Book Review: Cinder

Title: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Release Date: Jan. 3, 2012
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 387 pages
Genre: Science Fiction
Source: Publisher

Goodreads Summary: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl... Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is 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. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world's future.

Cinder is retelling of the classic Cinderella story, but with a fantastic sci-fi twist. Since I love retellings, I’ve been looking forward to this one and it was even better than I expected!

Kudos to Marissa Meyer for making our futuristic Cinderella a cyborg which may sound weird, but it totally works for this book. The novel is set in New Beijing, a city rebuilt after the fourth world war. The world building is awesome and when I read about the setting of New Beijing, I could not help but think of scenes from one of my all time favorite sci-fi movies, Blade Runner. While Cinder is not dark like Blade Runner, there are the hovercrafts, Asian influences and androids that remind me of Cinder.

A big change from the original fairytale is instead of one villain, there are two. Adri is Cinder’s stepmother but she is really the wife of the man who adopted Cinder. He died shortly after the adoption and Adri has hated Cinder ever since. Adri is bitter, petty and does her best to put Cinder down. While we hate Adri for bullying Cinder, the real threat is from Queen Levana, ruler of a race of people with paranormal abilities who inhabit the moon. Levana is evil, manipulative and cunning with plans to rule Earth, but she needs to marry Prince Kai to put her plans into motion.

Cinder is a very likable character. She has a bad home situation that she desperately wants to escape from, but of course, her destiny is more entwined with Prince Kai and the Lunars than she can ever imagine. There is more to Cinder than meets the eye and it is easy to figure out very early in the novel. With Adri’s verbal abuse and Cinder’s insecurities over her cyborg enhancements, it’s easy to empathize with her, especially when Prince Kai flirts with her and Cinder thinks she is not good enough for him.

I don’t feel that I got to know Prince Kai well enough in this book. A few portions of the novel were told from his perspective and we see that he is a nice guy who puts the safety and well being of his people before his own happiness. He is sarcastic, smart and completely swoon worthy. His friendship with Cinder is sweet and leaves room to grow and develop. I really hope we get a lot more of Kai in upcoming books because he has the potential to become one of my favorite book boys.

Cinder does not end with a cliffhanger but leaves you wanting so much more! Cinder is an awesome debut novel and I hate that I have to wait until next year to read the sequel. This is one of my favorite retellings and I highly recommend it!

Content: Kissing and some violence

My Rating: The Best!

Waiting on Wednesday – The Merchant’s Daughter

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, and specifically spotlights upcoming novels we can't wait to read. This week’s choice is:

Title: The Merchant’s Daughter by Melanie Dickerson
Publisher: Zondervan
Publish Date: Nov. 29, 2011
Genre: Historical, Christian

Summary: An unthinkable danger. An unexpected choice. Annabel, once the daughter of a wealthy merchant, is trapped in indentured servitude to Lord Ranulf, a recluse who is rumored to be both terrifying and beastly. Her circumstances are made even worse by the proximity of Lord Ranulf's bailiff---a revolting man who has made unwelcome advances on Annabel in the past. Believing that life in a nunnery is the best way to escape the escalation of the bailiff's vile behavior and to preserve the faith that sustains her, Annabel is surprised to discover a sense of security and joy in her encounters with Lord Ranulf. As Annabel struggles to confront her feelings, she is involved in a situation that could place Ranulf in grave danger. Ranulf's future, and possibly his heart, may rest in her hands, and Annabel must decide whether to follow the plans she has cherished or the calling God has placed on her heart.

I adore fairytale retellings and lately, I have been reading (and loving) more historical fiction. The Merchant’s Daughter is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and I am very excited about reading it. What books are you waiting on?

Book Review: The Near Witch

Title: The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
Release Date: Aug. 2, 2011
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 288 pages
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: 4 stars
Source: ARC from Publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads Summary: The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children. If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company. And there are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life. But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true. The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

The The Near Witch is described as being “part fairy tale, part love story,” and that is right on point. The story has many elements of a classic fairytale: an isolated village set the past and steeped in folklore, a haunted area (in this case, a moor that borders the village), magic and of course, love. Victoria Schwab’s writing is beautiful and lyrical. The characters are rich and well rounded and the setting spooky and perfect for the story.

Lexi is a great main character. She is smart, resourceful, loving and protective of her family. She chooses to be a tracker and hunter, like her father, instead of a more traditional role for a girl in her village. She is also a sleuth determined to find out what is happening to the missing children instead of jumping to conclusions and blaming the stranger for taking them. Cole, aka the stranger, is a wonderful mixture of strength and vulnerability, I loved him! The relationship between Lexi and Cole is very sweet and one of my favorite parts of the book, second only to Ms Schwab’s writing. I did find Lexi’s memories of her father’s worshipful reverence of the moor to be very spooky mainly because I found the moor to be very spooky.

