Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Rating: BUY IT!

Cinder is everything you could ever want from a post-war apocalyptic/dystopian futuristic sci-fi fairytale retelling.

I have to admit, I fell in love with this book from the instant I heard about the premise. I love fairy tales and their rewrites, so that was already a selling point.  But when I found out that this Cinderella is a cyborg, and her best friend is an android? I’m pretty sure I had to be pulled off of the ceiling.

How on earth can all these different “genres” mesh together smoothly? Therein lies the true masterpiece of Cinder.  All the elements of the historic story are updated to match the futuristic setting while still retaining the essential nature of the tale.

The characters were easily the best part of Cinder.  Each one had a life of his or her own and was truly fascinating.  Cinder was far from her Disney counterpart: rather than cleaning around the house, Cinder is a genius mechanic.  And, not to knock the Disney version (even if not my favorite, I still squealed like a little girl when I got to take my picture with Cinderella at Disney World), but Cinder doesn’t need a fairy godmother to help her kick ass!

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

I cannot express how much I adored reading this book. I want to glue Cate and Finn’s hands together so they can never be apart. I want to tear the Brotherhood apart and save all the girls they’ve hurt.

And I want the sequel NOW.

Jessica Spotswood written The Book–as in The Book I Didn’t Know I’d Been Waiting to Read.  The one I stayed up all night to finish and the one that made me want to start back on page one the moment I hit the end.  It was that good.

The world she’s but diverges from our own only a little.  Witches used to exist freely in society, in fact they basically had control over everything.  People loved the witches, respected the Daughters of Persephone–until they found out about mind magic. That’s when the burnings and witch hunts started.  But 120 years later, the hunts still haven’t stopped.  Girls are being sent to labor ships and the Harwood mental asylum without a trial–though having one wouldn’t help them.

The Brotherhood lives in fear of witches rising up and overthrowing them.  Brainwashed by the Brothers’ prurient preaching, society lives in fear too–both of the Brothers and of witches.

The Cahill girls are hiding in plain sight.  Cate, Maura, and Tess are all witches.  Their father’s taken a back seat in the parenting department, spending more and more time traveling for business and heaping more responsibility on Cate.  The problem is Cate’s turning seventeen soon. And at seventeen you either get married or join the Sisterhood–the female annex of the Brothers.

Hiding her magic in the Sisterhood is not an option for Cate.  She has to stay to protect her sisters from the Brother’s spying.  But she’s running out of time to find a husband, and the fact the Cahill girls have lived reclusively since their mother’s death isn’t helping.

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

Rating: BUY IT!

Most likely, you already know what you are going to think about this book. Have you read Cassandra Clare’s other books, especially Clockwork Angel, and loved them? Then you will love Clockwork Prince. Did you hate all her other books? Then why are you even considering buying it?

That said, my feelings about Clockwork Prince are strong, perhaps as strong as any I have felt in all of Cassie’s books (and if you’ve read them, you know there are a lot of feelings).

A warning here: If you have not read Clockwork Angel, you probably shouldn’t read this review. Also, get thee to a bookstore and buy it, read it, then come back to see what you missed.

Clockwork Angel left us with a lot of questions: Where is Mortmain and how does he have this knowledge and power? What is Tessa? And the biggest question of all: What on earth is happening with Will?

Okay, I’m a little biased on that last question.

In Clockwork Prince, we finally get some answers, and then we get a few more questions.