cinder by marissa meyer: a study in worldbuilding ?⛩? BOOK REVIEW
hello! let’s talk about cinder by marissa meyer.
yay! okay. so this initially began as a blog
post on my blog, sophie and their stories.
this is a plug. if you want further reading,
if you want sources to the material that i’m going
to be discussing in this video, go ahead and check
out that blog post. i’m basically reiterating
everything that i said in that blog post so like,
you know. okay. i do understand that there’s
a lot of love for cinder. i dislike a lot of
books that are very popular. but i do like a lot
of popular books as well. there’s a duality in
this. if you like cinder, that’s great! i’m really
glad that you do. liking makes the world go round.
it’s awesome that it affected you in a positive
way. but i will be somewhat disparaging it. i
rated this one star. if you really love cinder,
and you’d rather not hear criticism about it,
then just don’t watch this video. i don’t really
like reading one-star reviews of my favorite
books. i always just get kind of inflamed by that.
so if you don’t want to get inflamed as well,
watch one of my other videos. they’re fun, too.
i hope. yeah, spoilers for cinder.
yet read the rest of the lunar chronicles, but
there could be spoilers for that preemptively.
and one more thing! art is objective, and these
are my opinions. those are my disclaimers at the
beginning of this video. let’s just get into it! i
will talk first about the stuff that i liked about
cinder, because you must always acknowledge
the good in everything. the idea of a sci-fi
reimagining of cinderella, and for the rest
of the lunar chronicles, the other very famous
fairy tales and myths, that’s incredible. that’s
creative. i love to see it. as a quick recap,
cinder is a YA novel. it’s about this girl named
Linh Cinder, and she’s the cinderella corollary.
she is discriminated against because she has
prosthetic limbs. she’s got a prosthetic foot
— i’m lifting my foot, but you do not see that —
and also a prosthetic arm. there’s a ball. there’s
a prince. there’s a bunch of cinderella stuff.
i love fairy-tale retellings. i like retellings
in general, like these violent delights. i am
yet to read madeline miller’s books, but i’m
just assuming that i’ll like them. i love stories
that bring a new twist to old tales, because when
you bring that twist in, it’s a whole new story.
my necklace is going like, “clink clink clink.”
i kind of enjoy it, but i understand if you
do not. i’ll just kind of keep it there.
i love cinder’s cover, and i love all of the lunar
chronicles covers that were made by tomer hanuka.
quick analysis of the cover! let’s get my ap
art history knowledge up in here. okay. um.
isn’t that gorgeous? i really enjoy how cinder
is characterized in this cover. as you can see
in her expression, it’s very pensive. it’s very
introspective. i really love her syringe type
tool right here that expounds the sci-fi genre
of this story. her form is in the foreground,
and in the background, you can see the contrast
between this really bright pink right here,
and then the moon — lunar chronicles — that is
being displayed. this ship right here is also a
reference to later in the story. you can see that
the stream behind it is pulling the rest of this
really bright pink sky into the moon. i love the
details around cinder. i love that she’s working
on these androids, because she is a mechanic. i
like how her prosthetic limb has bandages on it.
i think there’s a story significance for this as
well, but i have forgotten the story significance.
you can see all of this material around her in the
junkyard that she’s in cupping her like a throne
or a pedestal to really emphasize that she’s the
central figure of this cover. you can see here
on her right calf: a band-aid. it’s very cute. and
she’s got those hot kicks. look at those sneakers.
look at her headphones. beats by Dr. Dre. cinder
knows how to flex. so, yeah. i like the cover!
i love Linh Cinder, the main character. i liked
reading her thought process, generally. i think
she’s cool. i love seeing cosplay of cinder. it’s
very fun. that’s what i liked about cinder! now,
let’s talk about the meat of this video
— the reason why i rated this one star —
what in the worldbuilding? the primary barrier
that kept me from enjoying this book was the
worldbuilding. the most concise way that i can
describe the world building in cinder is careless.
cinder presents this distant future in which the
earth has kind of been demolished because of war.
you know how it goes. there are new
regimes. there are also people on the moon.
the titular character of cinder lives in this
area called new beijing, which is the capital of
a location known as the eastern commonwealth. this
is where things start to go a little bit sideways.
there was a lot in the world of cinder — in the
eastern commonwealth — that felt very messy,
and that really stuck out to me like a sore thumb.
the book mentions a lot of very amorphously asian
aesthetics, as if to emphasize the orientalness
of this world, and the mishmash of these asian
elements were very distracting, especially to
me, as an asian reader. here are a few examples:
in chapter one, the novel mentions the surname,
“nguyen.” even though the name one is rooted in
chinese, it’s a typically vietnamese name. it’s
the 16th most common name in the world, and mostly
vietnamese people have this last name. the name,
“Linh ,”which is Linh Cinder’s surname, means soul
in vietnamese. the eastern commonwealth in
cinder has an emperor, and the son of the
emperor is named kaito, and kaito is a japanese
name. Linh Cinder’s robot sidekick as well,
her name is iko, and iko is a japanese name,
too. like, that’s used there in “new beijing.”
