Imagine a total futuristic world. There are hovers (flying cars), netscreens (TVs), androids servants, and cyborgs (humans with mechanical body parts). This is the world that Cinder, a 16 year old cyborg, lives in. Cinder is based off the story of Cinderella. Cinder is the main breadwinner of the family, and she works at the town marketplace as a mechanic. Her family despises her because she is a cyborg (cyborgs are inferior in the society). When a member of the royal family, Prince Kai, comes to visit Cinder with a broken android, Cinder and Kai start to form a relationship, as Cinder slowly starts to uncover secrets of the country while fixing the android.
The story takes place in modern Beijing, which was an interesting touch as there aren't many books that take place in future Asia. The atmosphere Meyer created was really great- the tech feel of the future was definitely there. I enjoyed the added fairy tale touch of adding the story of Cinderella to Cinder, which was why I picked the book up in the first place.
The only drawback is that the story is very predictable. I talked to another person who read this book, and we both were able to predict what was going to happen very early in the story. However, just because it was predictable doesn't mean it wasn't good! The characters, setting, and love story were good, and I will definitely pick up the next book, Scarlet. For these reasons, I give Cinder 4 stars out of 5.