Cyberpunk and Steampunk

For this topic, I wasn't super enticed by the books on the course list, but there was a book in my personal reading pile that I'd been wanting to pick up for a while that fit this category, so I read that instead.
And then I read the sequel.
And the third and the fourth.
And now it's one of my favorite series.
The first book is Cinder by Marissa Meyer. The short synopsis honestly had me a bit wary at first: a retelling of cinderella, but she's a cyborg. I was worried it would be cheesy. Cinderella was definitely not my favorite fairytale growing up, and I've always struggled to get into science fiction stories. The characters in this story are so strong, however, and the world building is so solid that I was instantly swept away.
It takes place on a post-apocalyptic earth, (probably?) thousands of years from now. Cinder is a teenager living in New Beijing--after World War IV, all of the Asian countries merged to form a single empire, as did a few other continents (Europe is just one big thing too). Due to a mysterious accident when she was young, she was turned into a cyborg to save her life. There's a heavy stigma against cyborgs, so she tries hard to hide that fact from most people by wearing gloves over her mechanical hand, keeping boots on her metal foot, etc. The man who created her also adopted her, but later died and left her with a harsh "stepmother" and two sisters. Cyborgs have no rights, so Cinder is more or less owned by her stepmother. Her cyborg abilities give her exceptional knowledge of the inner workings of machines, so she makes a living as a mechanic.

An extremely deadly plague is spreading across the empire, and no one knows how to stop it. Everyone who tries to research illness ends up getting sick with it, so a draft for cyborg lab rats is put in place, as they are seen as expendable lives. When Cinder comes into contact with a plague victim at work one day, she fears she may get it. But instead, her youngest, dearest sister Peony gets sick. Cinder's step-mother blames it on her, of course, and volunteers her for the cyborg draft.

Oh, and there's also moon people. Generations before the story begins, humans colonized the moon. The effects of living there long term weren't realized until the Lunars developed mind control abilities, making them deceptive, greedy, and very dangerous to Earth. The Queen of the Lunars has her eyes set on marrying the prince of the Asian empire (who, as fairytale predicts, is actually secretly crushing on the shy mechanic girl he hired to fix his android).

There's even a bit of a space opera feel towards the end of the series--all of the characters end up on a stolen spaceship, Firefly style.
I'm a little too close to this story to be able to analyze it at the moment. Hopefully once I get some space I'll be able to look at it more critically, but for now I've just really, really enjoyed the ride.



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