I was a good girl and did not skip ahead to find out the answers to the book’s mysteries and am so happy that I waited. The Near Witch is easily a standalone book. It has a nice, steady pace and picks up at the end for satisfying conclusion.

Content: Kissing and some violence.

Waiting on Wednesday – Shadows on the Moon

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, and specifically spotlights upcoming novels we can't wait to read. This week’s choice is:

Title: Shadows on the Moon by Zoë Marriott
Publisher: Walker Books
Publish Date: July 7, 2011
Genre: Fairytale Retellings, Paranormal

"On my fourteenth birthday when the sakura was in full bloom, the men came to kill us. We saw them come, Aimi and me. We were excited, because we did not know how to be frightened. We had never seen soldiers before." Suzume is a shadow-weaver. She can create mantles of darkness and light, walk unseen in the middle of the day, change her face. She can be anyone she wants to be. Except herself. Suzume died officially the day the Prince's men accused her father of treason. Now even she is no longer sure of her true identity. Is she the girl of noble birth living under the tyranny of her mother’s new husband, Lord Terayama? A lowly drudge scraping a living in the ashes of Terayama’s kitchens? Or Yue, the most beautiful courtesan in the Moonlit Lands? Everyone knows Yue is destined to capture the heart of a prince. Only she knows that she is determined to use his power to destroy Terayama. And nothing will stop her. Not even love.

A Cinderella retelling set in feudal Japan where the main character has paranormal abilities? Yes please! Love the cover, setting and description of this book. What books are you waiting on?

Review of The Wolf of Tebron by C.S. Lakin

Release Date: Aug. 13, 2010
Publisher: AMG Publishers
Pages: 272 pages
Author Website: http://www.cslakin.com/
Genre: Christian Fantasy
Rating: 4 stars
Source: ARC from Publisher through NetGalley

Summary: A young blacksmith must undertake a perilous journey to the four ends of the world to rescue his wife, who is held captive by the Moon. Along the way, he befriends a powerful wolf who encourages, protects, and ultimately saves his human friend. A stirring allegory of God’s love in classic fairy tale tradition.

Review: Joran is a blacksmith who longs for a peaceful life and to not feel like an outsider in his family and community. He has a fight with his wife and in a fit of anger, sends her back to her family only to find out she never made it there. Joran sets out on an epic journey to find her and is joined by a wolf, Ruyah, who helps him. Joran’s quest to find his wife leads in him find out a lot about himself.

Joran is such a human character. He makes grave mistakes and assumptions, he whines more than he should and wallows in his own misery. Regardless of all that, I liked him and was very sympathetic to his situation. While I liked Joran, I really loved Ruyah. He was such a loving and patient character and his sacrifice is just beautiful.

As with the characters, the fantasy elements of this book are great. Ms. Lakin’s descriptions of the journey to the houses of the Moon and the Sun and the trip to the cave of the South Wind are wonderful. Joran’s ability to telepathically speak to animals is very cool and is one of my favorite parts of the story.

The Wolf of Tebron is a really good fantasy novel. I enjoyed Ms. Lakin’s writing and am looking forward to her next book: The Map Across Time.

Content: Violence

Review of Cloaked by Alex Flinn

Release Date: Feb. 8, 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 256 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3 stars
Source: E-book from the Library

Goodreads Summary: I'm not your average hero. I actually wasn't your average anything. Just a poor guy working an after-school job at a South Beach shoe repair shop to help his mom make ends meet. But a little magic changed it all.

It all started with a curse. And a frognapping. And one hot-looking princess, who asked me to lead a rescue mission.

There wasn't a fairy godmother or any of that. And even though I fell in love along the way, what happened to me is unlike any fairy tale I've ever heard. Before I knew it, I was spying with a flock of enchanted swans, talking (yes, talking!) to a fox named Todd, and nearly trampled by giants in the Everglades.

Don't believe me? I didn't believe it either. But you'll see. Because I knew it all was true, the second I got cloaked.

Review:  I like fairytale retellings, and Alex Flinn does it well. I read both Beastly and A Kiss in Time and liked them both so I had really high hopes for Cloaked. While I don’t think it’s as much fun as those other two books, it’s a decent read.

Flinn draws inspiration from several fairy tales, some well known and some not so popular. It is fun to see how she weaves them into the story and she actually sparked my interest to get to know some of these fairy tales a little better.

The story is predictable and cute, but I took it as a light read among my stacks of dystopia related books and it worked just fine. Another thing I liked was that the story is set in South Florida (South Beach, Key Biscayne and the Florida Keys) so it’s nice to read about some beautiful places that I am familiar with.

If you are looking for a book that’s going to keep you reading into the wee hours of the morning or a romance that will leave you breathless, this is not it. This is a quick, fun and silly read. If you go in with these expectations, I think you will like it.

Content: Clean read.