Cinderella - reincarnated

     
     Cinder, a story about a poorly treated step sister that must travel to the 'Royal Ball'  using an unconventional vehicle and dance with the Prince. Sounds familiar? It should. Cinder is a story that strongly models the original fantasy Cinderella, with a few major twists. First of all, Cinder takes place in the future where cyborgs are viewed as inferior beings, and the technology that exists then far overwhelm our current technology. The book Cinder tells a story about how a young girl named Cinder who must overcome her shortcomings (her being a cyborg and a second-class citizen), and save the world from the ruthless Lunars, an evil alien-like species raised the moon, while also being blamed for infecting her stepsister with a fatal illness. There are many similarities that Cinder has with the original fairytale Cinderella, but that does not make Cinder any of a less unique and exciting story.
     The most major similarity that the two stories have, relate to the main character being an unwanted and badly treated step sister in their own house. In Cinder, the main character stepmother, Adri, was forced to adopt Cinder after Cinder's parents died in a car crash. However, Cinder was so badly injured that she had to go through surgery to replace her faulty organs with cyborg parts. In this process, she lost all the memories that she had before the age of 11. Due to her being half cyborg, Cinder is often mistreated and disrespected by not just her fellow citizens, but also from her own stepfamily. Similarly, the original Cinderella was often overlooked and treated as a house servant. Both of these characters had humble origins with pathetic lives that were destined to amount to nothing in the grand scheme of things.
     However, as most people know, Cinderella was not just a normal house servant. In fact, Cinderella had a magical fairy godmother who granted her the power to go to the royal ball. Similarly, Cinder met an intelligent individual named Dr. Erland, who helped Cinder in every step through the novel. However, Dr.Erland does not help Cinder to the extent that the fairy godmother helps Cinderella. For instance, Dr. Erland did not provide Cinder a way to get to the royal ball, in fact, Dr. Erland did not even know Cinder wanted to go to the ball. Instead of using a 'magical pumpkin chariot', Cinder had found and repaired an antique can with the smell of 'old garbage and mildew' with her exceptional mechanic skills. I believe that the author of Cinder attempts to make Cinder a more independent character than Cinderella, to conform with today's social standards of women being able to step up for themselves.
     Overall, Cinder and Cinderalla are related and unique at the same time. Even though Cinder is based on Cinderella, the book still has a tense and exciting theme that all fairytales and sci-fi lovers should definitely read. I would give this book an 8 out of 10 for having a unique plot that strongly resembles a predictable fairytale.