Cinder by Marissa Meyer Average Rating on Goodreads: 4.12 of 5 stars My Rating: 4 of 5 stars Page Count: 390 Synopsis: 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 avoided this book like the plague. For some reason I just could not bring myself to read this whenever I got the chance. But, my secret santa gifted me a copy so I decided to finally get over my reservations about reading it and ended up finishing it in a day XD I overly enjoyed Cinder! It was a unique mix of a fairy tale retelling and a dystopian fantasy. Meyer took the story of Cinderella and put her own unique twist on it. I think that she did a magnificent job in including small aspects of the original story while still managing to keep the plot of the story uniquely her own. Some of it was predictable and I didn't have a hard time figuring out some of the mysteries that came a long with Cinder's past. I would have liked a little more nail biting suspense to go along with Cinder finding out all of the answers to her questions, but all in all it was a great and easy read! Meyer kept me thoroughly entranced. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer Average Rating on Goodreads: 4.31 of 5 stars My Rating: 3 of 5 stars Page Count: 452 Synopsis: Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner. I was super excited to start this one since I loved Cinder, however I was slightly disappointed with it. I never really liked the story of Little Red Riding Hood to begin with but I figured that since it would be paired with the story of Cinderella and since Meyer executed the first one so well, that it would be just as good. There were just things that annoyed me a little too much for my liking. There's the fact that Cinder just seemed selfish and cold. Her personality was giving and human in the first one, but with Meyer trying to make the two stories connect, her personality was jepordized. I get that some things had to be done in order to mesh the two stories, but I would have liked it more if Meyer had done it a little more smoothly. Thorne kind of grew on me throughout the book, but I have to consider what my buddy read partner was saying about his motives for helping them changing. I'll definitely have to keep my eye on him when I get around to reading Cress ^^ Scarlet and Wolf...Scarlet was one badass character. I think she was the one that really made the book for me. She was strong and independent and just didn't accept anything unless she did it herself. I like that in an MC because then you don't always have those damel's in distress ones. Those annoy the hell out of me. Like come on can a lady not save herself for once? And Wolf...he was your typical brooding mystery guy which I didn't mind. I wasn't really expecting the real him to be what was revealed but it did make sense. So even though I didn't fully enjoy this installment, I am definitely looking forward to Cress! |