“Cinder” by Marissa Meyer, for ages 12 and older, $17.99
Few fairy tales have been as endlessly reimagined and riffed upon as Cinderella. The beloved rags-to-riches story of an oppressed beauty whose kind nature is rewarded with the rare happily-ever-after ending has been turned into countless movies, ballets, books — even an ice show.
Now it’s getting a feminist, futuristic makeover in Marissa Meyer’s terrific young-adult debut, “Cinder,” the kickoff to the four-book Lunar Chronicles series that will incorporate fellow fairy-tale heroines Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White.
It’s clear from the first page in this inventive and fast-moving novel that 16-year-old Cinder isn’t your average princess in the making. She’s a cyborg who, instead of a glass slipper, is outfitted with an uncomfortably small robotic foot that her abusive adoptive stepmother hasn’t prioritized for an upgrade.
Cinder is the best mechanic in the sprawling metropolis of New Beijing and could easily jury-rig a replacement appendage, but she doesn’t have money for the parts because her stepmom has co-opted Cinder’s earnings to dress her two biological daughters in the finest gowns for an upcoming ball.
Being a “wirehead,” as her stepsister says, Cinder isn’t allowed to attend the coronation-cum-dance-party of the handsome Prince Kai. The closest she’ll get is fixing her stepfamily’s hovercraft.
Or so it seems until an attractive 19-year-old shows up at Cinder’s workshop with a broken android whose repair is a matter of national security, he says. Despite the young man’s disguise in a gray hooded sweat shirt, his copper-brown eyes and tousled black hair immediately identify him as the prince even before the retina display scanner in Cinder’s eye confirms it or the cooling fan overheats in Cinder’s C3PO-esque robotic assistant.
As much as “Cinder” is inspired by the Cinderella fairy tale, it is also influenced by “Star Wars.” It’s an origin story that takes place in a world where robots and humans coexist. There isn’t only intergalactic contact but negotiation.
Peace is tenuous. Disease is rampant. It isn’t clear exactly when the story takes place, but it’s after World War IV — after gasoline has become the domain of the elite and any working internal combustion vehicles have been sequestered to museums.
It’s refreshing to read a novel whose heroine is appreciated for her internal parts, her personality and talents rather than her looks. When the prince asks Cinder to the ball and she questions his motivations, he says simply, “You’re easy to talk to.”
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