I think I expected more from this book because there's a lot of "hype" surrounding it. I did enjoy the creative re-telling of Cinderella in a futuristic, sci-fi setting. That was worth more than 3 stars.
But I wasn't impressed with the execution. The writing style, character development, and dialogue were all just okay. I wanted Meyer to make me care more about Cinder, too. Yes, she was the main character and underdog, but what else about her made me want to cheer her on? She was almost constantly snarky with an unnecessary attitude. So much sarcasm! Sure, teenagers have attitudes, but what happened to the story of a kind, caring girl who fell in love with the prince against all odds? I didn't really like this Cinderella very much, and I didn't have enough background on her story or her step-family's story to like or dislike either very strongly.
On to the writing...The plot was predictable, and I'm not talking about the basic Cinderella story line. But I'm going to leave out the examples for the sake of spoilers, though.
What else? Well, this story needs more world building. I want to see, hear, even smell the city of New Beijing. A sci-fi world needs strong descriptions to transport the reader, to have their imagination reconstruct the author's vision, and this book needed more of it. In addition to not having enough physical descriptors, I wanted more background historically on the culture/society. Why would someone not want to love someone who's a cyborg? Why are they treated like untouchables?
I probably would get more of the sense of world building and have some of these questions answered if I continued reading more of the Lunar Chronicles, but ultimately, though it was a fun read, I wasn't impressed with Cinder.
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