Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publish Date: January 2, 2012
Genre: YA, Sci-Fi, Dystopian
Pages: 387
Source: Publisher

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. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. 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.

Cinder lives the life of your obligatory Cinderella, complete with the requisite wicked stepmother and hideous stepsister. But Cinder is different than meets the eye. She's a skilled mechanic with a gift that supports her family's seriously lavish lifestyle. Not only that though, Cinder is a cyborg, making her less than the average human in New Beijing. Life is difficult, of course, but it's about to get more difficult. When an intergalactic war begins to brew beneath the surface, Cinder is about to become an unwitting heroine...but is it a life she is willing to continue, or will it be too much for one cyborg to handle?

There's a whole mess of dystopians and sci-fi novels on the YA market today. That's no secret, kids, but when an author is willing to take a classic, turn it on its tail and make it into something entirely new. Debut author Marissa Meyer has transformed your classic Cinderella tale into something far greater than your average damsel in distress tale. Offering us a heroine that's flawed but witty, sweet but strong and far braver than all those around her, Cinder earns its spot on the YA market today with an honest, fun and intense tale.

I was a little leery of Cinder, to be honest, despite my excitement. It's hard for a book to live up to the hype, but Cinder balances the task with ease. The characterization of our heroine was spot-on, allowing me to access the heart of her being from page one and become invested in her tale. Furthermore, all the secondary characters, including Cinder's stepmother, Prince Kai and her stepsisters came alive through rich and evocative dialogue and powerful actions. The true beauty of Cinder, however, lies within the world Cinder lives, New Beijing. The place was a virtual cesspool, dissolving under an incurable plague and ready to be attacked by the leader of the Lunar world, Queen Levana. Through the spine-tingling action and suspense, the romantic and believable love story and a great, fast-paced plot, Cinder succeeds on all levels.

Cinder is the first in a planned quartet of novels (love that it's not a trilogy!). Fun and thrilling, it's become an instant favourite of mine and definitely warrants a re-read. I give it a 4.5 out of 5, and I highly recommend it to all fans of YA fiction, especially those who like fairy tale retellings, sci-fi and dystopians.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists over at The Broke and the Bookish. They'd love to share their lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week they will post a new top ten list that one of our bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All they ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Top Ten Authors I'd Love to Have at My Thanksgiving Feast:

1. Michelle Hodkin - Why, you ask? Clearly you haven't met her! Michelle is one of the nicest, sweetest and most genuine people out there, and it just so happens that she is an incredibly talented author. Picking her brain for an hour and chatting about animals wasn't nearly enough time...what better place than a Thanksgiving feast?!

2. J.K. Rowling - A girl can dream, right? If I had an hour to ask her questions or sit and eat dinner with her, one of two things could happen. 1) I drive her insane with idiotic questions for hours, or 2) I sit bug-eyed and silent...internally fangirling.

3. Rick Riordan - I don't know about you, but I want to know how in the heck he makes Greek mythology look so dang good and be so dang legible! His characters are fun, so obviously, he has to be fun, too.

4. Kirsty Eagar - Well, obviously I'd be fangirling over her books, then I'd fangirl over her accent, and then I'd tell her to get her publishers to get her books in the US, stat. Either way, I think she could teach me how to surf, so why not spend a fun Thanksgiving learning, eh?

5. Kendare Blake - She has one of the most genius and inventive minds, and I can't imagine how much fun it would be to chat horror and paranormal with her. Truly. I mean that with utter sincerity!

6. Brian Jacques - I know he recently passed, but I would still love to spend Thanksgiving with him! He always wrote about these epic feasts in his books, and my mouth would be watering for days...not that I knew what any of the food was, or anything.

7. Sara Shepard - I might not love the shows based on her books (though The Lying Game is leagues better), but I am so enthralled by her books. They're easy, fast and they are so entertained. I want more!

8. James Dashner - I think his dystopian series is one of the most underrated and underreviewed series ever. I adore it. I really need to review it and share my love for his series because it is THAT good. Plus, I'd pick his brain on the prequel. Jussayin'.

9. Richelle Mead - I've sworn up and down, time and again that I loathe vampires. I'll never like them. BUT I was convinced to read the Vampire Academy series, and I was sold. I want to know how she did that.

10. Marissa Meyer - She's a debut author, but holy hell does she have one original plot with Cinder! I'm obsessed. I want her at my Thanksgiving so I can grill her and find out more!

In My Mailbox is an amazing weekly meme hosted by Kristi from The Story Siren that features the books we have received during the week. It's so much fun because we get to see what our fellow bloggers stumbled upon this week and add even more to our piles of books! Without further ado, this week I received the following books:

FOR REVIEW

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

(ARC) - Thank you, Macmillan

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. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. 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.

FOR REVIEW

Planesrunner by Ian McDonald

(ARC) - Thank you, PYR

There is not one you. There are many yous. There is not one world. There are many worlds. Ours is one of billions of parallel earths.

When Everett Singh's scientist father is kidnapped from the streets of London, he leaves young Everett a mysterious app on his computer. Suddenly, this fourteen-year-old has become the owner of the most valuable object in the multiverse — the Infundibulum — the map of all the parallel earths, and there are dark forces in the Ten Known Worlds who will stop at nothing to get it.