Mini-reviews: Cinder and Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

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Book summary: 

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

         I strongly believe that this series is one of those that's been on my to-read list the longest and I really did fail when it comes to this. I couldn't imagine how much I was missing until I cracked open the first pages of this book.

          Those pages throw you into a world where technology is way ahead of our time. Once again world which is not hard to imagine. Cinder, a cyborg is our main character in this story. She is not a human, but neither is she 100% android, which makes her unaccepted by both worlds. Up until she meets the most important person in her kingdom - Prince Kai who is interested in her. Little did she know that her past will change her forever.

            Even though some aspects of this story were a bit predictable it was hard not to like Cinder, a girl who is so easy to connect with and whose dreams about normal life, love and being someone else were so familiar. The the whole world-building which was so fascinating and imaginable. This book had everything I wished for basically, sweet building romance, great world building and enough mystery to keep me on edge.

Rating: 5 stars. 

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Book summary:

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

       After finishing Cinder it wasn't really hard to pick my next read. Scarlet was something I needed to read and so I did. I must admit that at the start I was a bit annoyed when our narrator wasn't Cinder but Scarlet but after chapter or two it was obvious that this girl will also become heroine I'd love to be.

      Scarlet's story is one we follow here. We are now in France where she and her Grandma are living on a farm and growing vegetables. Up until one day her Grandma disappears and Scarlet is desperate in finding her. Only she finds someone else, Wolf. With the development of the story we see how Scarlet is connected to this whole mess much more than she believed and that Cinder and she have more in common than they though.

       Same like in Cinder, at the start you think that this story is predictable as you have read classic fairy tales this story soon becomes totally new world which brings a lot of unexpected moments and twists and turns.

        While I was annoyed that I didn't get to see more of Cinder and Kai soon enough I understood that there is an amazing reason for it - Scarlet and Wolf put another light to this world and make you see the story from different angles, without losing any of the magic.

Rating: 5 stars.

Until the next time,