Did you know that the Cinderella story is one of the world’s oldest fairy tales? The first version can be traced back to ninth-century China and was written about a heroine named Yeh-shen. Today, more than 1500 versions of the tale exist, many with a unique twist. Marissa Meyer has written a new story based on the old fairy tale that I found to be really interesting.Cinder Linh is a cyborg – part human, part robot – who knows nothing of her birth parents or history. She is a ward of her evil stepmother, Adri, who relies on Cinder’s extraordinary talent as a mechanic to support the family all the while vilifying Cinder at every opportunity. Together with two stepsisters, Pearl and Peony, they live in technologically advanced, post-World War IV “New Beijing.” Unfortunately, New Beijing is threatened by an airborn plague called letumosis, which strikes at random and has an almost 100% fatality rate.
When Prince Kai brings a broken robot to Cinder to fix, romance is sparked between these two star-crossed, unlikely lovers. As a cyborg, Cinder is hated by New Beijing society, and there is no one higher on the societal echelon than Prince Kai, heir to the empire. This doesn’t stop the two from becoming friends, although Cinder takes pains to hide her cyborg nature from him.
Meyer introduces another evil villain to the fairy-tale plot in the form of Queen Levana, the mind-controlling ruler of the Lunars – a colony of people originally from Earth, who are inhabiting the moon. Over time, the Lunars have evolved from human to something else entirely, with their own culture and psychic powers. Levana craves the throne and pursues poor Prince Kai relentlessly.
Does this story turn out like the traditional Cinderella story?
Does the prince win Cinder over? or does Queen Levana win her prince?
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