GoodRead - Cinder

Cinder was one of those books that I've been a bit wary over it. I heard all the hype and I went "Really?" and I stayed away. But then I watched a video from This Week In YA where they chatted about the sequel of Cinder, Scarlet, and I got excited over this. A retelling of Red Riding Hood, set in the south of France? Now, after I saw this, I wanna know if I could read Scarlet without reading Cinder so, asking the author and a few friends on Twitter, I was told that I could, but Cinder would be very helpful. So, on pure impulse, I downloaded on my kindle and read it at the same time as Cat Clarke's Torn.

In the future, after World War 4, in New Beijing, Cinder is a talented mechanic. She's also a cyborg, due to being in a terrible accident when she was 12. Hated by her stepmother. When her stepsister catches the plague, Cinder's life is thrown into turmoil when she is trying to find an antidote while finding her life entertwined when he needs an android fixed, but she knows he's lying about why he needs it fixed. 

And, just to make things even more complex, the Queen of Luna is coming to New Beijing, wanting Prince Kai to become her husband... 

The first few chapters, I must admit, didn't grab me. I admit that. I kept getting confused with the terms of cyborg and android as no one really explained the difference and I felt that the story wasn't hitting the ground running. 

Then chapter 5 happens where Cinder's stepsister caught the plague and that's when it suddenly went full throttle. And I fell in love with it, then. 

I love how Marissa Meyer took the fairy retelling idea (Cinder is the first book in a four book series), set it in the future and then threw everything at it. Aliens, disease, robots, love, hatred. And, while I was reading this going "This is a fairytale retelling of Cinderella, so there has to be a ball", I kept finding new things and I kept getting sucked in and then, when I finished Torn, I sped through the book. And Marissa twists the fairytale to such a degree, you go "Oh, wow! That's the slipper!" and you kick yourself for not seeing it sooner! 

There was one twist near the end that I saw a few days before, and that might be interesting to see how that develops. Apart from that and the first few chapters, I think this is a brilliant retelling. I saw it in my head and I would LOVE to see this turned into a TV show or movie (hint hint Once Upon A Time!) as long as they STICK to the story and cast the characters right! NO WHITE PEOPLE! This isn't the horrible US book trailer (and no, am not going to show you that! Am going to show a better review of Cinder, though...). If you're going to turn this into a movie/TV show, get it right! 

I can not wait for Scarlet! Can we have it bought forward a few months? Please!