Cinder

I've been meaning to get around to the Lunar Chronicles for a while now. Then Sarah read and loved them, and that pushed me over the edge. The first book, Cinder, is a wonderful retelling of Cinderella, set in the distant future. Cinder is a cyborg, property of her stepmother and sole breadwinner for the family. All she really wants is to escape her life. But just as she starts to figure out how to do that, she gets caught up in much larger events
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This story is incredibly well constructed. It's a classic fairy-tale, so you'll know many of the basic plot points going in. Cinder has an evil stepmother. There's a ball and a fancy dress and a prince. But there are some fun twists, too. My favorite is that Cinder ends up being her own fairy godmother, repairing an ancient car that she uses to get to the ball. She also loses her entire foot at said ball, rather than just her show, because her foot is robotic and doesn't fit very well besides.

The series itself weaves together multiple fairytales, ultimately bringing together all of the "princesses" to overthrow the evil stepmother/queen. There are hints of Rapunzel and Snow White in this book. Meyer has some fun with mirrors and magic and even gets in an army of wolves who will certainly become more important in later books. It just isn't a fairy tale without wolves.

All in all, this book was a lot of fun to read. It's a great update of a classic tale, and I'm excited to see where the series goes next and how it takes on other fairy tales.

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