Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder was a hard sell for me, and even finished I can't decide whether or not it's a winner. Fairytale retellings are like candy to me, so much fun and yet so romantic and lovely following those original story lines. Classic princess tales like Beauty and the Beast, the Little Mermaid, will leave be crying every time. So I was very excited about a Cinderella retelling. But I'll say this book left me with very mixed feelings. I don't usually lay things out in lists like this, but I feel it's the only way to organize my very muddled thoughts in this case. So here goes! Things I did not like: 1. The cyborg issue-Obviously she's still mostly human. We have people nowadays with prosthetic limbs, and they aren't treated like minorities… 2. The ending—She shows up in a gross dress with gross gloves. I get that it's supposed to show how much of an underdog she is and how what else could she do and all. But come on. Cinderella is supposed to show up and surprise everyone with her beauty, not like she crawled out of the gutter. 3. Her reasons for not attending the ball—Even now I'm not quite sure what they are. I guess she wanted to escape that night, but Prince Kai asked her to go! Why not leave the next night? 4. The whole immunity scam by the doctor—Had the doctor not lied to her the whole time and just straight up told her she was the missing princess, a lot of things could have been avoided. 5. Prince Kai—Okay he was sweet, but really he kind of annoyed me. I think his character lacked personality. 6. Decision making—Decision making in this book was down the drain. Half the choices Cinder made ahd me slapping my forehead in disbelief. Come on hun, have some common sense please! For example, not telling Prince Kai you're the lost princess…really dumb my friend. Things I did like: 1. The lunar thing—Okay, that was brilliant. A branched off race of human evolution living on the moon? Bravo. Original, and very possible. I wish she had gone into their society deeper. 2. Lost princess—Even though I called it from the beginning, I still really liked it! 3. Mechanic aspect—I liked that about Cinder's character. I think it added an edge to the story that made it more fun than if she'd been a baker or something. 4. Science—As a Medical buff I enjoyed the little bit of science we got exposed to. So as you can see the did not like list is longer than the liked list. But that's human nature, isn't it? We can always complain better than we can compliment. Either way, I enjoyed the book, but I was a little off put throughout the entire story. I am planning on reading the next book, and I am looking forward to it, although I do have my reservations. I think the conclusion to this story could either be fantastic or a total train wreck. Three Stars Rosalie Cinder on Goodreads