Cinder: a cyborg princess

Cinder is a retelling of the story of Cinderella by Marissa Meyer. This book is part of a series with the final installment, Winter, coming out in November 2015.

“Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Sixteen-year-old Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother. 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. Because there is something unusual about Cinder, something others would kill for.”

-Synopsis from the 2013 paperback edition

Accuracy

For a Cinderella story accuracy is much harder to pinpoint, since there are many versions of the story. I’m going to compare this to a basic checklist of plot points to see how well it matches up.

• Young girl under the care of wicked stepfamily – check

• Prince/ King throwing a ball – check

• Impossible task to keep her from the ball – check

• Magical creature assistance – sort of

• Looses her shoe at the ball – check

• Prince uses shoe to find her – nope

Originality

Cinderella is one of the most commonly retold stories, but I have never heard of Cinderella being a cyborg. The undesirability of her status makes her particularly unique. Usually Cinderella is exceptionally beautiful and fell from the graces of a higher class because of her stepfamily. Cinder is deemed undesirable by society, which is what reinforces her stepfamily’s demeaning behavior.

Another aspect I really enjoyed about this story is that the ball and the prince were not the only things happening in Cinder’s life. The story and the character had a sense of greater purpose. This is mainly to do with the fact that this is only the first book in a four book series and if it only focused on the aspects of the Cinderella story then the rest of the series would have no real plotline. I also personally love it when there is more to the attraction between the Prince and Cinderella than just a few dances at a ball. The larger, secondary plot allowed for development of the relationship.

Creativity

A unifying element in most versions of the Cinderella story is that a shoe is what identifies Cinderella. Meyer did follow this line of thought, however, Cinder not only looses her shoe, but her entire robotic foot. This played well to the traditional trope, but also kept true to the futuristic spin.

Cinder’s magical assistance came in the form of her stepsister rather than a fairy godmother. Spoiler alert, Peony dies from letumosis. Cinder’s ball gown is a sort of post mortem gift from her sister as it was supposed to be what Peony wore to the ball. It could be said that this is similar to how in many versions of the story the spirit of Cinderella’s departed mother provides her with the items she needs to attend the ball. Although, it seems more like Cinder creates her own way to get to the ball and that includes a little borrowing of clothes.

Overall

My overall impression of the book is that it is a very interesting concept with a very intricate plotline. Many of the reviews on book sharing websites such as Goodreads complain that there are plot pieces that are too obvious or not well explained. I don’t have as many of those complaints since I have read other books in the series as well as the companion novels. Some of these issues are dealt with later and in more depth.

The one complaint I will agree with is that the ‘big reveal’ at the end of the novel is very apparent throughout the book. I don’t want to spoil it here, but those who have read it can probably contend to this.

Cinder is a pretty true to story Cinderella retelling with a interesting sci-fi take. I would recommend this retelling as a 4/5 star.

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