Cinder - Lunar Chronicles

Cinder 

Author: Marissa Meyer

Publisher: MacMillan's Feiwel and Friends

Publication Date: January 3, 2012

Available in Paperback, Hardcover, Audiobook and by Download

I often find books simply by personal recommendation, but since joining this year's NaNoWriMo session, I find that talking about writing on my social media sites like Facebook and Twitter seem to result in the sites recommending things to me. This series happens to be one of those. 

You're never supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I often find that the books I enjoy most are those with fantastical cover art. Since I love any sort of fairy tale with a twist, the sponsored feed on Facebook that kept suggesting the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer continued to capture my attention until I was forced to do something about it. I may be thirty-something, but I adore Young Adult fiction, and this series had the potential to be right up my alley.

Turns out, Facebook knew my taste pretty well. It's that time of year when we're all strapped for cash and so instead of impulsively buying yet another book I couldn't afford, I joined my local library and decided to just borrow a few. Or 15.

Not knowing anything about the book besides my attraction to the cover, I was a bit disappointed when I started to read the first few pages. I didn't relate at all to the main character, a cyborg (half-human, half-machine) named Cinder who is pretty much a genius when it comes to anything mechanical. I was also a bit confused by the names, as the book is set in Asia, in a place called the Eastern Commonwealth. 

There was a lot of description of who Cinder was - her human body and the parts of her that are mechanical - but I felt the description of her (hair, eyes, facial features etc) was missing, as were the rest of the characters, with one exception towards the end of the book (which I won't spoil for you!). I don't know if this was done on purpose, to allow the reader to form their own picture of what each character looked like or if it just wasn't that integral to the author in the story she was wanting to tell. Having been placed into the middle the Eastern Commonwealth with no identifying description other than the country and the Asian name of Linh Cinder, I assumed that Cinder was, in fact, Asian, as were most of the other characters. On this score, I'm still just not quite sure and I haven't had the chance to go look at any fan art. The book trailer, however, sheds a bit more light. Take a look:

After I got past this little stumbling block, I realized that the character herself reminded me very much of Kaylee Frye, from Joss Whedon's cancelled television series, Firefly. Funnily enough, at the back of the book, there was a question and answer portion with the author, who says that she was definitely inspired by Firefly! Once I had that in my mind, I started to get more excited about the book and abandoned my reservations about the lack of physical description.  

The story is a complicated one, with little mysteries sprinkled throughout and revealed in spurts. The story of Cinderella that we are all familiar with is twisted into something entirely different in this series, and the dynamics between each character are surprising. We see much more of the prince in this version, which I always found lacking in the Disney tale, and we also have an evil Queen, which is the first time I've ever seen that addition to the narrative. 

Synopsis:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless Lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

While the story was published back in 2012, I don't feel like I've jumped on the bandwagon too late. It seems that the fourth book in the series, Winter, was just released this year, and prior to that, a few short stories that reveal information on Cinder's first meeting with her step-family and the evil queen of the story, Queen Levana. 

As I turned each page, the more I felt sure that this series would play wonderfully on the big screen. I love to fan-cast my favorite books, and I could totally see Chloe Grace Moretz or Bonnie Wright playing Cinder opposite perhaps BooBoo Stewart as Prince Kai. I'm still hoping that somewhere along the line, the series will get an option for film, because it's the best beginning to a series since the Hunger Games. I have no idea if the rest of the series will continue to keep me intrigued, but I really hope so.

I've just rented the second book in the series, called Scarlet, which starts off in Europe with a character based on Little Red Riding Hood who eventually meets up with Cinder from the end of the first book. I can't wait to start reading it and will definitely do a review when I have completed it.

A few facts in addition to the Firefly aspect that I also found interesting - the story sprang from the author's participation in NaNoWriMo (which I just completed my first session of!) AND she lives in Tacoma, WA, which means we're both Pacific Northwesterners!

If you're looking for a new twist on the Cinderella story and other fairy tale characters, then Cinder and the Lunar Chronicles should definitely be at the top of your reading list! You can learn more about the book and even read the first chapter on Marissa Meyer's webpage here.

Movie Review: "After the Dark"

Starring Bonnie Wright and Freddie Stroma
Reviewed for MuggleNet.com

While the film has been marketed as an apocalyptic survival story, the apocalypse in question is really more of a manifestation of a subplot that will move to the forefront of the film towards the ending scenes. I also scanned more than ten reviews of the film to see if my reaction was on target with other viewers, but stunningly, I found myself in the minority. Is it strange that I actually enjoyed the movie? I don’t think so.

