
In the end, I’m happy to call Cinder a fairy tale retelling. That’s the whole point of fairy tales, is it not? Folklore told to children and adults alike to impart knowledge and life lessons. The setting can be continuously updated as long as the lesson remains. What does Cinderella teach us? That even a seemingly worthless servant can be important. That envy and wickedness will be punished, while optimism and perseverance in times of suffering are rewarded. And, on a side note, wouldn’t we all just kill for an awesome fairy godmother?

*ahem*
Cinder updates the fairy tale for a YA target audience, creates a really interesting world and story that could stand on its own without being a retelling, but hey if Marissa Meyer wants to call it that then that’s fine by me. I HEREBY DECLARE THAT IT FITS THE CRITERIA, and I know what I’m talking about when it comes to fairy tales.
I would have loved for Meyer to have updated the romance a little more, though. Cinderella and Prince Charming’s love story has always struck me as ridonkulous (hello, insta-love), and in Cinder it really isn’t much better. It bugged me that Meyer didn’t seem to want to change that aspect of it, which is why I didn’t give a full five-star rating. And while we’re on the subject, what’s up with the Lunars? Their existence is inexplicable, and I mean that literally seeing as Meyer just invented them, dropped them into the story and went “yeah, humans that evolved on the moon and have magical powers, they exist, what of it?”
When the book is overflowing with futuristic cyborg jargon that looked so technical and well-researched that I completely believed every word the author said, it baffles me that she didn’t come up with some bullshit Lunar biology to explain their existence away. It didn’t have to be a decent explanation (that’s what the whole suspension of belief is for), but just bloody well come up with something Meyer, goddammit!
Sorry, but authors pulling shit like that really invokes my rage.
But other than those two teeny but also really fucking annoying flaws, I’d say you should definitely pick up this book if you haven’t already, and also let me know what kind of bullshit explanation you would give for the existence of Lunars. NOTHING ABOUT THEM MAKES SENSE AND I CANNOT YET LET IT GO.
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My daughter loves these books, too–she’s been trying to convince me to read them.
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I was impressed – could definitely be appreciated by someone outside of the ya category (if u know what ur getting urself into!!)
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