Linh Cinder is the best mechanic in New Beijing. She runs a booth at the weekly market, fixing androids and machines for anyone who can pay. She’s also a cyborg, which makes her a second-class citizen. Her stepmother, Adri, treats her as little more than a servant. Her stepsister Pearl despises her. Only her younger stepsister, Peony, sees her as a person.
When a plague called letumosis sweeps through the Eastern Commonwealth, Cinder’s life gets complicated. She discovers she’s immune to the disease. She meets Prince Kai. And she starts to learn that her past holds secrets connected to the war between Earth and the Lunar kingdom, a colony on the moon ruled by Queen Levana, who can manipulate minds.
Marissa Meyer built the Cinderella parallels into the first book’s framework: a lost princess, a cruel guardian, a ball, a prince, a midnight deadline. But the story moves past the fairy tale quickly. Cinder becomes a fugitive, then a rebel leader, then something more. Across four novels, she gathers allies from other fairy tales (Scarlet is Red Riding Hood, Cress is Rapunzel, Winter is Snow White) and leads a revolution against Levana.
Cinder’s cybernetic enhancements are both her stigma and her advantage. She can interface directly with technology, detect lies through bioelectric monitoring, and survive injuries that would kill an unmodified human. She didn’t choose any of this. She’s making the best of it.
Reading Order
See the complete Lunar Chronicles reading order for all books featuring Cinder.