Books > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy

Cinder: Book One of the Lunar Chronicles (The Lunar Chronicles, 1) [2020, PDF/EPUB, ENG]

by Marissa Meyer

(18,554 ratings)
Book cover

The first book in the #1 New York Times- and USA Today-Bestselling Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer like you’ve never seen it before, now with new cover art! See where the futuristic YA fairytale saga all began, with the tale of a teenage cyborg who must fight for Earth's survival against villains from outer space.

'An interesting mash up of fairy tales and science fiction . . . a cross between Cinderella, Terminator, and Star Wars.' ―Entertainment Weekly

'Prince Charming among the cyborgs.' ―The Wall Street Journal

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.

With high-stakes action and a smart, resourceful heroine, Cinder is a Cinderella retelling that is at once classic and strikingly original.

Don't miss Marissa Meyer's other books and series':

The Lunar Chronicles:
Cinder
Scarlet
Cress
Winter
Stars Above
Fairest

The Lunar Chronicles Coloring Book

Wires and Nerve: Vol. 1
Wires and Nerve: Vol. 2

Renegades:
Renegades: Book One
Archenemies: Book Two
Supernova: Book Three

Heartless

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Book details


  • Retail price : from $7.99
  • Author : Marissa Meyer
  • Publisher : Square Fish
  • Published : 02-03-2020
  • Language : English
  • Pages : 448
  • ISBN-10 : 1250768888
  • ISBN-13 : 978-1250768889
  • Reader Reviews : 18,554 (4.5)
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About the Author


Marissa Meyer


Marissa Meyer is a fangirl at heart, with a closet full of costumes, a Harry Potter wand on her desk, and a Tuxedo Mask doll hanging from her rear view mirror. Han and Leia are still her OTP. She may or may not be a cyborg.

Marissa is also the NYT bestselling author of a number of books for teens, including The Lunar Chronicles, the Renegades Trilogy, and Heartless.

Sign up for her newsletter at http://www.marissameyer.com or follow her on social media:

Instagram: @marissameyerauthor

Pinterest: @marissameyerauthor

Facebook: @marissameyerauthor

Twitter: @marissa_meyer

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Reader Reviews

J
Oscar
muy buen libro
Reviewed in Mexico on 07-26-2016
todo estuvo muy bien llego antes de lo esperado, solo que llego un poco doblado el libro pero todo lo demas estuvo muy bien.
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J
Rachel
Cinderella + Sci-Fi = LOVE IT
Reviewed in the United States on 09-12-2015
I read this book a while ago and it still has stuck with me as one of my favorite reads. Marissa Meyer creates this world that is somewhere between Star Wars and a modern fairy tale with a twist. I absolutely love Sci-Fi and this mash up was certainly not a disappointment.

Cinderella + Sci-Fi = LOVE IT

Taking place in futuristic Beijing, Cinder has a very unique and different setting from anything I have read before. Many countries throughout the world have formed into new alliances and empires. And the moon also has inhabitants. There is something called the plague. It’s an infectious disease that kills thousands of people. It is sort of the equivalent to cancer except more….vicious in its rapid development. And of course, there is not cure.

The main character is Cinder Linh, or in the book it is properly Linh Cinder. Names are said backwards in Japanese and Chinese cultures; where the last name is said first, and then the first name. Cinder is a cyborg. Which means she is half human and half robot. She is a mechanic, who works for her stepmother and lives in the city fixing robots and other technology in the city. People fear her because she is different. A robot is not considered a being with emotions. Cyborgs are not really considered people because they are half machine. Well, they are, they are just sort of….frowned upon. Cinder is not happy with her life but she tries to make the best of it. She is a very strong character and I found I liked her right away. In most YA books the heroine is an idiot and unrelatable. But Cinder is a character most readers will be able to identify with. She is real and has real feelings. Her actions and decisions also make sense with the story. And with who she is as a person.

Cinder does follow the main themes of Cinderella. But it is not super predicable in how it is portrayed. Cinder does meet Prince Kai, and instead of hiding she is a commoner, like in the real Cinderella story, she hides her cyborg foot and hand from him so he does not know she is half machine. There is a ball but everything is so different from the original story that this retelling is so unique on its own. Although, all the elements of a Cinderella story are there.

