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Cinder

by Marissa Meyer
390 pages 2012 Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fairy Tale Retelling 🌶️ Clean Series: The Lunar Chronicles
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The Vibe

Cinderella is a cyborg mechanic in futuristic New Beijing. Prince Kai is trying to prevent war with the manipulative Moon Queen. A plague is tearing the city apart. Marissa Meyer makes the Cinderella retelling feel completely fresh by adding technology, politics, and a heroine who is genuinely skilled at things other than being beautiful.

Mood Meter

Romance
6/10
Fantasy / Magic
4/10
Pacing
8/10
Darkness
5/10
Humor
3/10
Angst
6/10

Mood Tags

AdventureSci-Fi Fantasy BlendFunRomantic

Trope Tags

Fairy Tale RetellingCyborg ProtagonistPolitical IntrigueForbidden Love

Spice Check

🌶️ Clean

Clean YA retelling.

Content Heads-Up

Is This Book for You?

Skip if you dislike:

Ending: Cliffhanger
Pacing: Fast

What This Book Feels Like

Moods: Adventure Sci-Fi Fantasy Blend Fun Romantic

Tropes: Fairy Tale Retelling Cyborg Protagonist Political Intrigue Forbidden Love

Reading Order: The Lunar Chronicles

1 Cinder You are here
2 Scarlet
3 Cress
4 Winter

If You Loved This, Try These

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Brigid Kemmerer
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Warcross
Marie Lu
YA sci-fi by author in same orbit
An Enchantment of Ravens
Margaret Rogerson
Fantasy retelling with fierce female protagonist

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Cinder part of a series?

Yes — four main books plus a collection of novellas.

Do I need to know Cinderella well to enjoy it?

Not at all — the retelling is light-touch and the story stands independently.

How does it compare to other fairy tale retellings?

One of the most popular — the sci-fi twist gives it longevity beyond the typical retelling.

Keep Exploring

Books Like Cinder More by Marissa Meyer The Lunar Chronicles Reading Order Adventure BooksSci-Fi Fantasy Blend BooksFun Books Fairy Tale Retelling BooksCyborg Protagonist BooksPolitical Intrigue Books All Books Take the Quiz Subscribe

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How this guide was built

Every Sort By Cravings guide is written after a full read-through — not scraped from publisher blurbs or Amazon summaries. We map tropes directly from the text, cross-reference BookTok and Goodreads reader reactions across 500+ community posts, and calibrate heat ratings against reader consensus before publishing. Mood tags, spice numbers, and “skip if” notes reflect actual reading experience. Read our editorial standards.

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