<Tr> <Th> Followed by </Th> <Td> Scarlet </Td> </Tr> <P> Cinder is the 2012 debut young adult science fiction novel of American author Marissa Meyer, published by Macmillan Publishers through their subsidiary Feiwel & Friends . It is the first book in The Lunar Chronicles and is followed by Scarlet . The story is loosely based on the classic fairytale Cinderella . Cinder was selected as one of IndieBound's Kids' Next List for winter 2012 . </P> <P> The story is set in a futuristic city, New Beijing, when the countries of the world have re-organized to form various new empires and alliances and the moon has been colonized . Asia is now an emperor ruled country known as the Eastern Commonwealth . Letumosis, a disease started by the Lunars and nicknamed the "Blue Fever," is raging throughout the world and the cure is unknown . The protagonist, Linh Cinder, is a cyborg who operates a mechanic stall at a local street market in New Beijing and lives under the guardianship of her stepmother, Linh Adri . Early in the story, she meets Prince Kai, who asks her to fix a personal android . Cyborgs are treated as second class citizens, so Cinder hides her identity from Kai . Soon, one of Cinder's stepsisters, Linh Peony, falls sick with letumosis after accompanying Cinder to a junkyard to collect spare parts for a repair . In anger, Cinder's stepmother "volunteers" Cinder for plague research . When Cinder is injected with the strain of letumosis, it is discovered that she is immune to the disease . Dr. Erland, the head researcher, starts to do research on Cinder's immunity, which leads to research on Cinder's unique physiology, her cyborg implants, and eventually to Cinder's life prior to becoming a cyborg at the age of eleven, which Cinder has no memory of . </P> <P> At the same time, Prince Kai's father, Emperor Rikan, dies of the plague, resulting in the prince becoming Emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth . There is pressure to create an alliance between the Earth countries and the Moon country, Luna, led by Queen Levana . The Lunars have the ability to manipulate the bioelectricity of people around them and make them see what they want them to see and even control their thoughts and actions . The proposed alliance is through Emperor Kai marrying Queen Levana, however, Emperor Kai wants to thwart this plan by finding someone else to marry first . He is also searching for information regarding the Lunar Heir . Earthens believed that somehow Princess Selene Channary Janali Blackburn survived a nursery fire set up by Queen Levana . Which is what his personal android was looking for when it broke . Soon after, Cinder's stepsister dies of the plague and Linh Cinder stores Peony's ID chip and takes it with her . Because of this, Linh Adri punishes Cinder by smashing Iko, Cinder's companion android, to pieces and selling the valuable pieces . </P>

What is the setting of the book cinder