3.5 stars, because it was compulsively readable 
 Reading this after the brilliance that is James Baldwin's "Giovanni's Room" didn't help to silence my inner critic, but nevertheless, this book entertained me, compelled me to read it, and forced me to care about where the story was going to go next. 
 I'd say this was a "guilty pleasure", except that I don't believe in those; you should like what you like without feeling shamed for it, especially when it comes to books, and that was the case here. The recent brouhaha over adults reading YA came to mind, in particular, that judgmental SLATE article -- though I stand firmly in the camp of "Read Whatever The F*ck You Want", whenever a particular element of the story would bother me, I'd think: Yea, I can sorta understand why someone'd write that article, though as a whole I still disagree. 
 If you're looking for sophisticated writing, great dialogue and plot twists you DID NOT see coming, well, this isn't your book. (view spoiler)[I saw that Cinder-being-Princess-Selene-thing coming a miiiiile away, right in that scene where Prince Kai whispers his conspiracy theories to Torin in the palace. Can you say exposition dump? And quite frankly, cheesy dialogue abounds in this novel. But hey, it didn't stop me from reading. (hide spoiler)] 
 I love the concept of fairytale retelling with a cyber-punk twist. I liked the setting (futuristic Asia) and all the cool technology (androids and netscreens, etc) I'll be wading into the next installment for sure, why not? These funky novels will be a cool addition to my library.