Imagine Cinderella as a cyborg spaceship mechanic. Imagine Little Red Riding Hood’s wolf being a genetically engineered super soldier. Imagine Rapunzel stranded alone on an orbiting satellite instead of a tower. Now imagine all of them, plus some tag-alongs, going on a four-book mission to save Earth from a deadly plague, stop the moon’s army from invading earth, reunite lost loves, and set the rightful queen on the Lunar throne. This series is the concept of fun distilled down into words and pages. Each character has a unique motivation-- from Scarlet, the tough-as-nails French farmgirl who just wants to go home, to Iko, the effervescent robot who dreams of being human. The plot is full of adventure and friendship and spaceships and romance and fairy tale cameos and derring-do.As a cyberpunk fairy tale reimagining, it’s unusual, but excellent. It borrows from the source material without overusing it or getting bogged down by it. There are very silly moments and very tense moments, with lots of heart in between. And if you like audiobooks, the narrator for this series will absolutely knock your socks (or your cyborg foot) off.
The books in order are Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter. If you finish the series and want more, Meyer also wrote a short story collection called Stars Above, a novella called Fairest, and a graphic novel follow-up called Wires and Nerve, all set in the same universe.
