Book Review: Cinder

TITLE: Cinder
Book 1 in the Lunar Chronicles
AUTHOR: Marissa Meyer
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: fairytale retelling, dystopian/steampunk, fantasy, romance, science fiction
PREMISE: In this modern take on Cinderella, Cinder is a cyborg who is a mechanic working for her stepmother. When the prince comes with a broken android she agrees.
MY REVIEW: Warning, this review will have much bias because I frankly adored this book with every fiber of my being. Now yes, some plot points were pretty obvious which is a problem a lot of retellings have because most of us know these fairytales very well due to them being so ingrained into our culture (blame Disney). So some stuff here is very obvious from the get go and thus not very surprising.
But that's nothing that keeps the book from being fun because it is interesting seeing the twists the author adds to it to keep this from feeling stale which is what retellings should do (and why I love Once Upon a Time, if you haven't seen that show yet give it a try especially if you're a retelling junkie like myself). Plus Meyer's writing is great. Seriously, if I hadn't known this was her first book I wouldn't have guessed on my own she's that good. She knows how to pace, she keeps the prose simple enough so they don't get in the way, her characters are interesting, and her dialogue really nice. Plus I freaking loved Cinder. Such a refreshing heroine.
In short, this is a great book. Maybe not the most amazing book ever but it's definitely one of my top YA books of the year (so far, the year is still young). I don't know about anyone else but I personally can't wait for the next book.
WHO SHOULD READ: Fairy tale fans, science fiction fans, anyone inclined to pick it up
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five cyborg parts