there are references to pagoda style roofs.
i always see the word “pagoda” used to describe
asian architecture. what kind of pagoda are
we talking about exactly? are we talking
about japanese pagodas? maybe, because there’s
a japanese named emperor. are we talking about
chinese pagodas? because we’re in new beijing, and
there’s a bunch of other chinese influencers like
the quilin. or are we talking about the pagodas in
myanmar, or in other places of southeast asia? by
the way, the burmese pagoda that i’m picturing
right here is called a stupa. so which of these
is it? okay, it’s dark. let me turn on the
lights. hold on. and this is the one example
that irked me the most: cinder’s stepmother was
wearing a kimono. but they’re in new beijing.
why is she wearing a kimono? this mashing together
really distracted me, because every time i saw a
morsel of the world building, i felt so strange.
i’m really used to seeing asian cultures clumsily
sequestrated for western audiences, like memoirs
of a geisha, the last samurai, the 2020 version of
mulan. all of those media are their own can
of worms. see? i am hypocrite! miss saigon
is not good representation for asians, let me
tell you. but the songs are bangers. i’m just
gonna… i’m gonna cover that my poster of miss
saigon right now. these media really reduce the
cultures that they’re trying to explore. plus,
the characters in these works — especially in
this one — written by non-asian people, adhere
to simplified stereotypes. cinder is certainly
another clumsy sequestration along the lines of
this. we’re used to seeing it. when poorly done,
western approximations of asian culture is kind of
like, “oop.” it just appears that the author took
the whole landmass of asia, the largest continent
on this planet, and went, “whoo whoo whoo whoo!”
what was the point of that? was this supposed
to be a commentary on international relations,
maybe? but like, why isn’t it good commentary?
especially given the imperialist history of japan,
the fact that new beijing was so influenced
by japanese cultures — it has a lot of
unsavory implications that the author
likely just didn’t catch. and apropos
the implications, here are a few
rather nitpicky questions about that
world building. are kimonos the only traditional
attire that’s left in this world? it’s the only
traditional attire mentioned. literally, what
about the hanfu? the hanfu is so beautiful,
and it has so many different dynastic variants.
or the cheongsam, which is an everyday sort of
attire for women in hong kong? what about the
whole indian subcontinent, which the book does
not really mention? the indian subcontinent has so
many gorgeous traditional outfits. here are some
examples. they’re so stunning. i really love them.
what about clothing worn by women in malaysia,
or the clothing worn in vietnam? what about
mongolian attire? the deel is just so, *mwah.*
what about thai clothing, or the tibetan
chupa? what about the different attire
worn in indonesia? did any of the attendance of
the ball that occurred in cinder wear are these
outfits? by any chance at all. any chance. this
is probably the most nitpicky thing on this list,
but lexicon-wise, how is “new beijing” stylized
in the world of cinder? renaming a city with the
adjective “new” stuck to it. it’s a fairly western
convention. for example, we’ve got new amsterdam
into new. york fort casimir eventually
became newcastle. in contrast to that,
chinese location names are usually based on
geographic indicators. “beijing” translates
into “northern capital city,” and “guangzhou”
means, “wide or numerous prefecture.” “州”
usually indicates, like, a really important place.
so how would “new beijing” look? would it be like
新北京? does logosyllabic chinese writing still
exist in this world? i mean, probably not. do
the eastern commonwealth citizens use titles for
people? do they use titles for sibling hierarchy,
which is really common in asia? for instance,
older brothers in the philippines are known
as “kuya.” older sisters are known as “ate.” the
second oldest brother and the second oldest sister
and known as “diko” and “ditse” respectively.
does the eastern commonwealth celebrate lunar
new year? in the text, festivals and events
are mentioned in passing. different regions of
asia celebrate the lunar new year in different
ways. the lunar new year that is celebrated in
laos in thailand — a lot of areas in southeast
asia — occurs on april 13th to april 15th. it
involves a three-day water fight, which is so
cool! the korean new year, there’s a variety of
prayers and meals that occur on this day. cinder
minced together so many vast cultures of asia,
and ignored others entirely, such as south and
southeast asia, which makes it a baffling read.
plus, cinder’s world is directly linked with
the real world it references historical events,
like the world wars. it’s supposed to be a
continuation of the timeline. cinder is the
future of this world in a fiction setting. so why
is asia. this enormous diverse complex continent,
depicted as such a monolith? if the author wanted
to portray asian cultures in her story, that’s her
prerogative. it just doesn’t work out sometimes.
when writing diverse experiences and characters,
the goal isn’t total accuracy. the goal is
respect, understanding, and appreciation.
the novel really tried to achieve this. it really
stretched. it kind of grabbed a little bit. but
it fell short. and it really demonstrates
this sort of unfortunate trope in fiction:
the application of western — specifically
american — lenses on asian realities. i mean,
i’m asian american specifically, but, like. maybe
that kills my ethos. in the back of the book,
there’s an interview with the author of cinder,
and she says that she wanted to build a world with
an east-meets-west fusion. and it’s definitely
possible to create an east- meets-west fusion.
