#tbt: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Image: Macmillan Publishers

Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Lunar Chronicles Volume 1. 400 p. Feiwel + Friends/ Macmillan Publishers, January, 2012. 9780312641894. (Own.)

Happy Thursday TMS Readers! #tbt features Cinder by Marissa Meyer. As I wrote up my review of Gilded for this week's Teen Tuesday post, I happened to look up Cinder to check to see if I was remembering correctly that it was Ms. Meyer's debut. I saw that it was, and has been out for ten years ago this month. Easy to plan #tbt this week!

Cinder is the best mechanic in New Beijing, hands down, but she's also a cyborg and they are shunned and discriminated against. No one treats her worse than her own stepmother and one of her two stepsisters. She's flustered when Prince Kai brings his broken droid into her stall for repair. He's under pressure to marry Levana, queen of the Moon as his father negotiates with her for a cure to Letimosis, a dreaded plague. Kai and Nainsi have been searching for the Moon's lost heir, Princess Selene when Nainsi malfunctioned.

This sci-fi, Cinderella mash-up is quite enjoyable. It's fast-paced, there's quite a lot of intrigue and a little bit of romance in a vividly created world. It ends on a cliff-hanger, but luckily, readers can move right on to the second installment, Scarlet, without waiting. Happy reading!

Middle Grade Monday: Never After: The Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz

Image: Macmillan

Never After: The Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz. The Chronicles of Never After series #1. Roaring Brook Press/ Macmillan, December, 2020. 9781250311214. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publicist.)

Middle Grade Monday features Never After: The Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz. Filomena Jefferson-Cho just can't cut a break! Smothered by over-protective adoptive parents and bullied mercilessly at her private school, she takes refuge in reading - specifically The Thirteenth Fairy series. She can't wait for the final installment and is thrilled when her parents allow her to walk to the bookstore by herself to buy it. Only, it turns out there is no book and no explanation as to why. Heartbroken, Filomena trudges home and soon realizes that she's being followed. 

Who are these strange boys? Turns out they are Jack Stalker and his sidekick, Alistair. They've come through a portal from Never After. Their kingdom is in peril. Can Filomena help?

This fairy tale mash-up was huge fun. Fans of Chris Colfer's Land of Stories series will just love this! (I think it's even better.) Filomena is a winning main character. The story is humorous and fast-paced, as well as just familiar enough with dashes of surprise. 

Highly recommended! The second installment, The Stolen Slipper, is due out December 7, 2021. Sign me up!