Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1) in WordNerds

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Jan 06, 2016 nagako rated it liked it

I received this book as a Christmas present and spent the next 2 days reading through the entirety of the series. I will post a more comprehensive review of the series at a whole at the end but here were my thoughts on the first!

While this does not come close to my new favorite book, it was intriguing enough for me to pick up the next (and the next until I could see how it ended). Cinder provided an interesting protagonist in a fascinating world. One problem I had was that I was actually more i ...more

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Nov 08, 2011 Bonnie rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-fantasy-sci-fi, young-adult, 2012-books

I’m not surprised at all that Meyer is a big anime fan, because that’s pretty much what this reads like. Ridiculous, fun, exasperating, cute - light on substance, filled with fluff.

On a superficial level it’s quite good – it’s got the noble prince and the feisty commoner and the evil queen. It’s got a dying sweet little (step) sister and a comedic robot sidekick and a terrible stepmother & stepsister. Cinder is a cyborg - human, but with robot parts - who is in love with the kind, handsome Prin I’m not surprised at all that Meyer is a big anime fan, because that’s pretty much what this reads like. Ridiculous, fun, exasperating, cute - light on substance, filled with fluff.

On a superficial level it’s quite good – it’s got the noble prince and the feisty commoner and the evil queen. It’s got a dying sweet little (step) sister and a comedic robot sidekick and a terrible stepmother & stepsister. Cinder is a cyborg - human, but with robot parts - who is in love with the kind, handsome Prince Kai (heir to the Eastern Commonwealth). Unfortunately, due to poor decision-making, he may have to marry the evil Queen Levana, ruler of the much hated and magical Lunars (the people living on the moon). On a complete YA nonsense level, I liked it a lot. It did read very quickly and it was solid fluff.

But on a deeper level it was oh so very irksome. There was not a twist I did not see coming. (view spoiler)

The bigger thing, though, was that Meyer fell down completely on the sci fi aspect, at least the worldbuilding. I will accept on blind faith that there is an Eastern Commonwealth that apparently compromises everything from India to Japan – basically everything that could be deemed “Asian” despite HUGE divergences in history and culture and centuries of self-rule. Okay, fine, there is an Eastern Commonwealth and it has an Emperor and somehow this all works out. But why, besides a few honorifics, does New Beijing feel like Generic Future City? Why is there no sense of a Chinese culture? It is barely a Pan-Asian one. And is China now super diverse? Because I’m pretty sure that Cinder looks non-Asian? She was found in Europe and I believe she's Caucasian? But no one mentions it at all. It’s like the future has finally succeeded in making race a non-issue (besides if you’re cyborg or Lunar, I guess). This world seems more Japanese than anything to me, but maybe that’s the anime influence. It would’ve been far better if this was set on a different planet so Meyer didn’t have to deal with these huge gaps in worldbuilding she left.

Also she should not make political intrigue a big deal if she can’t handle it. Like no one came up with the suggestion that Queen Levana would use the marriage to Kai to establish a foothold on Earth and then launch her attack from the Eastern Commonwealth (probably after killing or brainwashing Kai). THIS IS THE FIRST THING I THOUGHT OF. This world has the worst leaders with the least political sense, ever. If Queen Levana has the power now to treat Kai and his court with such contempt – he has to bend over backwards to accommodate her, weakening himself considerably; he lets her into his city because she tells him she’s coming and he doesn’t do anything about it, like demanding that she visit a less populous area or refusing to see her or being surrounded by androids (that she cannot manipulate) instead of humans (which she can manipulate); she is able to nearly kill his own servants in his own dining room above his protests - she treats him like he is already subjugated which I guess he pretty much is because he has no political savvy or balls. His whole position is “well, I guess I can’t do anything about this. I hope she doesn’t invade.” Well, that’s heartening, Kai. I hope that works out for you. What about funding secret research to counter mind control techniques? Cybernetics already exist. What about not letting her establish herself in your kingdom? What about doing anything?

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Sep 06, 2012 Alyssa rated it liked it

Shelves: book-club

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