Cinder by Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles)

     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.

     My first comment is this: why didn't I read this sooner!?

     I've had it for weeks, and I decided to deviate from my TBR list a little bit to push this to the top because Marissa Meyer was coming to town and I wanted to get my copy of the book signed. Halfway through, I was racing out to my local indie bookstore to get Scarlet so I wouldn't have to wait once I was finished. Something tells me the wait between Scarlet  and Cress is going to be unbearable.

      I really liked the way this was done. The elements of the original fairytale are evident in the book, but the setting and characters are so unique, interesting, and different from any other adaptions and recreations of the Cinderella tale that I've ever seen before. 

      I really appreciated the world-building that went on in this book. There was no giant paragraphs trying to describe the NEW WORLD ORDER or describing the "how the world got this way." It was done very naturally; the reader was introduced to new parts of the world as Cinder or Kai was approaching elements that were different than what the reader might have assumed. I loved the whole aspect of "cyborgs as lower class citizens" -it really adds a new dynamic to her relationships with the people around her.

      The Lunars are freaking crazy! I love to hate them, which is totally the whole point to them, I feel, which is great!

      Though I will admit, I TOTALLY called the "secret" ending by page 115. And, once suspecting it, all of the clues just seem like giant neon signs pointing to it until it is finally confirmed. Not that it deterred from the story at all, I just like being right.

Things That I Liked:

1. Dr. Erland; he's like the greatest loving uncle, or cool grandpa ever. Right from the start I wanted to like him, so I was really glad we got to, but I didn't really see too much of his "going mental" happening in this book. Maybe it's explored more in Scarlet?
2. Iko; poor little android! I loved her, and it made me so upset that Cinder lost her little partner in crime for so much of the book.
3. Prince Kai; he had such a sweet personality, and I liked his persistence in pursuing Cinder, and his complete disdain for Levana. He felt like a real guy character.

Things That I Didn't Like:

1. Adri and Pearl, Levana; I loved to hate this dysfunctional step-family and this stupid, mean, awful queen.

Overall Impression:

     What a cool, unique re-envisioning of this classic fairytale. I cannot wait to see how Cinder gets out of her predicament and continues on with her story in the upcoming books.

The Blonde's Rating: 4.5/5

GoodReads Rating: 4/5 

Amazon Buyer's Ratings: 4.5/5

Stick around for further reviews of The Lunar Chronicles books!

Thanks!

The Blonde

Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

     Morgan Stockhour knows getting too close to the edge of Internment, the floating city in the clouds where she lives, can lead to madness. 

     Even though her older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. If she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in her best friend, Pen, and in Basil, the boy she’s engaged to marry.

     Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially once she meets Judas. Betrothed to the victim, he is the boy being blamed for the murder, but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. 

     Secrets lay at the heart of Internment, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find—or whom she will lose.

     Anyone willing to look back on my reviews of DeStefano's other novels knows that I wasn't particularly a "fan" of her stories, but I always appreciated her prose and style, so I was willing to give it another shot with this new story, especially with the idea of it taking place on a floating city, a la Castle in the Sky.


     I was delighted and enraptured almost immediately, and finished this first installation very quickly. This story gives the reader a wonderful and visual world to step into, with just enough similarities between our own world and customs so as not to lose the reader through extensive world-building. But it was different enough so that we always knew that we were not dealing with something we could handle "down here."

     I liked the main character/narrator of Morgan, and I struggled with her as she tried to appear normal, despite the reputation her brother's mistake landed her with. I didn't, however, really feel the isolation from the other students that the narrator describes. I can understand  how the other students her age might think that a "jumper's" thoughts would "infect" the whole family, but due to the fact that we don't get much insight into that time in Morgan's life, we don't really see or feel Morgan's issues.

      Two of my favorite characters were Lex, Morgan's blind, jumper brother, and Basil, Morgan's betrothed. I loved the complexity of Lex's character and his behaviors, but I wish we had gotten some more insight into how he had changed from his experience over the "edge."  And Basil is such a sweetheart, and loyal to a fault, but we don't get an real idea about why he loves Morgan so much, or why she finds it hard to admit as much back.