but the east and west are separate parts of the
compass rose. they’ve got their own independent
complexities that should be independently
investigated. the shortcomings of this
worldbuilding distracted from an otherwise decent
read. it’s implausible that all of the cultures
of asia just combined into one mass. is there
anything on my face? i don’t think so. okay! i
think non-asian writers should ask themselves: i’m
kind of directing this towards white people. why
do you want your story to be in an asian setting?
do you like the appearance of asian people,
and the appearance of asian culture? i mean,
thank you, but — do you simply want the aesthetic?
for me, being asian and asian-ness is not an
aesthetic. it’s who i am. just think about it.
if you’re asian, and you’re a writer, do whatever
you want. white authors have been doing whatever
they want for like, all time. white people
in general have been doing whatever they want
in all of history. mom said it’s my turn at the
cultural appropriation! i don’t hate cinder, and i
believe that the author had really good intentions
while writing this story. but, like, mmm. so in
place of reading the lunar chronicles series, i’ll
read some books by asian authors. i will put down
the synopsis and the title for your convenience,
and you can check these books out if they pique
your fancy in particular. i think everything that
i put on this list was sci-fi and fantasy, which
is kind of an accident, because i just read sci-fi
and fantasy. the forest of souls. wicked fox. the
boneshard daughter. the high auction. infinity
courts. i think this one’s going to come out soon?
i don’t think it’s out yet? infinity courts! the
sword of kaigen. jade city. the wolf of oren-yaro.
the bone witch. the gilded wolves. an ember in the
ashes. where dreams descend. dragon pearl. that’s
a middle grade! and also, the ones we’re meant to
find. that’s a sci-fi novel that’s coming out this
year. i’m so excited for it on the basis of the
cover alone! *gasp*my ipad died. rest in peace.
so go read these books! they’re all wonderful.
they’re all great. you’d be supporting diverse
voices! if editing sophie has anything more to
say, they’ll just add this in later. hey yo,
it’s editing sophie. by the way, you may see
me reprising this outfit in a future video,
because i’m currently filming my reading vlog.
that is very fun. i filmed this footage back in
january, and it is currently february. i have
a couple of things to add, but i think for the
most part i did okay on this video! cinder’s
worldbuilding didn’t need to be perfect at all,
but i do wish it was better. i could have
just disregarded the worldbuilding entirely,
but i’m a big worldbuilding person when i read
books. worldbuilding, to me, is just as important
as the protagonist, so when your worldbuilding
just kind of makes me go, “mmm, no,” i will
probably go, “mmm, no,” for the book too. plus,
i will say that this will probably be my first
and last one-star book review on this channel.
the future is unclear, so perhaps i will feel
passionate about a book that i rate one star. but
maybe then, i’ll just write another blog post if i
just feel really intensely about it. i just very
much so dislike talking negatively about books,
even though i think that my tone in this video was
pretty light-hearted and constructive. because i
know the work and the care that goes into writing
books — into writing in general, being a writer
myself. so i always feel kind of bad rating
a book below three stars. but also, like,
the author of cinder is super successful, and
she got like an 800,000 book deal on the entire
lunar chronicles series. i’m not sure how
much she got in royalties for this series.
i will not be pursuing that information. and
the lunar chronicles series, including cinder,
have a pretty high average rating on goodreads,
so i don’t feel as bad about it. also, cinder
was published, like, nine years ago, in 2012. nine
years ago! if cinder was a person, it would be in
third grade! and also, there are some people that
might watch this video and have questions like,
“hey, i’m a white author, but i want to write
about an asian world. can i do that?” to answer
that question in advance: why are you asking me
that? that’s not my permission to give. that’s not
anyone’s permission to give, really. marginalized
individuals don’t represent entire marginalized
groups. our experiences are all different, for
one thing, and one person giving you permission
doesn’t really block you from criticism. like,
what if you ask that and someone just straight
up tells you, “no” ?what are you gonna do? just
go around asking people until someone tells you,
“yes”? then you already got your answer right
there. i would, however, redirect you to
some awesome resources. for example, writing
with color, a really great blog that i love,
and your tita kate has a brilliant blog post
about whether or not white authors should write
people of color, and that kind of applies here!
ultimately, though, my answer to that question is:
it’s up to you. because, like, what am
i going to do to stop you from writing
what you want to write? like, am i going to take
away your keyboard? lock you off of google docs?
more than anything, this video is a piece for
discussion, and if i’m incorrect about anything,
or you have any thoughts, just feel free to let
me know. this is not for a grade. and returning
to my point about rating books low stars, instead
of talking about the books that i dislike, i kind
of want to devote more of my time to amplifying
diverse stories and authors that are just
exquisite. so be sure to check out those book
recs. hehe. that is all that editing sophie has
to say for now. so, yeah! that’s my video about
cinder! i’m ready for the cinder fans to come
a-knocking at my door saying, “you
are wrong!” thank you for watching
this video. i hope you have an
excellent day. so, yeah. bye.
i don’t know!
