And things don’t end fairytale perfect like they do for Cinderella. However, if you are hoping for a fairy godmother, you won’t find one in this version.

But the originality of these references is sweet and they bring a smile to your lips when you come across them. There are occasional direct Cinderella references such as an old car that resembles a pumpkin, a cyborg foot that takes the place of a glass slipper, and a cute android that replaces friendly rodents that sing and dance and help Cinderella get ready for the ball.

The stepmother and stepsisters only focus is preparing themselves for the ball held by the handsome young Prince Kai of New Beijing. She is a skilled mechanic and her talents are put to use by running an electronics repair shop and fixing whatever her stepmother wants fixed. Cinder lives with her stepmother and step sisters who pretty much loathe her and blame her for everything, with the exception of her stepsister and friend Peony. Set in a dystopian future in what is now called New Beijing, Cinder stars a teenage cyborg girl who has it very much like Cinderella. And let me tell you, I was pleasantly surprised and so happy that I pushed aside my hesitation to read/listen to a cyborg Cinderella story. Cinder went from no where near my To Read listen to my Currently Reading list in 2.5 seconds. Ever since I’ve signed up for the YA Audiobook Challenge, I’ve been eager to start marking off books. Why am I being so narrow minded?” Then I saw that it was available on audiobook and my finger started moving closer to the Purchase button. People were raving about it and then I suddenly started to think, “Hmm, a cyborg Cinderella story set in Beijing could actually be interesting and out of the box. However, as I browsed reviews I started to change to my mind. That and I’m not really into Cinderella retellings. When I read the description, I still wasn’t sold, a cyborg Cinderella story set in Beijing sounded strange to me. In fact, it wasn’t until the release day that I even looked at it on Goodreads. I have to admit that when I first saw advertisements for Cinder, it didn’t inspire me to add it to my ‘To Read’ list.

Cinder book series