If a blend of retold fairy tales and post-apocalyptic romance sounds a little odd - well, it is. And yet that doesn't mean it can't work. This year I've read two books which, although neither made it to my "favorites" shelf, were nonetheless enjoyable.
First read was 2011's "A Long Long Sleep" by new author Anna Sheehan. The title probably gives away which fairy tale serves as inspiration. Rosalinda Fitzroy is awakened out of a sixty-two year chemically induced slumber when a young man exploring a forgotten room finds her stasis tube and accidentally activates it. The famous kiss for this sleeping beauty tale comes when the young man, fearing he's botched the reviving sequence, starts what this future society terms "rescue breaths". From there, the original tale takes a back seat.
Rose has missed a lot during her sixty-two year slumber, most importantly, the "Dark Times" which killed millions of people and utterly changed the world she knew. It also made her heir to an interplanetary empire. Rose must adjust to a new and foreign life while catching up on a lifetime of history she's missed, and experiencing plenty of teen angst (some things even an apocalypse cannot change.) She must learn how to run an empire she's not legally old enough to and figure out who's really on her side, as the loyalties and motives of those running the company now aren't entirely clear. She has feelings for Bren, the boy who rescued her, but also for Otto, who knows something about feeling alienated, as he has alien DNA and telepathic abilities. She has memories, told in flashbacks to her previous life, which hold clues to who she is and what happened to her, and which bring up uncomfortable questions about her parents who might not have had her best interests at heart. And then there's the Plastine - a cyborg with a mission:
either bring Rose back "home", or kill her if she refuses to come along
willingly, sent after her by persons unknown (although despite a couple of red
herrings, I expect most readers will figure it out halfway through
the novel.)
The author has stated on her webpage is working on a sequel, but his is a novel which stands well on its own.
Not so with this year's "Cinder" by Marissa Meyer, which is first in a planned series of four of "The Lunar Chronicles". Neither book ends with the obligatory happily-ever-after, but "A Long Long Sleep" ends in such a way that a sequel is possible but not necessarily expected. "Cinder" stands well on its own, but there's obviously more to be told.
Cinder is a cyborg, and the tale opens rather entertainingly with her replacing her own foot. She is the best mechanic in New Beijing, and her reputation bring Prince Kai to her marketplace booth with an urgent request for repair of an outdated android and his startling pronouncement that it is a matter of national security - stated as a joke but which Cinder perceives as quite possibly true. Cinder has a wicked stepmother and wicked stepsister, but unlike the classic tale we're all familiar with, her other stepsister is quite nice, even a friend. But when her friendly stepsister is stricken with the plague which has been devastating the earth for the past decade, stepmother blames Cinder and volunteers her for plague research, which like the plague no one has ever survived. When Cinder's blood proves to be unique, Cinder consents to further tests with the agreement that should a cure be found, her sister will be treated first.
What is a Cinderella story without a ball? Cinder wants to go, and Prince Kai has invited her. It is impossible, of course, as he is the prince and she a cyborg, a little tidbit of knowledge she conceals from him, knowing he dislikes cyborgs nearly as much as Lunars, the race bent on ruling both worlds. Cinder has a connection with the Lunar people that she herself is unaware of, and the Lunar queen has threatened war with Earth unless Prince Kai agrees to marry her. She might very well get her wish, as the Lunar people have a certain glamor about them which causes everyone to adore them, and the queen is expert at this glamor. The fate of the world might very well rest in Cinder's hands.
Of the two, I enjoyed Cinder more, but both were enjoyable and clever reads.
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