Book Review- Cinder

I just finished reading Cinder by Marissa Meyer for an Around the World Book Tour.

From Goodreads:

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.

I love fairy tales.  Always have, always will.  And I love Cinderella (hello, my wedding theme this past June was Cinderella's carriage..although the carriage in this story was really a beat up orange car which doesn't exist in this world anymore.)  But anyways.  Even though this type of book wouldn't normally interest me, I knew I had to read it since it was based off one of my favorite princess stories.

I have to admit.  I had to look up was a cyborg was.  I had no idea!  This book is so out of what I am used to.  But it held my interest.  I loved looking for ways of how this story matched up to the Cinderella story that I grew up with.  We had the evil stepmother and the stepsisters, although only one was evil.  You had Cinder working an unglamorous job and pretty much slaving away for the step mother.  I'm not really sure who the fairy godmother would be.  Maybe the closest would be the android that was a close friend to Cinder.  There was the shoe that fell off (with the foot).   And of course you had the prince. But aside of that you have an evil Queen from another planet and a horrible disease plaguing Earth. 

There was a major surprise at the end.  Well, at least I think it was supposed to be a surprise, but I figured it out right from the beginning.  But it leaves for a nice cliffhanger.  This book is the first in a quartet and I will definitely be picking up the next book!

I gave this book a rating of 3.5/5.

Cinder will be released on January 3, 2011.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2011 100+ Reading Challenge: 108
2011 ARC Reading Challenge: 87
2011 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 87

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.