     With a character who's father is a part of the law enforcement of this fantastical world, I would have expected a more in-depth knowledge of the law system than what the narrator experienced. One of the opening sentences in the book says "On Internment, you can be anything you dream -a novelist or a singer, a florist or a factory worker", but the character never goes into that sort of process or what she would like to be, despite the fact that she does explain the marriage/betrothal process, as well as the process for requesting to have children. We know what many other different characters hope to have as their career, but I feel like knowing Morgan's wish and what she's good at would have helped the reader understand her a bit more. 

Things That I Liked:

1. Pen; definitely one of my favorite characters, she was complex and interesting, with some serious and interesting family issues, as well as an unwavering loyalty to her friends and her faith, even when they are opposing each other.
2. The subtle world-building.
3. The "jumper culture;" I thought the idea of jumping was really interesting, and I was intrigued by the idea of the rules forced upon those believed to be "high-risk."

Things That I Didn't Like:

1. The "religion;" it started out as an interesting undertone, but I  think it became too much of a main feature towards the end of the book. Just the totalitarian control of King Furlow and the fear of losing that control with the ability to leave for the ground would have been enough. I liked the idea of using this religion to add to the "freedom" of following the rules, but by the end, it got a little heavy for my taste.
2. The royal family was really really weird. I'm hoping they'll be explored more in the second installment (the princess, at least, since they're stuck with her, now).

Overall Impression:

      I really liked this book. I read through it in two days, and I enjoyed it the whole time. I thought the novelty of a story taking place on a floating city in the sky was very interesting and unique. I'm hoping for a bit more personal history for Morgan, Lex, and Basil in the second book, but otherwise, I think this was a solid start, much more satisfactory than the first Chemical Garden book left me. Basically, I'm really glad I gave DeStefano another chance.

The Blonde's Rating: 3.5/5

Goodreads Rating: 4/5

Amazon Buyer's Rating: 4.3/5

Thanks for reading,
The Blonde

The Chemical Garden Reviews:
Wither
Fever
Sever

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

      Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

      Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

     As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen.

     I picked up this book, expecting it to be a one-hit wonder similar to Meg Cabot's Abandon series, where a girl has infatuated the keeper to the Land of the Dead, but I was pleasantly surprised! This was a really unique story with an original plot and a shocking ending, leaving me very excited for the sequel.

     Things That I Liked:

     1. The cover -it is gorgeous, and I can't get over just how pretty it is.

     2. The main character, Nikki, is strong, courageous, and self-sacrificing, prepared to spend the last of her short time back at home helping her family and bringing relief to others rather than satisfying herself. 

     3. The mystery: yes there is the mystery of Cole and the other Everlings and how they live, but I think the readers were only given a small taste of the bigger mystery in this story, which is that of the Everneath's queen and the ruling class, and their existence. 

     4. The timeline: the majority of the story was in a conventional timeline, but whenever the story reached a point where Nikki remembered something significant from her past, the text would go back to that moment, with each chapter/break subtitled with the time and location, to minimize confusion to the readers.

     Things That I Didn't Like:

     1. I was unclear about the location of "Park City" where the story takes place. Normally this wouldn't make much of a difference for me, but there were a few mentions about being a town known for American Indian tourism/memorabilia which made me wonder about where this was taking place, as well as the local river rapids and mountains that seemed easy to drive to. But overall, not a big deal, in fact, a very small one.

     2. Cole's motivation: I didn't like that he wouldn't explain anything about how he and Nikki would "make a run for the Everneath throne." Obviously the queen is very powerful and knows a lot of information about her Everlings, so how would these two be able to not only keep Nikki's existence a secret, but then fight her for her ruling status? 

     Overall Impression:

     This was a really interesting story, and I really liked the voice in which it was written. The prose was well-written, and there were few holes left by the end of the book. The ending was shocking, and left for a satisfying cliffhanger to have you scrambling for the sequel.

Blonde Rating: 4/5

Amazon Rating: 4.2/5

Goodreads Rating: 3.8/5

Stay tuned for my review of Everbound, the sequel to Everneath; there will NOT be a review for Neverfall, the digital novella companion to Everneath.

Thanks for reading,

The Blonde