Cinder & Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Published: January 3rd 2012 (Cinder) February 5th 2013 (Scarlet)
Source: Borrowed from Family (Cinder) Library (Scarlet)
Genre: Science Fiction, Retelling
Cinder on Goodreads
Scarlet on Goodreads

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.

Apparently I'm behind on the craze, because I just now read the first two books in the Lunar Chronicles. When Cinder first came out, of course I heard the hype- who didn't? But when I first heard about it, Cinder didn't sound all that interesting to me- seriously Cyborg Cinderella? Yes. Cyborg Cinderella. I finally picked up Cinder and then Scarlet shortly after I became part of a little game of 'Pass Cress' with some other bloggers. I still haven't picked up Cress yet, but I will be doing that soon. Despite my early uncertainties about these books when they were first coming out, I loved Cinder and Scarlet. This is the kind of story that you just can't help but staying up late reading. I can't wait to pick up Cress!

Of the two books Cinder was by far my favorite. I liked how Cinder's book only told one story instead of jumping between characters like it did in Scarlet. I liked Cinder as a character more than Scarlet, even though there is a part of me that still loves her. Cinder always seemed like a very strong, smart, opinionated kind of character, while Scarlet was much more go-with-your-gut and impulsive.

I really liked how Marissa Meyer was able to work such old stories into a futuristic, science fiction world so easily. After reading these books I can hardly think of the stories as being any other way than how it is in this world. This story was much more interesting and complex that I thought it would be. There are several different conflicts that the characters have to fight with- Plague, aliens on the verge of attack, a missing grandmother in Scarlet's case. I love how everything was intertwined to make such an amazingly interesting book. I love it!

The hardest part of getting into this story is the font. These books are written it a fairly odd font that's a little more pointed and rounded than a normal writing font. Due to the font it took me a few chapters to be able to read it smoothly, but after that I barely noticed it anymore.