Cinder

Take the classic story of Cinderella, add in some interplanetary political intrigue, a global pandemic, a little bit of magic. And oh yeah. Cyborgs. Gotta have the cyborgs. That odd combination will result in Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

It's the story of Cinder, a cyborg mechanic (as in a mechanic who is a cyborg, not a mechanic who works on cyborgs). Her family forces her to work in the market so they can live off of her earnings. Her stepmother is lazy and wicked, as is one of her stepsisters. The other, not so much.

Then one day, the crown prince, Kai, stops by her booth with a tutor android, one that he needs fixed. The android has vital information that needs to be retrieved. But even stranger, it seems as though Kai might actually be attracted to Cinder.

But a lot can get in the way of a fairytale romance. There's the aforementioned pandemic that rips through the populace. There's the political tension between the Eastern Commonwealth (Kai's kingdom) and the inhabitants of the moon. And yet, in spite of it all, Kai seems determined to get Cinder to the ball.

This was a really engrossing book. I absolutely devoured it in the past two days. Meyer did a fantastic job of taking an old fairytale and giving it a futuristic zing. Cinder especially shines. The plot was a little predictable (I figured out a big chunk of it in the first two or three chapters), but that didn't lessen my enjoyment at all.

This is obviously the first book in a series and I can't wait to see what Cinder will be up to in the next book.