Prince Kai has his own issues to deal with. His father is sick with the plague and a Queen wants to make an alliance with him. There is a good amount of politics and manipulation that goes on in his side of the story. Prince Kai is definitely charming. I think he needs to be a bit stronger of a character. He is learning how to run a country and I understand that. He is a bit young and naive like most young apprentice rulers are; I just hope he becomes more confident and strong as the books progress. And I’m sure he will be.

Not ganna lie, I am a “judge a book by the cover” person. Which can be a good and bad thing. This is one of those stories where the plot has great potential and you can see that before you read it. The cover art is also just lovely and really captures the eye. I was like “What is this?!?!?!?!” Combining the summery and the cover and you got a trap for a reader. Which can be scary because most of the time it does not meet up to the expectations of the reader at all. But this book surpassed my expectations. I had put off reading it because I was afraid it would suck. But it turns out to now be one of my absolute favorite stories I have ever read.

SO, WE HAVE A WINNER!

If you are a Sailor Moon fan this book is also for you! There are some loose similarities between Sailor Moon and Cinder and after googling, it I did in fact find Meyer was in love with the Sailor Moon series. Marissa Meyer even says she was inspired by her when writing Cinder! Cinder is also rumored to become a movie SO I am really excited and keeping my fingers crossed!

If you like the combination of drama, romance, secrets, and adventure, you have to read Cinder! It is one of my favorite retellings! Actually, it is because of this book I even LIKE retellings! It’s the first one I have read that I actually have been interested in! this book proves retellings can be good and fun to read! Go to the store and get this book!

Marissa Meyer Answering Questions on Her Books
Marissa Meyer on Cinder, writing, and leading men….

Which of your characters is most like you?

I wish I could say that I'm clever and mechanically-minded like Cinder, but no--I can't fix anything. I'm much more like Cress, who makes a brief cameo in Cinder and then takes a more starring role in the third book. She's a romantic and a daydreamer and maybe a little on the naïve side--things that could be said about me too--although she does find courage when it's needed most. I think we'd all like to believe we'd have that same inner strength if we ever needed it.

Where do you write?

I have a home office that I've decorated with vintage fairy tale treasures that I've collected (my favorite is a Cinderella cookie jar from the forties) and NaNoWriMo posters, but sometimes writing there starts to feel too much like work. On those days I'll write in bed or take my laptop out for coffee or lunch.

If you were stranded on a desert island, which character from Cinder would you want with you?

Cinder, definitely! She has an internet connection in her brain, complete with the ability to send and receive comms (which are similar to e-mails). We'd just have enough time to enjoy some fresh coconut before we were rescued.

The next book in the Lunar Chronicles is called Scarlet, and is about Little Red Riding Hood. What is appealing to you most about this character as you work on the book?

Scarlet is awesome--she's very independent, a bit temperamental, and has an outspokenness that tends to get her in trouble sometimes. She was raised by her grandmother, an ex-military pilot who now owns a small farm in southern France, who not only taught Scarlet how to fly a spaceship and shoot a gun, but also to have a healthy respect and appreciation for nature. I guess that's a lot of things that appeal to me about her, but she's been a really fun character to write! (The two leading men in Scarlet, Wolf and Captain Thorne, aren't half bad either.).
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J
KarToon12
A cyberpunk retelling of Cinderella
Reviewed in the United States on 07-29-2020
I've been slowly making my way through a long list of books recommended to me by a librarian friend of mine. Next on the list was a novel with a plot summary too intriguing to pass up on---a futuristic, cyberpunk retelling of the Cinderella fairytale. And upon completion, I now can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Taking place on a far flung future Earth---a world in which humans, cyborgs, and androids live alongside each other, the titular Cinder is a bright and talented teenage mechanic. But due to her status as a cyborg (which marks her as a second class citizen by the general populace), she lives under the oppressive thumb of her abusive stepmother and equally mean stepsisters (though one of them shows her a bit more kindness than the other). But when one of her sisters catches a deadly disease that's been ravaging the planet, Cinder is blamed for bringing the plague to their home, and is promptly shipped off to be used for medical research. And upon discovering that she's miraculously immune to the disease, Cinder is soon swept up into a complicated world full of political intrigue, a secret past she has no memory of, a dashing prince who catches her eye, and an evil queen from the moon who's hell bent on using her mind manipulation powers to conquer the Earth. And through it all, Cinder will discover that she's more special than anyone ever realized.

