Parents' Guide to

Cinder: The Lunar Chronicles, Book 1

By Carrie R. Wheadon, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 12+

Cinderella as a futuristic cyborg. Pretty cool.

Book Marissa Meyer Science Fiction 2012
Cinder: The Lunar Chronicles, Book 1 Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Community Reviews

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age 12+

Based on 17 parent reviews

MamaBear0521
MamaBear0521 Parent of 15-year-old
August 4, 2021
age 12+

Super good series

This book has absolutely no language or "spicy" scenes. It's a great twisted on the typical princess stories. And as a mom of 4 teen/preteen girls I'm very peticular about what they read and/or watch. Very entertaining and clean

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
4 people found this helpful.
joslynmartinez
joslynmartinez Adult
November 30, 2015
age 13+

book review

Cinder is a good book to read.this is a good book to read because its like Cinderella but with a little twist in the story.This book cinder is different from Cinderella because in this book cinder is a robot.This book is about a girl named cinder who is a mechanic.She fixes androids.one day prince kai came to cinder so she can fix his android.cinder was starting to fall in love with prince kai and he started to fall in love with her as they kept meeting.Prince kai knew she was a robot but he still loved her. This book taught me to not judge someone by there cover cause cinder was a dirty mechanic that was a robot but prince kai still fell in love with her.My opinion on this book is that in the beginning of the book its kind of boring cause there is really no action but once you keep reading the book will be interesting. I would recommenced this book to others because it is a good book and its kind of like Cinderella.Kids like Cinderella so they will like this book cause it has a little more action then the original Cinderella.

This title has:

Great role models
1 person found this helpful.
See all 17 parent reviews

What's the Story?

While manning her mechanic booth to make money for her lazy stepmother, Cinder is shocked to see Prince Kai approach her. Can she fix his tutor droid for him? A little bit of flirting later, she has the job -- and the hope that he never finds out that under one work glove, a pant leg, and a shoe, her body is melded with metal parts thanks to a horrible accident she doesn't remember. She does remember getting adopted at age 11 and her guardian dying of the dreaded letumosis, leaving her with a stepmother who despises cyborgs and Cinder's two stepsisters. Cinder thinks her stepmother's threat to volunteer her as a letumosis test subject is an empty one until one of her stepsisters gets sick and is sent to die in quarantine, right before the big ball. While Cinder thinks she's being sent to her death as well, she's in for a big surprise. It turns out she's a lot more valuable to the planet than as a simple lab rat.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (17):
Kids say (141):

If you're going to mix a worldwide pandemic with imminent war against a crazed, brainwashing totalitarian leader, adding a fairy-tale mash-up is a grand way to lighten things up. There's political maneuvering and lots of talk of what-ifs that slow CINDER down, but it's easily forgiven as the ball approaches and Prince Kai tries to invite Cinder one more time. Maybe she'll change her mind? Maybe he won't mind that she's one-third machine?

Readers can only hope. Especially if they're savvy enough to guess more of Cinder's secrets. In fact, could they be too obvious? Whether or not there's a surprise ending in Cinder, there's still enough of a cliffhanger to keep readers eager for the next installment.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the fairy tale Cinderella. What's the same here? What's wildly different?

  • Talk about freedom vs. peace: a core concern for Prince Kai. If you had to give up one for the other, which would it be?

  • Cinder is another vision of a future society. How does it compare with other books set in the future? Is there a future world in a book that you wouldn't mind living in?

Book Details

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