Books like Cinder
What should you read after Marissa Meyer’s novel? It depends on what you loved most about it.
- Marissa Meyer
- 2012
- Science fiction retelling
What did you love about it?
Choosing one reorders everything below.
Best books to read after Cinder
Ranked overall. Pick what you loved above to re-rank them.
Best overall matchScarlet
Marissa Meyer
The direct sequel, and the point where the series proves it works: Cinder's story continues while Little Red Riding Hood arrives with a wolf and a spaceship.
- A fairy tale rebuilt as sci-fi
- A series that keeps adding heroines
- A queen who controls minds
- Split between two heroines
Great matchCress
Marissa Meyer
Rapunzel as a hacker marooned in a satellite, and the book where most readers decide they are in for the whole series. Meyer's plotting peaks here.
- A fairy tale rebuilt as sci-fi
- A series that keeps adding heroines
- A heroine who fixes machines
- Third book, no jumping in
Great matchWinter
Marissa Meyer
Snow White as a princess losing her mind because she refuses to use the mind control she was born with. The finale, and it earns its 800 pages.
- A queen who controls minds
- A fairy tale rebuilt as sci-fi
- A series that keeps adding heroines
- 800 pages
Worth a look — with a warningHeartless
Marissa Meyer
Meyer's origin story for the Queen of Hearts: same knack for reworking a familiar tale, but she has written a tragedy this time and means it.
- A fairy tale rebuilt as sci-fi
- Identity hidden from the reader
- No science fiction at all
Worth a look — with a warningThe Lunar Chronicles Coloring Book
Marissa Meyer
Not a novel — an official colouring book of the series' characters and ships. Only worth it if you have finished all four and want something on the shelf.
- A series that keeps adding heroines
- Not a story at all
Best for the hidden identityRed Queen
Victoria Aveyard
A servant girl who turns out to carry a power she should not have, passed off as nobility at court. The Cinder reveal, stretched across a whole novel.
- Identity hidden from the reader
- A prince worth liking
- A queen who controls minds
- No science fiction elements
Great matchGraceling
Kristin Cashore
A girl whose ability makes everyone treat her as a weapon rather than a person — the same problem Cinder has, minus the wiring.
- A cyborg treated as property
- A queen who controls minds
- A heroine who fixes machines
- Traditional fantasy setting
Worth a look — with a warningThe Selection
Kiera Cass
A poor girl, a competition for a prince, and a caste system in a broken future. All the Cinderella furniture, with none of Meyer's plot mechanics.
- A prince worth liking
- A fairy tale rebuilt as sci-fi
- Worldbuilding barely functions
Great matchShadow and Bone
Leigh Bardugo
An orphan discovers a power that makes her politically valuable overnight, and a charming ruler who intends to use it. Cinder's second act, in a fantasy key.
- A queen who controls minds
- Identity hidden from the reader
- A prince worth liking
- Fantasy, not sci-fi
Worth a look — with a warningThe Maze Runner
James Dashner
Included for the plague: a world being emptied by a designed disease, with teenagers used as test subjects by the people managing it.
- Plague tearing through a city
- A cyborg treated as property
- Very thin characterisation
Best for the classic retellingBeauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
Robin McKinley
The book that showed a generation you could retell a fairy tale straight and still surprise people. Quiet, warm, and beautifully made.
- A fairy tale rebuilt as sci-fi
- A heroine who fixes machines
- No sci-fi, no technology
Best for a lighter readElla Enchanted
Gail Carson Levine
Cinderella again, this time cursed with obedience — a heroine forced to comply with every order, fighting it the whole way. Funny, clever, and much loved.
- A fairy tale rebuilt as sci-fi
- A prince worth liking
- A queen who controls minds
- Written for younger readers
Great matchThe Cruel Prince
Holly Black
An outsider clawing for standing in a court that considers her subhuman. Same structure as Cinder's Lunar problem, written with far more edge.
- A cyborg treated as property
- A queen who controls minds
- A prince worth liking
- Much darker in tone
What should you read after Cinder?
Cinder by Marissa Meyer works on several levels at once, and which book you should read next depends on which of those levels got you. For most readers the closest match is Scarlet by Marissa Meyer — the direct sequel, and the point where the series proves it works: Cinder's story continues while Little Red Riding Hood arrives with a wolf and a spaceship.
If what stayed with you was a fairy tale rebuilt as sci-fi, read Cress by Marissa Meyer instead: rapunzel as a hacker marooned in a satellite, and the book where most readers decide they are in for the whole series. Meyer's plotting peaks here. Winter by Marissa Meyer is the other strong option — snow White as a princess losing her mind because she refuses to use the mind control she was born with. The finale, and it earns its 800 pages.
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