This is a rather long book, but not once does it drag. Every page is filled to the brim with either character development, or some new world building element. The story sports a really well-thought out setting with futuristic technology that reminds me a lot of Josh Whedon's 'Firefly'. This is a lived-in world, with an intricate history that's explained or hinted at periodically. And much like our own contradictory real world, this is an Earth that's mostly united and promotes peace and understanding, but treats cyborgs like second class citizens who are barely human. This fear also extends to the Lunars; a once-human colony who evolved on the moon, and have since developed a brand of telepathic abilities, the likes of which their leader, Queen Levana, uses to brainwash and subjugate her people. Queen Levana is totally psychotic, completely power hungry, and though she comes off as 'evil for evil's sake', her overbearing, diabolical attitude remains a lingering presence everywhere, and makes every situation with her tense, as you're never sure what she's going to do. Thankfully, the situation on the moon isn't all black and white, because as it turns out, not all Lunars are bad people, and also want to see her de-throned, and hate living under her dictatorship.

Cinder's stepmother, Adri, is pretty much the cold and vain character from the old fairytale, who treats Cinder like garbage, though at least in this version, it's a bit more understandable why she acts the way she does, as her late husband is partially responsible for placing the family in a difficult situation. (Though that doesn't excuse her deplorable attitude.) As for Pearl and Peony, the two stepsisters don't have as huge a role to play, but in a refreshing change of pace, Peony is actually very kind to Cinder, and when she tragically falls victim to the plague, the race to cure her is what initially spurs Cinder to action, and Peony's presence is still felt throughout the story, even when she's not there.

Thankfully, there's plenty of nice characters to brighten up an otherwise gloomy situation. Prince Kai is a truly charming royal, who is incredibly kind, considerate, and smart, and tries his absolute hardest to be the best and fair ruler he can be. He always puts his people's needs ahead of his own, at the expense of his own happiness. He and Cinder have great chemistry, and it makes me hope that they can someday get together. There's also Dr. Erland, the chief scientist put in charge of trying to find a cure for the plague, and when he and Cinder cross paths, he acts as the pseudo- fairy godmother who gives Cinder the tools and valuable information she needs to stay safe and out of the queen's clutches, especially when our young mechanic begins to discover information about her past that was kept a well-guarded secret.

As for the main heroine herself, Cinder is one of the best female protagonists I've come across in fiction. She's extremely smart and capable, but makes her share of understandable mistakes. She's snarky and emotional, but doesn't let her emotions overtake her and get in the way of what needs to be done. She starts off loathing the cyborg side of herself, but comes to appreciate it the more that aspect saves her life more than once. As she discovers more about her forgotten past, the more she starts to stand up to those who belittle her, until she cleverly engineers her own escape from her crappy home life. And even though she's given every opportunity to hide or run away and be free, she actively chooses the harder path and decides, on multiple occasions, to put her life at risk to do the right thing, and try to stop Queen Levana's tyranny. And all of this is wrapped up in clever parallels to the old fairytale, from a beat up car replacing the pumpkin carriage, to a cybernetic foot in place of the glass slipper. It really isn't until the final third of the book that the 'Cinderella' elements start showing up full force, proving that this world is well-developed enough to stand out on its own, even without the fairytale parallels added in.

On a final note, although I was able to pretty much guess the plot twist regarding Cinder's heritage early on, there's enough political intrigue and other stuff going on that there's still plenty of other twists and turns that left me guessing as to what would happen next. Being able to figure out a plot twist ahead of time isn't always a bad thing. I'd rather have a story be semi-predictable, but still enjoyable and make sense, versus a story that has a twist for the sole purpose of shock value, without any regard of if it's logical or not.

Simply put, this is an amazing first installment to what I hope will be a unique and creative futuristic twist on the classic fairytales we've all come to know. If the rest of the series is as excellent as this first book, I think I'm in for a good ride. Bring on 'Scarlet'!.
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