was original and had very few plot holes, which I barely noticed. That ending, though. I knew partly what was about to happen from the foreshadowing but I did not suspect everything that happened. There were twists. Everything was leading up to it. That’s all I can say without giving away any spoilers.

In short, Cinder was a riveting read, which is a rollercoaster of emotions through the characters experiences and it’s just fascinating. Marissa Meyer has done a very good job at writing this story with believable characters.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The sequels “Scarlet” and “Cress” are on sale now.

I have no rights over the photos. 

THESE BROKEN STARS REVIEW

These broken stars looks like a romance book from its cover, promoted as a science fiction one and written as a survival story. It is the first book from the “Starbound” series.

The story is about two young people stuck on a terraformed planet by themselves with no other humans on it when their spaceship falls out of hyperspace.

The book is definitely in the sci-fi genre, though the spaceship parts take place only in the first chapters. After that the two main characters are stuck on an unknown planet. The girl is the daughter of the richest man in the universe and the boy – a soldier, who is now a major. The authors(Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner) have taken a difficult task telling it from two POV’s – Lilac and Tarver’s. I was never confused while reading. I could easily differentiate Tarver and Lilac’s points of views. I also loved how much character development was in the book. Their characters were developed beautifully. 

Being a YA book, you can expect to find romance in it. The love story, in fact, is there. But it happens slowly and it doesn't feel forced. That is the thing about this novel. The love story is a subplot.

 

 

These broken stars is a book combining a few genres – sci-fi, romance and survival. These genres create an amazing survival story which is just as compelling as it is exhilarating. It is a gripping read with quite a few jaw-dropping moments that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Rating: 4.5

The sequel "THIS SHATTERED WORLD" will be out in December.