One could argue that because I’m a fan of the Harry Potter universe and all that inhabit it, I’m likely to support any project that happens to have employed one of the Potter stars. That’s simply not true – I hated The Haunted Airman with Robert Pattinson and couldn’t get behind that film at all no matter how much I tried.

The fact is that After the Dark is a smart film. The premise is interesting, posing questions of logic and emotion throughout three apocalyptic scenarios which are posited by the teacher of a philosophy class for seniors graduating from an international school in Jakarta. As you and I have never actually been through an apocalypse, we can’t say for sure how we would react, but writer/director John Huddles allows the viewer, along with the characters, to ponder how we might react given specific sets of factors to consider.

Let’s get past the shocking deaths of the poet Toby in two of the three scenarios. This is window dressing, something to distract you from the real plot twist that comes at the end. Graphic – yes. Attention getting – absolutely. They’ve played this portion in the trailers to pull you in. This story doesn’t belong to Toby. It belongs to someone else entirely.

The film starts with the idea that humans are flawed in both their logical and emotional decision-making abilities in life and death situations. What I found more poignant about this film beyond the marketed apocalyptic theme is the subtle undercurrent of the true reason for the given scenarios in the first place. I won’t ruin the movie for you by actually giving a summary that includes the twist – you need to see this film for yourself. What I will say is that Sophie Lowe as Petra and James D’Arcy as Eric give amazing performances in this film, allowing the finer nuances of their characters to fall into place just as they should and not a moment before. I wish there had been more of Bonnie Wright, but her character Georgina took the teacher to task a few times and allowed the Potter fan in me to see more of what this young actress is capable of. Lastly, I have to say, I never could get behind Cormac McLaggen as a character in either of the Potter books and films, and Freddie Stroma’s performance as Cormac made me dislike the character as much as I ever did. His role in After the Dark is completely the opposite of Cormac and shows a side of this actor I wasn’t aware of. Freddie is utterly charming in his role as Jack and provided most of the comic relief the film needed due to the heavier nature of the storyline.

In truth, the film is a bit of a mind-fuck, but one that can be thoroughly enjoyable if you allow yourself to go where the story goes rather than trying to stuff it into a specific categorical box. After the Dark is not what you’re expecting, but it is a film that will make you question everything.

Movie Review: "Separate We Come, Separate We Go"

Written and Directed by Bonnie Wright
Starring David Thewlis
Reviewed for MuggleNet.com

In this ten minute short film, written and directed by Bonnie Wright, a young girl named Thea discovers the power of her imagination with the help of a stranger she meets along the beach in her coastal town.

In the opening of the film, 10-year-old Thea comforts her depressed mother, and when she is sure her mother is on her way out of this episode of depression, takes a walk outside. She briefly explores an old boat that has been left aground, before happening upon a man looking at rocks near an abandoned set of train tracks.

The stranger invites her to have some tea at his house, which is close by. As she waits for the tea, Thea notices how messy the house is, and hiding under the mess on the coffee table is a picture of the man, his wife, and his son. While he doesn’t reveal all, the stranger indicates that he lost them both, and then asks Thea if she has brothers or sisters. When she says it is only herself and her mother, the man stands and invites her to see something. He gives her a coat to keep her warm, and the pair exit the home and head back towards the beach.

The man asks her if she could go anywhere, be anywhere, where would she be? In a very matter-of-fact answer, Thea explains that she is only here, in Dungeness, and can’t be anywhere else. The man laughs, and tries again, stirring her imagination until she says she would love to go to Paris. As seagulls fly overhead, he instructs her to tell the birds to go to Paris since they are flying the right direction. They both run after the flying birds, shouting instructions. It is only then that we finally see the 10-year-old Thea, and not the wise-beyond-her-years Thea, who has been caring for her depressed mother. Finally, the two introduce themselves, both Thea and the stranger named Norman smiling at one another before parting ways.

The short film immediately grabs at the heart strings as we see Thea dealing with more than any child should have to deal with, and then gives the viewer a moment of joy when the little girl emerges, yelling at the birds to go to Paris. Wonderfully, over the final scene of the film, Thea reads for the viewer a letter she has written to Norman, leaving us hopeful that the girl will continue to embrace and retain that child-like wonder and imagination that Norman introduced her to on the beach of Dungeness.