For many of us, our childhoods consisted of being lulled to sleep with fairy tales. Stories of pretty princesses and heroic princes being the normal night time affair. Yet often times, these stories were flimsy and lack actual substance, Cinderella a little too fake and Prince Charming a bit too plastic.Yet in Marissa Meyer's first book in the Lunar Chronicles Series, “Cinder”, the classic fairy tales of Cinderella is reimagined in a new and exciting way. 

“Cinder” is a futuristic science fiction retelling of the classic Cinderella story. However this time around, our protagonist is a cyborg. Linh Cinder has been a cyborg since she was eleven, due to a tragic accident  that left her terribly injured. An accident that killed both her parents and of which she has no memory of.  She  is now sixteen, works as a mechanic in New Beijing, and lives with her stepmother. Cinder’s life changes forever when Kai, the prince of the Eastern Commonwealth, shows up in her shop asking  her to fix a personal android.

Cinder is both a typical and non-typical young adult novel. Typical with the obligatory romance between Cinder and Kai, and typical in Cinder’s search for meaning and where she belongs in this world. Yet “Cinder” asks probing questions that many young adult novels don’t ask.  Such as what classifies people as people,  and do some people have a greater right to live than others?

While the conclusion of the novel is predictable, (who doesn't know how Cinderella ends)? “Cinder” is a story of a resourceful female protagonist, who is trying to do the right thing, in a crazy messed up world not too different from our own. For those who enjoy science fiction, or “clean” young adult novel without the sex or alcohol, or for those who loved the intrigue of “The Hunger Games;”  Meyer’s novel “Cinder” is the novel for you.