Cinder by Marissa Meyer // Androids Blow My Mind

Wheee! Cinder, by Marissa Meyer, was a really fun book. It involved cyborgs and aliens and fairy tales - an awesome mind-blowing combination.

So I haven't read very many sci-fi books that deal with cyborgs and androids, which is what Cinder involves in extensive detail. My brain just finds it hard to wrap around the idea that something that is partially human and partially machine can still have feelings and nerves and things like that. That's just AWESOME. And even more awesome is something that is totally machine, like an android, that can still have emotions and personality. How does that work, scientifically!? The brain is such an intricate thing. How can engineers make FAKE brains that are sentient and can have FEELINGS?

Well, that's a question for my sister to answer when she becomes a bio-medical engineer and makes bionic limbs. But it's such an excitingly mind-blowing concept, right? (Right? Or is that just my science-nerd showing....?)

Another thing that I liked (besides the awesome science stuff) was that this was set in the future but it wasn't at all Apocalyptic with cruel governments and messed up systems. The world in Cinder is actually a potential scenario for a bunch of years into the future. This world could actually really happen! How refreshing. Yes, yes Divergent and The Hunger Games are great, but it is so nice to read about a functional Earth where the government isn't all 1984. 

Instead, the danger is coming from the creepy and crazy queen of the moon. Not much better, but you get my point.

The coolest part of this book, in my opinion, is that it's a fractured fairy tale. It is, ultimately, a version of Cinderella - an epic version of Cinderella where what's at stake is not just happily ever after for Cinderella and the prince, but happily ever after for the whole world. And I loved picking out the slightly less obvious references to the fairy tale. It was so much fun!

Additionally, both stepsisters aren't evil (though evil wouldn't be exactly the word to describe the older stepsister and the stepmother. They're more - unpleasant.). The younger stepsister is actually very close to Cinder and they are all sisterly and everything. It's such a pleasant surprise. 

The ending was rather abrupt and inconclusive, but I know that there are three more books in the series, so I didn't mind. I'm an extremely patient reader, I've discovered. 

I sped through Cinder like I did with Shadow and Bone, but that just means that it was a fun, uncomplicated read. I'm excited to read the next book in the Lunar Chronicles: Scarlet!

Have you read Cinder? What did you think? And what do you think of androids and cyborgs? (Would you like an android servant?)

~Sophia