I enjoyed this book. A lot!

As a child I really enjoyed reading fairy tales. Goldilocks, Snow Queen, and so much more. But one thing I didn't really get was: why do princes always save the princesses? Why not the other way around? To me, the whole concept of 'damsel in distress' didn't make any sense to me. Cinderella was one of the stories I wasn't particularly fond of.

But Cinder was totally different.


Here we have our heroine, Cinder. She is the best mechanic in New Beijing; she even has her own shop! (or booth, whatever) Cinder's a cyborg, with robotic parts and a foot that's much too small. Cinder admits she isn't attractive-she said so herself. She isn't like the stereotypical fairytale girl, who are all beautiful. Throughout the book, she's honest in her own way-one big reason why I like her.

Unlike the original Cinderella, Cinder has no intentions of going to the ball. Even when the prince comes and asks her in person, she refuses. Mainly because she doesn't want Prince Kai to see her metallic arms.

There aren't any fairy godmothers in this book, which means Cinder is all by herself. She's an independent young girl, with amazing hands. I feel like Cinder is a much more appropriate role model, rather than Cinderella.

The plot has many unexpected twists and turns(!!) and I enjoyed them :D I really liked how the author took sci-fi - a genre that is completely irrelevant to fairy tales - and intertwined with the classics. I definitely want to read the rest of the series!