Four Stars (YA Science Fiction. Why yes, it earned a star just for being in that genre!)
I waffled on reading this one for a bit, but I ended up really enjoying it. At first I was still concerned with the fact I learned more about Chinese culture from one quarter of Chinese than the author seemed to have encountered in her research, though I am willing to ignore that to an extent because of the whole "Earth goes Kaboom, here's the aftermath" side of things. Still would have liked proof she had actually Done the Research, but hey, its YA, can you even ask for that anymore?
Cinder strays far enough from its premise as a retelling to be engaging, but yet again, a YA novel hinges on the relationship between the protagonist and the male love interest. The world building had far more cohesion and stuff going on that in most pseudo science fictional YA settings, which again, was somewhat interesting.
I was also slightly disappointed with the fact that it is the first installment in a series, but again, its YA, what am I expecting? Overall, a quick, rather engaging read, even though my first reaction on finishing it was to pick up "The Diamond Age," because I was curious what effect nearly 15 years would have on the kind of technology portrayed in a superficially similar world would be.
The answer? Not that much-- though Diamond Age actually bothers hypothesizing how such tech would work--radio antennas having to be a certain size! How quaint! But yes, Cinder is very clearly a lay person writing science fiction novel, which isn't necessarily a bad thing....except when you can directly compare it to one that, well, isn't. Still a fun read, but lacking
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