“Cinder” by Marissa Meyer

Another brilliant book ruined by a bad ending.  More on that in a moment.  Let’s talk about the brilliance first.  This is Cinderella (and you should know, I love me some Cinderella).  Except … Cinderella is a cyborg living in a plague-ridden future Earth.  World War IV has come and gone and the five remaining governments of the world struggle with increasing tensions between them and the Queen of the lunar colonies … someone so calculating, manipulative and dangerous she makes Richard III look like a puppy dog.  Cinder works as a mechanic in an open-air Asian marketplace.  Ms. Meyer does a phenomenal job of subtly weaving in all elements of the original fairy-tale … in remarkably clever ways at times.  It is a fresh, re-imagined story, but one with echoes of familiarity.  The world Meyer creates is detailed, specific and real and she is strikingly consistent on every element she brings into it (always a pet peeve with me and Sci Fi authors who make up stuff as they go along).  A page turner, I couldn’t wait to pick this one up and read the next chapter.  I also deeply enjoyed the romance element – painted with a soft and engaging brush.  I truly was “wowed” by this book.  Until the end. 

SPOILER ALERT

Clearly, this is planned to be a series, which I didn’t know when I picked it up.  The thing is, it doesn’t need to be.  Ms. Meyer exceeded all expectations in creating this tale and shouldn’t have left us dangling at the end to begin a whole other story about a whole other character (“Scarlet” is the as-yet-unpublished 2nd book in the series about a different girl in the same world who dresses in a red cloak).  Meyer included every element of the original fairytale, wove a believable and endearing love story … then walks away (in this case, the character, literally) right where the pay-off should have been.  As much as I like the book, I don’t see myself plowing through yet another endless YA series to get what should have been here in the first book – a complete story.  It’s ironic that someone like myself, who is generally not a fan of romance, is so very into the “true love” as portrayed in fairy tales.  I really want the prince to get his girl … isn’t that the whole point of these things? 

Anyway.  It’s a fantastic read.  And if you don’t mind the cliff-hanger ending and waiting for the next (??? how many???) books to be published for resolution, go ahead.   One side note of interest to me, personally, is how our inherent racial biases play into our perception of people in books.  Although the physical details of the characters aren’t tremendously specific, it is clear they are not Caucasian, as I am.  It was fascinating to me how many times I had to mentally adjust the images of the characters in my head, working to steer away from that euro-centric Disney princess one tends to default to.  Props, again, to Ms. Meyer for expanding the familiar into new territory.  If only she had wrapped things up a tad more.