Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, the 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:
When Cinder came out, it was surrounded by all sorts of amazing hype that made me a little skeptical of the book. How could it be that great? Well, I finally took the dive and picked it up and read it and the only bad thing about it was the fact that I had not read it earlier.

The cover is an interesting one, while I read it I had many people ask about the book and tell me that the cover caught their eye. It features Cinder's foot in a very red glass slipper, paying homage to the original tale involving the glass slipper. Also, it is easy to see the mechanics beneath Cinder's skin, immediately telling the reader that the story is about a cyborg. I love the font they used for the title and the author name; both carry a fantasy, futuristic feel to them that matched the book well.

As you may have guessed, the main character's name was Cinder. Cinder was a cyborg living in New Beijing sometime in the far future. Even though her 'family' had treated her like dirt for the duration of her living with them, she still retained hope and a good personality when it would have been easy to just be bitter and down on herself. Cinder was a very strong character who was highly enjoyable to read about, just as many of the characters were in the book. Prince Kai was another favorite of mine because he didn't take no for an answer, but he didn't put a new love before his priorities with the kingdom. These qualities made him realistic as well as a great love interest. The relationship dynamic between these two was very interesting, as they didn't get far into it before the book ended, not doing the whole 'instant love' shebang that's very popular in books today.

The premise was amazing and unique, for a retelling, and it was truly delivered by the great writing and plot. The writing made me form instant bonds with the characters, holding me to them emotionally, making me feel for the characters from the beginning. It was these bonds that hooked me into every page, and kept me there until the very end. And by that I mean that I was wanting more at the end, but the cliffhanger left me wanting the next book instantly. The pacing of the plot was spot on, it couldn't have been done better. There were no slow parts and there was always something occurring or building. From beginning to end there was no shortage of twists and turns that made Cinder a book that you don't want to miss.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an awesome retelling of a classic fairytale with a twist, or simply to anyone. I give Cinder a 5/5 for making me die for the next book in the series.