Just your normal Cinderella story, except she's a cyborg, and a mechanic. 
 Cinder is set in Earth's far future where the world is at peace and empathic post-humans live on the moon. The political overtures point to the two worlds being on the brink of war, with the mind-controlling Lunars having the decided military advantage. Cinder however has much more daily problems of being an outcast in society due to her cyborg nature, which makes her less than human and effectively property of her stepmother guardian. On top of this is the constant tension all humans and cyborgs have that they may contract a deadly plague that is steadily spreading across the globe. 
 Meyer does a good job of giving nods to the fairy tale while twisting it at key points to serve a deeper narrative and keep the reader guessing. Being a YA novel, this does have a fair amount of predictability to the plot, but several of the twists provide enjoyable surprises. Even the portions of action that parallel the original fairy tale still receive fresh looks and creative interpretations to fit into this world.