👶👶👶 Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles), Marissa Meyer

While I’m a sucker for a good Dystopian novel, I can do without the sci-fi edge in this fan-fiction quartet. Having been to the author signing with my daughters, I can assure you that Meyer is a YA favorite (as well as being incredibly adept at recounting original fairy tales from memory). So, although these novels were not absolute gems for me, I can see the allure for the younger population.

Cinder was a very unique retelling of the Cinderella story, in that it is set in New Beijing, for starters, and in that it deals with cyborgs and lunars (not your usual combo for fairytale retellings).

As an adult, however, I cringe at the impulsive infatuation exhibited by each of the female lead characters. It was a shame that each female protagonist had to be paired off with a male character throughout the progression of the stories. To that end, it was with resignation that I continued to read the series, as it followed this cliché pattern, and made me question the message being sent to young girls. Certain scenes were a bit nauseating with the dependency on their swoon-worthy counterparts. However, for the most part, I’ll admit it was plot-appropriate, as it is after all, fan-fiction.

The violence level is high, and as usual, I struggle with the necessity for such content, but I can be a bit conservative in terms of that part of it.

Overall, these were fast-paced, incredibly unique retellings of the Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White stories. Kudos to the author for quite an entertaining imagination, and I must comment that the book covers are absolutely fabulous!

Read 7/10/15