Cinder by Marissa Meyer

My best friend and I decided to read this one together. We both had hear great things about it online. In all honesty though, neither of us are big sci-fi fans. I was surprised by how much we both liked it! I finished it in 3 days, and she read it really fast as well. When I first heard about this series I was kind of put off by all of the “cyborg” and “android” technology aspects of it. I’m not really into robots and I assumed that would be the biggest aspect of the story. It’s not though! Meyer did a great job of putting a spin on the Cinderella story while also molding it into her own tale. I loved all of the characters. Kai, Cinder, and Peony are my favorites! This story also had some twists and turns the readers weren’t expecting. Some good, and some tragic. There was a part or two where I wanted to throw the book across the room and cry. I became very attached to the characters in this story. I was so excited to start the next one but then I found out it’s a new story based on new characters!!! I think Scarlet is based more off of Little Red Riding Hood. So what happens in the end with the Lunars and the rest of the world!? What about Cinder and Kai??? Hopefully, they show up again, or maybe all of the stories will be tied together at some point. I have to know!

I also was very interested in knowing more about the author when I was finished with Cinder. I hadn’t heard of her until I read this book and she sounds like a pretty interesting person! I would love to meet her one day. I love how she just had a fascination with fairytales and decided to add a spin to them. I feel like it can be tricky when it comes to rewriting or adding to a previous tale, especially one as known as Cinderella. It’s basically fan fiction, some people will be openminded to it, some won’t. You also have to make it interesting to the reader without making it hodge-podge or random. I thought Meyer did an excellent job at this. I think this is one of the best fairytale spins I have ever read. I can’t believe she got me to fall in love with such a sci-fi based world! *claps* I cannot wait to read the next one and I think this would be a great book to film adaption. Someone should jump on that.

Happy Readings and Happy Holidays 🙂

Abhorsen by Garth Nix

Abhorsen, the third book in the Abhorsen series by Garth Nix blew Lirael out of the water. Have you ever seen the last Harry Potter movie? Or even read the book? It’s like that. Where Lirael is the build up, and the information and Abhorsen is all the action. I really wish you could just skip Lirael all together but there are a few important tidbits you would miss. Like her lineage, and why she has issues with the Sight.

Also, in Lirael the characters, her and Sam seemed to have very similar personalities to those of Sabriel and Touchstone. It felt like I was reading about the same characters. They more so came into their different personalities in Abhorsen when Sam finally realized he was meant to use his wall builder blood and Lirael accepted her role as the Abhorsen in waiting.

One of the main characters dies in the end. I won’t say who but it was very sad 😦 I wish that part had been different in the book.

There was also some weird, inconsistent things going on with Mogget. He was separated from them early in the novel when they were fleeing the Abhorsen house, by an ancient evil underneath the house. Then he just shows back up like nothing happened. His actions at the end of the novel threw me off because his real personality, when he’s in his free magic form, was so different in Sabriel. He almost killed her for crying out loud! And then he just chooses to not be terrible at the end? It was inconsistent. The whole time throughout the novel he is acting more shady than normal and then he just isn’t anymore.

Maybe Nix was trying to push his point with the whole “Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?” Maybe Mogget finally chose the right path.

Anywho, Clariel comes out soon. I haven’t looked up the synopsis on Goodreads yet but I know I’m going to buy it anyway. Nix just has a way with high fantasy that I don’t think you see very often anymore. I like how completely different and unique it is. It doesn’t feel copy cat or cliche.

Happy Reading 🙂

Currently Reading

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Burned by Elle Hopkins. Burned and Identical were probably my least favorite of all of her books. But I must say, this second book is has turned out to be very interesting and I like that Pattyn is getting closure. The first book was way too sad for me. Which, I know, it’s Ellen Hopkins… never does she write about sunshine and rainbows. I guess Burned was just a kind of sad I couldn’t handle or relate to at the time when I read it. I’m loving this one though and I can’t wait until Rumble comes out 🙂