Feature & Follow Friday #92

Q. What is one book that you would be nervous to see a movie adaptation of because you think that the movie could never live up to the book?

If we're talking about recent titles, I'd have to go with Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Awesome premise, awesome heroine, AH-MAZING world. And I could see where a lot of directors would find the sci-fi and techy aspects of it to be a new playground - but what about the plot? What about casting Cinder as someone completely blah and flat-speaking like...oh, I don't know, Kristen Stewart?

No offense. But...that is a total happiness killer. Right there.

Anyway, my main problems with a book-to-movie adaptation is the casting. Right after that hurdle's passed, there's keeping the storyline mostly true to the book, which has a 75% chance of happening (*spills popcorn* "MY GOD! WHAT WAS THAT? RIGHT THERE. THAT DID NOT HAPPEN."). I'm sorry, but I'm one of those story-line purists that you don't want to watch a movie with. Trust me.

So, if a Cinder movie ever came out, I would probably send another blogger, ask her what she thought, and then watch it myself from between my fingers.

Oh! Bonus adaptation: Blood Red Road by Moira Young. Seriously, Saba > Katniss. No lie. She's all "FIGHT ALL THE ENEMIES" and wants to save her brother and has a little sister that she hates but she learns how to love and... [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER]....Alright, I can take a hint. Anyway, I could just see this being made in another Hunger Games, which would be both exciting and scary, because not every story can be done the same.

What do you think? Which book-to-movie are you dreading? 

Meyer, Marissa: Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1)

Expected publication: January 3, 2012
Feiwel and Friends
YA Sci Fi/Fantasy/Fairy Tale Rendition, 400 pages
Acquired and read: Through Around the World ARC Tours in return for a fair, unbiased review; read within around three hours (I told you I love fairy tales)


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. 

Where my tween-aged self found a soulmate in Ella Enchanted, I seem to have found it in Cinder.

The whole Cinderella oddball meets Wonder Boy Prince Charming might seem a little overdone by now, but really, Ms. Meyer does an awesome job of keeping the basic details of the storyline alive with her own little twists. First of all, there's the whole sci-fi cyborg thing. Of course, who wants to live with that - especially in Cinder's world where being half-robot makes you subhuman - but how cool of a character trait is that? And then there's the evil queen that lives on the moon, an android with a smart-mouthed personality, and of course...the Prince.


Who is very, very charming.


Cinder holds her own as a heroine. Who can't love a girl who can detect lies, has a dark, mysterious past (though, I must admit, the mind-bending twist the author throws in the last five pages was a bit of a far stretch, even for me...) and is loyal to a girl whose mother tortures her every chance she gets? No self-suffering, "someday my prince will come" warbling for this girl. She's like a matured, street-smart version of Ella, and she has the nuts and bolts to prove it.


Maybe I should have written this review a few hours after the "gah I just read a good book" high wears off. Do I sound like I'm babbling? Okay, in summary...


Sci-fi + fairy tale retelling + charming prince + high-wired heroine = MUY BUENO. 


Go read. Right now.


Warnings: A heartbreaking character death (I'm not trying to give any spoilers, just letting you know that you might need a hanky on hand) and a sprinkling of innuendo here and there but NO PROFANITY. It's a miracle.


Final verdict: Yes. Yes. YES. (Why do all these books have to be part of a series?!)