Book Review :: "Cinder"

This was one I saw in the bookstore, and I was curious.  See, I have this rule.  I read the back cover (or the inside flap, whichever it happens to be) and if I'm hooked by the time I finish that, then the chances are good that I will enjoy the rest of the book too.  So that's what happened with this one.

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

Synopsis:  Imagine a world many years in the future, when humans have established a colony on the moon and the number of countries on Earth has been diminished to six.  And, we have developed the technology to fuse human and machine.  Cyborgs are the outcasts of this society.  With their metal pieces, their machinated nervous systems, they are considered inferior by many of society.  And Cinder is one of them.  She also has to be the most renowned mechanic in all of New Beijing.  When the prince enlists her help in fixing an old android that has sentimental meaning--and possibly information that could change the course of the future of humanity--she doesn't think anything of it; after all, princes need mechanics too.  But then he asks her to his coronation ball.  On top of her confusing feelings--or not feelings?--for the prince, and her sister contracting letumosis (a terrible disease; contagious, lethal, and quick-acting), her stepmother volunteering her for letumosis research, and the strange encounter between the prince and the queen of the Lunar colony, Cinder's identity and life are turned upside down.

My Rating:  *  *  *

I really really loved the idea of this book, but it suffers what I have dubbed "the Twilight complex"--which means, essentially, a super good idea and a sub-par realization of that idea.  Don't get me wrong, the book was a fun read.  It was different, it was interesting, it was fun.  But it was a little too predictable for my taste.  (Maybe it's just because I read too much sci-fi.)  I tend to get bored with a book if I can tell exactly everything that is going to happen by the end of the third chapter, and even more so when all of it actually does happen.  It's a lot more fun when the book can surprise you and turn your assumptions inside out.  So, overall, a fun read, but not particularly challenging on an intellectual level.