SNARKY MAMMA: Trailer Thursday & Review: Cinder (in case you missed it)

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
1.3.2012
published by Feiwel & Friends

Cover Description:

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.

Marissa Meyer on Cinder, writing, and leading men (from BN.com)

Which of your characters is most like you?I wish I could say that I'm clever and mechanically-minded like Cinder, but no—I can't fix anything. I'm much more like Cress, who makes a brief cameo in Cinder and then takes a more starring role in the third book. She's a romantic and a daydreamer and maybe a little on the naïve side—things that could be said about me too—although she does find courage when it's needed most. I think we'd all like to believe we'd have that same inner strength if we ever needed it.Where do you write?I have a home office that I've decorated with vintage fairy tale treasures that I've collected (my favorite is a Cinderella cookie jar from the forties) and NaNoWriMo posters, but sometimes writing there starts to feel too much like work. On those days I'll write in bed or take my laptop out for coffee or lunch.If you were stranded on a desert island, which character from Cinder would you want with you?Cinder, definitely! She has an internet connection in her brain, complete with the ability to send and receive comms (which are similar to e-mails). We'd just have enough time to enjoy some fresh coconut before we were rescued.The next book in the Lunar Chronicles is called Scarlet, and is about Little Red Riding Hood. What is appealing to you most about this character as you work on the book?Scarlet is awesome—she's very independent, a bit temperamental, and has an outspokenness that tends to get her in trouble sometimes. She was raised by her grandmother, an ex-military pilot who now owns a small farm in southern France, who not only taught Scarlet how to fly a spaceship and shoot a gun, but also to have a healthy respect and appreciation for nature. I guess that's a lot of things that appeal to me about her, but she's been a really fun character to write! (The two leading men in Scarlet, Wolf and Captain Thorne, aren't half bad either.)

Teri C's Review:

Cyborg Cinderella. I think that it was the concept of an altered twist on the Cinderella tale that really made me yearn for this release as much as I did, and Marissa Meyer fulfilled all of my fantasy dreams. Castle on Earth, yes! How about a evil empire on the Moon that is hellbent on taking over ruling Earth by offing a huge portion of the population so evil Queen can marry hot prince who is crushing on said cyborg Cinderella?! OH yeah!

Cinder is a story about a girl named Cinder who lives with the evil stepmother in New Bejing surviving by hiding out in her workshop and selling parts and repairs in the city market. We open up to Cinder revealing to readers that she is a cyborg, part human-part machine, living in a futuristic world that wants nothing to do with cyborgs (constant discrimination) and yet they are also looking to sell off a cyborg to two into research for a cure to end a crippling disease rippling through the population. Cinder is soon asked to repair a service machine to the one and only horribly attractive, conflicted and kind Prince Kai.

Is this book just about a relationship, nope, it is about the harsh reality of interplanetary conflict, death and disease, machine repair, medical practices, and personal leg repair. The character interactions between Kai and Cinder are fabulously written and intertwined in the plot throughout the story but really what caught me was Cinder. This amazing young woman lives a harsh life but also she carries within her a spark to greatness. We soon find in these pages a complicated past and a harrowing future for this young heroine in a world out to shun her. Marissa Meyer has taken an old tale and fashioned it into a new beautiful work that will captivate readers and keep them anticipating until the very last page.

The Amazing Cinder Trailer