Cinder - Marissa Meyer

Count me thoroughly surprised with "Cinder", a book I started with a raised brow, and fell in love with almost just two or three pages in.

"Cinder" tells the story of, well, Cinder, a cyborg girl that works as a mechanic, has a horrible stepmother, two too self-centered sisters, and a prince that happens to come to her shop with an android she has to repair. Do you need anything else or can you already develop the plot and where it is going to in your head? In case you need something else, this is after Fourth World War, we are in Asia, there is a horrible plague going on, and from the Moon comes the threat of the Lunar people and their queen, the Lunars people with powers that can make people from Earth do things they wouldn't want to.

Yes. It is not Dickens or Proust. Or some of the modern ones like Franzen. And it doesn't need to. Because, to my surprise (as I was afraid I was going to find another "Divergent" or "The Maze Runner", Meyer does an amazing work in balancing the silly (to me) aspects: prince, ball, 'I-want-to-be-pretty-pretty-pretty' with the sci-fi setting, the threat of war, the fear of being too different and ending alone to create an enthralling first volume to "The Lunar Chronicles". It is easy to say this is just a silly story about a girl that just wants to be prettier to find a boy (and in some ways it is), but it is also too entertaining, and with so nice a pace, that you will be willing to forget its shortcomings (really, who is taking care of all those sick people that anyone can come and go from the quarantine center without anyone wondering?).

The best: it is gripping; Cinder is an interesting character; the dystopian/futuristic tone is well set and well developed; it is fun

The worst: you can see where it will end up already on page one; the time frame is a little bit shaky; what kind of security does this country have?, everyone should be dead by now because of the plague; too much emphasis on Cinder's (and everyone else) looks? (and yes, I know it comes as a 'rethinking' of "Cinderella"

Alternatives: "The Hunger Games", "The Handmaid's Tale", the first "Twilight" (even with its shortcomings) or "Harry Potter" (in the chosen one narrative)

7/10

(Original English)