Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles)

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, the 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. 

This book was not your average Young Adult book. You know how so many young adult books these days are almost exactly the same on occasion? Well, this one was completely different, and I actually liked its different-ness (is that even a word?! Probably not). I guess I would say unique.  First of all, I liked the character development in it.  Cinder (the protagonist) started out as a totally insecure, self-conscious 16-year-old and made her way to being a bit more confident in herself.  

One thing that was especially different about this book was that the ending wasn't happy.  Scratch that.  A lot of endings aren't happy.  But this one was not only unhappy, it was also very sudden.  I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I turned the page and BAM! The book was over.  There is a huge spoiler that I will not give away, of course, and it's really surprising but also really--ugh, Annie shut up will you? :) I also love the whole thing about a girl who falls in love with riches when she is in rags.  

While I love that it was based off of Cinderella, I do think that it wasn't THAT much alike, which is good to a certain extent (you don't want a complete replica of a classic fairytale, do you? I mean, I don't.) but then it's like, "Well, if it's not so much alike, then, um, why was the whole point of the book Cinderella-like?" 

Although Cinder had a few blemishes along the way, all in all I'm pretty excited for the next book to come out.  That is not happening soon, of course, since Cinder was only published this year, but still, it's never too early to start counting down the days, right? Well, that's going a little too far, I don't think i'm counting down the days.  But I'll definitely buy the next book