Thursday, February 20, 2014

Double Header - Cinder and Scarlet by Marissa Meyer



Published: January 2012
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Pages: 387
Copy Provided by: Library
Summary: Goodreads

Summary:
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.

Review:
I received an ARC of this title a few years back and didn't end up reading it.  When I moved, I had to give it away, thinking I wouldn't have time to read it.  Now I am kicking myself for giving it away!!  A few days ago I downloaded the first few chapters of Cress from NetGalley.  It sounded so intriguing that I decided to give the series a go and bumped it up my TBR list.  Awesome decision!

Cinder has so many parallels to Cinderella but in such a modern way.  New Beijing is such an interesting place to live with so many social castes and planetary societies to deal with as well.  I love the character development of Cinder as a young, innocent cyborg who is quite obviously gifted but whom still retains her own sense of right and wrong.  As the story unfolds and her true identity is eventually revealed, Cinder begins to blossom, picking up allies along the way.

This novel had everything I was looking for - romance, a fairytale re-telling, action, adventure and the story was so well-developed, leading nicely into Scarlet.  Well done Ms. Meyer!


Published: February 2013
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 454
Copy Provided by: Library
Summary: Goodreads

Summary:
The fates of Cinder and Scarlet collide as a Lunar threat spreads across the Earth...

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Review:
I was incredibly lucky to have book #2 ready and waiting to read once I finished Cinder.  I'm not sure I could have waited 8 - 12 months for the second book to come out...Scarlet explores the life of Scarlet Benoit as she searches for her missing grandmother.  Obviously this is a play on Little Red Riding Hood however instead of eating the grandmother, the wolf befriends Scarlet.  So how does this tie in with Cinder? Good question.  I asked myself this throughout the novel...just as we are learning more about Scarlet, Cinder is also making friends with her own male companion, Thorne.  These two couples run parallel until eventually their paths cross and we begin to see how Queen Levana's reign really IS threatened by Cinder's existence.  

Scarlet was a fantastic read and the reader saw the integration of the two storylines fuse quite seamlessly.  I LOVE how Cinder is slowly developing her own secret network of supporters (Go Team Cinder!) as she tries to establish a plan to prevent the Lunar Queen from taking over Earth.  I hope you have Cress hot in your hands and ready to read after this one...it's another fast-paced, action packed title with a cliff-hanger of an ending...

Here's something interesting - 
Did you know that Marissa Meyer began writing Cinder on NaNoWriMo??  That is amazing!  Although the chances of someone getting published from this challenge are slim, I'm so impressed that this is where her story began!  




1 comment:

  1. Yay! So glad you read these two. I love them, and Cress, so much. I can't wait to see what you think of Cress.

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