SUMMARY:
A forbidden romance. A deadly plague. Earth's
fate hinges on one girl ...CINDER, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a
cyborg. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she
finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an
evil queen - and a dangerous temptation. —
Adlibris
REVIEWS:
I'm a little
disappointed in this book ... Marissa Meyer (or Alicia Blade as her pseudonym
was on fanfiction.net) was my favorite Sailor Moon fan fiction writer, so you
can imagine how psyched I was when I found out that she was publishing a book!
So maybe you’ll understand what I mean when I say that I expected more! And I
do not mean a longer book (the book is just the right length with its 10
hour-387 pages), but I wanted more meat on the idea skeleton that is made of
awesome: Cinderella as a cyborg! Futuristic New Beijing! An incurable and
deadly plague! An evil queen from the Moon! A prince who is wet behind the
ears! Everything sounded so terribly promising ...
I begin with
the world: New Beijing, with a king and plague and refugees from the moon,
sounds great right? Instead it turned into superficial clichés about dumplings
and market stalls and dressing gowns with dragon embroideries. I was just not immersed
in Meyer's world building.
The
characters then? Cinder turns out to be a colorless version of Kaylee from the
TV series Firefly. And Prince Kai is just boring ... Robot Iko had a more
charming personality than both main characters! There is no chemistry between
Cinder and Kai, I do not mean that they have to fall head over heels for each
other, but there should be a spark of something like attraction (that's what would
have created some of the tension in the story, I’ll give a few examples of what
I’m talking about from other books: Lina and Doon in the Book of Ember and Deryn
and Aleks in Leviathan, even if it was no talk of romance between these
characters). To me it feels like Cinder has a more romantic relationship with
the Doctor than Kai.
OMDÖME:
I'm a little
disappointed in this book ... Marissa Meyer (or Alicia Blade as her pseudonym
was on fanfiction.net) was my favorite Sailor Moon fan fiction writer, so you
can imagine how psyched I was when I found out that she was publishing a book!
So maybe you’ll understand what I mean when I say that I expected more! And I
do not mean a longer book (the book is just the right length with its 10
hour-387 pages), but I wanted more meat on the idea skeleton that is made of
awesome: Cinderella as a cyborg! Futuristic New Beijing! An incurable and
deadly plague! An evil queen from the Moon! A prince who is wet behind the
ears! Everything sounded so terribly promising ...
However, the
book suffers from a major problem: Meyer has chosen to tell the reader how
things happened, instead of showing us her world. This makes book feels shallow.
I begin with
the world: New Beijing, with a king and plague and refugees from the moon,
sounds great right? Instead it turned into superficial clichés about dumplings
and market stalls and dressing gowns with dragon embroideries. I was just not immersed
in Meyer's world building.The
characters then? Cinder turns out to be a colorless version of Kaylee from the
TV series Firefly. And Prince Kai is just boring ... Robot Iko had a more
charming personality than both main characters! There is no chemistry between
Cinder and Kai, I do not mean that they have to fall head over heels for each
other, but there should be a spark of something like attraction (that's what would
have created some of the tension in the story, I’ll give a few examples of what
I’m talking about from other books: Lina and Doon in the Book of Ember and Deryn
and Aleks in Leviathan, even if it was no talk of romance between these
characters). To me it feels like Cinder has a more romantic relationship with
the Doctor than Kai.
I also think
that the ending was weird. Cinder leaves the reader in the middle of a climatic
event, and horrible cliffhanger with no proper resolution. This means that you
cannot read the book as a standalone book, something I find quite disturbing
(Across the Universe also has a cliffhanger at the end, but it can be read as a
standalone book). And not to pile on or anything but the book is also very
predictable.
I thought
that the reader was ok, but unfortunately I was not sufficiently interested in
the book, so I listened to the book of 1.5x speed (sounds very funny at
times!).
But do not
misunderstand me, the story idea is very entertaining (kind of like how a stick
of gum is entertaining), and I'll probably read the next book when it comes out
early next year. I don’t need much: the books are about cyborgs-I rest my case!
Jag är lite besviken på den här boken… Marissa Meyer (eller
Alicia Blade som hon hette på fanfiction.net) var min favorit Sailor Moon
fanfiction författare, och jag blev superpeppad när jag fick reda på att hon
skulle ge ut en bok! Så ni kanske förstår när jag säger att jag förväntade mig
mer! Och nu menar jag inte en längre bok (boken är lagom lång med sina 10
timmar— 387 sidor), utan mer kött på idé-skelettet som är made of awesome: Askungen
som cyborg! Futuristiska New Beijing! En obotlig och dödlig pest! En elak
drottning från Månen! En prins som är våt bakom öronen! Det såg fruktansvärt
lovande ut…
Däremot lider boken av ett omfattande problem: Meyer har
valt att berätta för läsaren hur saker och ting gick till, istället för att
visa oss hennes värld. Detta gör att boken känns ytlig.
Jag börjar med världen: New Beijing, med en kung och pest
och flyktingar från månen, det verkar väl spännande? Istället blev det ytliga klichéer
om dumplings och marknadsstånd och morgonrockar med drakbroderier. Jag blev
inte övertygad av Meyers worldbuilding.
Karaktärerna då? Cinder visar sig var en färglös version av
Kaylee från TV-serien Firefly. Och Prins Kai är bara tråkig… Roboten Iko hade
en charmigare personlighet än de båda! Det finns ingen kemi mellan Cinder och
Kai, jag menar inte att de ska falla pladask för varandra, men det bör finnas
en gnista av något som liknar attraktion (det är ju det som skapar en del av
spänningen i storyn—jag kommer att tänka på hur gnistan finns i andra böcker:
Lina och Doon i Book of Ember och Deryn och Aleks i Leviathan även om det inte
var något snack om romantik mellan dessa karaktärer). För mig känns det som att
Cinder har en mer romantisk relation till Doktorn än Kai.
Jag tycker också att slutet var konstig. Cinder lämnar
läsaren mitt i handlingen men en horribel cliffhanger. Detta gör att man inte
kan läsa boken som en fristående bok, något jag tycker är ganska störande
(Across the Universe har också en cliffhanger på slutet, men den kan läsas som
en fristående bok). Boken är också väldigt förutsägbar.
Jag tyckte att uppläsaren var duktig, men tyvärr var jag inte
tillräckligt intresserad av boken, så jag lyssnade på boken i 1,5x hastiget
(låter väldigt roligt ibland!).
Men missförstå mig inte, storyn är väldigt underhållande (på
samma sätt som ett tuggummi är underhållande typ), och jag kommer nog att läsa
nästa bok när den kommer ut tidigt nästa år. Böckerna handlar om cyborgs— I
rest my case!
Bloggat om Samma Bok:
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Liknade Böcker:
- A Long Long Sleep av Anna Sheehan (futuristisk, fairy tale retelling)
- Eve and Adam av Katherine Applegate (futuritisk, sci-fi)
- Glitch av Heather Anastasiu (futuristisk, cybernetics)
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