My Rating: 
Author: Marissa Meyer
Narrator: Rebecca Soler
Length: 10 hrs., 6 mins.
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
My Review: I really enjoyed listening to the Cinder audiobook by new author Marissa Meyer. Cinder is a strong, futuristic retelling of Cinderella. You’ll notice a few very similar aspects in this audiobook… Evil stepmother (aka guardian), evil step-sister, a prince (aka emperor) and an upcoming ball.
The characters in Cinder are so strong and so involved in the story that you’ll be hooked within a few short minutes of listening. The main character Cinder is a teenage cyborg. She’s renowned throughout New Beijing for being a great mechanic and for fixing androids, portscreens and other futuristic contraptions. She runs a booth during the town’s festival that keeps her and her android Iko plenty busy.
Cinder lives with her step-mom, two sisters and of course, her android and best friend, Iko. Iko is a great little character! Even though she’s a fancy robot, she is madly in love with Prince Kai and is completely devoted to Cinder. On the other hand, her step-mom and one of her step-sisters are completely evil. This vile step-mom needs to be put down like an old horse.
This audiobook wrapped me up instantly! From Prince Kai showing up at Cinder’s booth, Cinder sitting at Peony’s bedside and then running from the evil Lunar queen, I was totally enthralled.
Cinder is packed with great, complex characters. Keep in mind, you’ll hear some similarities to Cinderella, but they’re so logically constructed that you don’t realize them until it’s minutes later. I’m looking forward to the second book in this series, Scarlet, set to release in 2013.
Narrator Review: Rebecca Soler did an outstanding job narrating the characters in the Cinder audiobook. I loved the cute voice she gave Iko and that made her 10x more lovable for me. She balanced accents, male, female, young, old and everything in between. Outstanding work and I sure hope she’s on board for book two!
Download Cinder, Lunar Chronicles Book 1 now!
Disclosure: I downloaded this audiobook from Audible. All opinions expressed above are mine and mine alone.
