First off, I really love that cover. It speaks to my simplistic, splash of color, negative space loving heart. I'm a little concerned that the shoe's a little too big for her, but that's the price you pay for a heel that gorgeous.

The twist on the Cinderella fairytale as a futuristic sort of dystopian cyborg fantasy adventure is brilliant, but for all the awesome things Cinder has going for it, not all of them quite live up to their potential. I mean, I enjoyed it. I really, really did. But my bread and butter when it comes to fantasy/sci-fi/dystopian stories is the world building, and Cinder falls short.

There's so much going on, so many threads begun and barely worked through or tied off, and I blame that mostly on this the first novel in a series, and the world building took back seat to all the storylines and awesome ideas Marissa Meyer had to include:

- Cinder is a cyborg, obviously.
- There's a plague ravaging the Earth.
- There are people living on the moon who like, have magic powers and stuff. (This is explained scientifically, but MOON PEOPLE WITH POWERS!)
- The romance. Which I didn't hate! Yay Cinder!
- A plot twist/cliffhanger that I (and probably you) called early on.
- And of course, the awful step-mother and step-siblings
- Oh, and Cinder's BFF, an android that gets a shout out because I loved her.

There's enough of a base in Cinder to definitely make it an enjoyable read. I had tons of fun. But there's too much going on all at once, and the plot barrels on so fast -- like that train that took both Denzel Washington and Chris Pine's combined powers of awesome to stop in that one movie -- that there's no room for much of anything else.

Bottom line: fun, could use some work, still totally picking up the next book.