Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. In “Glitches,” a short prequel story to Cinder, we see the results of that illness play out, and the emotional toll that takes on Cinder. Something that may, or may not, be a glitch…
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Note: For my Short ‘n Sweet Week reviews I’m going to cover three short ‘n’ sweet pieces from series that I absolutely love. They are all extra content or “bridge” works that connect the dots between stories. With extra content there is a wide range to the level of necessity of the piece to the series as a whole. For each review I’ll post a “level of necessity” rating at the bottom of my review.
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Cinder is a fantastic series that I enjoyed immensely. In fact, Scarlet, book 2 in this series, is high on my list of must-reads of 2013. So, when I heard that there was this little snippet of a short story floating around, I knew I had to have it!
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At only 19 pages, this little short story is a fantastic quick read that gives the reader a glimpse of what Cinder was like as a child, how she came to New Beijing, and the events hinted at in Cinder. It creates a better picture of how Cinder discovered her mechanical inclinations and explores her feelings about being a newly formed cyborg who can’t seem to remember what her life was like before becoming one.
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The story definitely sheds light on several blurry details from Cinder. The character development and expansion was fun and informative and it was incredibly interesting to see more of Peony and Cinder’s relationship as well as the beginnings of the animosity of Adri and Pearl toward Cinder. We get to see Iko and Garan and receive a glimpse of what was going on behind the scenes in Cinder new “family.” The foreshadowing and world building was fun and dovetailed well with Cinder and what we know of the series as a whole.
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Overall, Glitches is fun and enlightening read. I recommend reading it after Cinder though because it will give you better insight into characters you already know. Since this is not a full novella, it relies a bit heavily on prior knowledge of the characters and world of Cinder.
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Level of Necessity, according to Heather: 3 out of 10 <—-However, it’s still awesome and I loved reading it for the background and everything I mentioned in the review. Though it’s not necessary for the series, it is super fun to get this glimpse into Cinder’s past.
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Author: Marissa Meyer
Title: Glitches
Series: Book #0.5
Published: December 5th 2011
Format: Ebook, 19 pages
Website: http://marissameyer.livejournal.com
Source: Purchased
My rating: 
Happy Reading!
I haven’t had the opportunity to read Cinder yet but it sounds intriguing. Fun to read something short!
Cinder is awesome. Loved it. =) And Glitches was an awesome addition to the story.
I’m reading Cinder right now! I really like it so far and will definitely have to take the time out to read this as well~ I love short stories that enhance (but aren’t needed to enjoy) a book.
Yay! So glad you like it! I loved it. It was really fun and different. Even thought Cinderella is not my favorite Princess story, I loved Cinder. Hope you enjoy Glitches too!
Well… Chocolate is not *really* necessary either, is it? 😉
Nah, seriously, I’d not have gotten into this series if not for Cinder’s book trailer, but I’m in love – the fall was hard on the knees, but I just can’t get enough of this universe. Loved hearing that you enjoyed it so much, too!
Oh Chocolate is necessary 😉 hehehe. I love it too, Ron! So excited for Scarlet!
Loved Cinder. Would really like to read this!
Awesome! Hope you enjoy!
I read this one before Cinder and still loved it. It made me so eager to start Cinder. Even if it’s 19 pages it still gave a great image of Cinder and what she is going through.
awesome, good to know you liked it before as well. =)