GENRE: Dystopian Science Fiction
PAGE COUNT: 387
FORMAT: Paperback
AVAILABLE AT : amazon
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The
Lunar Chronicles is one of the most popular book series for Young Adults. It
consists of books which are essentially retellings of different Fairy tales
like Cinderella, Snow white etc.
Cinder
is the first book in the series which is a Sci fi retelling and re imagining of
Cinderella.
I
don’t remember reading Cinderella retellings
before, so I was pretty excited to try this out.
The
story follows the main character Cinder who is a female cyborg working as a
professional mechanic in the city of New Beijing. Just like the fairy tale Cinderella,
an evil stepmother is the legal guardian who never misses an opportunity to
torture Cinder. She treats her like a slave . There is also a handsome and charming Prince Kai who happens to stumble into her life. They live in a place which is
constantly facing 2 major threats –
a)
A non curable plague called LETUMOSIS taking lives by the second.
b)
Attack from the evil Queen Levana of Lunar ( the
beings from the moon) .
Her
life takes a major turn when one day she is blamed for her step sister’s sudden
illness. As a result, she is forcibly taken into a research facility. Some
major secrets are ultimately revealed about her mysterious pasts making her an
asset capable of protecting Earth’s future.
As
far as characters are concerned, Cinder is not at all like the fairy tale Cinderella.
She is a likeable and solid character with an amazing personality. Unlike the
original Cinderella, she is not a helpless girl who you pity all the time. She
faces every obstacle head on. She is feisty, bold and shows no signs of being a
woman in distress. Prince Kai is also more than just handsome and charming. He
too shows major character development. Other interesting characters includes
the main antagonist Queen Levana , one of the step sister Peony and Cinder’s
personal robot Iko. I particularly liked the parts of Dr. Erland who plays the
role of a doctor (obviously ☺) trying to find the cure for Letumosis.
The
best thing about this version of Cinderella is that unlike other retellings
that I have come across so far, this one doesn’t entirely focuses on the life
of Cinder. A major chunk of the story also follows the male lead Prince Kai. We
get to see the drama associated with his life as a prince and his constant
struggle in all the politics of his empire.
The
other interesting aspect that made this book intriguing was all the mystery
surrounding the Lunars . I wish there were more subplots related to Lunars and
the evil queen Levana.
All
the major tropes from the original Cinderella were intelligently woven into the
narrative – like the evil step mother , charming prince, the ball , shoe/limb
etc. I can’t help but admire the author
for her creativity and sheer intelligence . It didn’t feel cheesy at all.
It
was a fast paced read with clear cut writing style. Like any retelling, the story was predictable
but that didn’t hinder my enjoyment at all.
Although I haven’t read any Cinderella retellings before, I have watched
a couple of Cinderella themed movies and
I have to say- this rendition of Cinderella was by far the best. 💗
RATING - 🌕🌕🌕🌗 ( 3.5 / 5 )
PS -
One of my reading quirks is that I have a tendency to visualise everything I read. While reading any book, I keep imagining what
it would be like if it were to be made into a movie. For some reason, I kept on picturing this story as an animation. I feel like it would make a great
Animated Movie. 👀
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