Review: New Take on Cinderella is a Keeper!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 8, 2013
Utterly charming, as a re-told Cinderella should be.  The heroine is a smart mouthed cyborg teen, with brilliant mechanical skills.  The prince is her equal in the sarcasm department (and this makes him utterly charming —no pun intended) though he is also a pragmatic and patriotic young man.  The setting is China after WWIV, in a plague ridden world.Though the story's villain is the typical heartless step mother, I found her cruelty to be more hateful then usual.  There are, however, other people in the story who are equally fearful —perhaps even more so.  Happily, there's a comic side-kick in this book who is one of the most lovable characters I've yet to see.To those who complained that Cinder's "Jane Doe" identity was easy to guess, I think there was more than just one possibility amidst multiple rumors.  Moreover, I'd like to remind those reviewers (in a "DUH" sort of way) that it's not necessarily a flaw in this story, considering that we're reading a beloved fairy tale, which has been told in almost the same way for hundreds of years.  So how is such a story diminished when we're allowed to latch on to some familiar characters or plot devices? That should be a tribute to the author's skill.So, to these short sighted party poopers, I'd suggest chilling out with certain expectations: This is a fairy tale! It's not the Hunger Games. We can be annoyed when a book is badly edited or too short; we can be disgusted when it's a weak "Twilight Wanna-Be"; or if the book is too superficial or the main characters are predictable or generic.  But when you know you're reading a reimagined fairy tale, take it as it is.If you acquire this book (and I highly recommend that you do) just be prepared to be delighted.  But you also can feel at ease with this author's skills in welding the parts together a bit differently, and giving us a 3-D set of characters. The final choices for these young lovers are a bit more serious than just finding the proverbial glass slipper. This is a keeper!