Cinder

Title: Cinder

Author: Marissa Meyer

ISBN: 978-0312641894

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Copyright: 2012

Genre: Science Fiction

Age Range: 13 - 17

Reader’s Annotation: Master mechanic Cinder is asked by the Prince Kai to fix an android that leads her down a path of self discovery and intrigue.

Plot Summary: Cinder is a master mechanic who runs an android repair shop in New Beijing. Unlike her stepmother, Adri, and stepsisters, Pearl and Peony, Cinder is a cyborg. The prince of New Beijing, Prince Kai, drops off an android for repair. Soon after, there is a letumosis breakout at the market. Letumosis is the plague that has terrorized the world and infected Emperor Riken, the prince’s father.

            Cinder and Peony go off to find a part for Adri’s hover card. While at the junkyard, they discover a gas powered car and Peony contracts the plague. She is taken away. By the time Cinder gets home, Adri has already sold her off for scientific experiment. Cyborgs were being used to test for letumosis cures. A researcher, Dr. Erland, draws her blood and injects her with letumosis. Her body destroys the infection, and the doctor takes her to a different room to talk. She tries to attack him, but resists as she feels calmed by him. She is told she is immune and her asks her about her past. To her knowledge, she and her parents were in a horrible crash that killed them and made her into a cyborg. She did not remember anything pre-surgery. Linh Garan became her guardian and soon died from the plague. Cinder agrees to do experiments for money. Dr. Erland pinches between her shoulder blades, and she passes out.

            Kia walks down to the research lab to see if there is any progress and runs into Sybil Mira, the head thaumaturge to Queen Levana the matriarch of the moon. Kai discusses Princess Selene, the only other heir to the thrown, and the deadly fire that may have took Selene’s live. Stories tell of Selene surviving on earth. Torin, a royal advisor, tries to put these rumors to rest. Cinder wakes up to Dr. Erland and Kai. She escapes with the excuse that she was fixing a med droid and would repair his android soon. Back at the apartment, she argues with Adri and plans to escape using the car she found.

            Emperor Riken dies, and Queen Levana announces that she is going to come down to meet Prince Kai for alliance talks. Cinder visits Peony who has stage three letumosis. During that time, she discovers that the dead are having their ID chips removed and sold on the black market. Cinder heads back to the palace, declines Prince Kai’s invitation to the ball, and finds out that she is a Lunar who immigrated to earth. She goes home overwhelmed and gets straight to fixing Prince Kai’s android. Finding a communication chip that shouldn’t be there, she plucks it out and the android reboots with information about Princess Selene. Cinder goes to the palace to drop off the droid and gets caught up in the protests against Queen Levana who sees her in the crowd after Levana brainwashes the crowd to calm down. Levana demands the fugitive and gives Kai a letumosis cure too late for the Emperor.

Dr Erland gives some of the cure to Cinder who goes straight to Peony. Peony dies and Cinder causes a scene to ensure that she gets Peony’s ID chip. When Cinder returns home, Adri forbids Cinder go anywhere, takes her cyborg foot, and destroys her android Iko. Cinder starts to load up the car to leave the city when communication ship activates in a netscreen. It is a girl from lunar orbit who tells Cinder about Levana’s devious plan to marry Prince Kai and take over earth. Prince Kai is at the ball and must be warned. Can Cinder get the car working enough to warn Prince Kai? Can she get to the ball in time? What will she wear? 

Critical Evaluation: While some might think that Cinder is a silly little sci-fi adaptation of Cinderella, there are a few big issues addressed throughout the book. The over arching theme seems to be the treatment of the cyborg people. They are treated in this world as second class citizens. By using this perspective, a teen might be able to relate to their status as a second class citizen, because they are not children but not yet become an adult. It also has the ability to open their eyes to the history of the United States and what it means to segregate different activities and facilities based on who you are physically. It champions the idea that our differences can make us stronger. It also makes teens think about how they treat other people and why they treat them that way.

Author Information: Marissa Meyer lives in Tacoma, Washington, with her husband and three cats. She’s a fan of most things geeky (Sailor Moon, Firefly, color-coordinating her bookshelf . . .), and has been in love with fairy tales since she was given a small book of them when she was a child. She may or may not be a cyborg. Cinder is her first novel. Source - http://www.marissameyer.com/media/

Curriculum Ties: Folklore, Adaptations, History

Challenge Issues: Disobedience

Booktalk Ideas: Mechanically Minded – One could talk about the different robotic possibilities of the future and introduce Cinder as a modern marvel. Plague Zone – Describe the gritty world of the plague that ravages the cities in Cinder’s world.