Cinder

 

Cinder
by Marissa Meyer
Feiwel & Friends, 2012, YA Fiction, 390 p.

Cinder is a teenage cyborg  and some say she is the best mechanic in New Beijing.  She lives with a guardian who basically owns her, and that woman's two daughters.  One of the daughters is Cinder's friend, but the other is as hardhearted as her mother.  One day Prince Kai comes to Cinder's stall at the bazaar and asks if she can fix his droid.  Soon Cinder is sucked into castle intrigue involving a devastating plague, an evil lunar queen, and the mystery of Cinder's own origins.

This is a fast-paced teen sci-fi retelling of the Cinderella story.  Meyer's world building in brilliant and her characters are endearing.  Situations can get intense at times, but Meyer balances out the gritty parts with Cinder's sweet crush on the prince.  This is not a good one to pick up on a day you should be studying for a test at school.  You might have a hard time putting it down.