I am reading this piecemeal in between the regular books in the series according to the following suggested reading order... I am going to rate each of the short stories below as I read them

Cinder   -★★★★★

"The Mechanic" ★★☆☆☆
Finished on 6/26/2022
I felt like The Mechanic did not provide much, if anything. Sure, I guess it was interesting seeing Kai and Cinder's first meeting from Kai's point of view... but it did not provide anything new or vital.

"The Little Android" ★★★★★
Finished on 6/26/2022
The Little Andoid is probably the best short story I have ever read. It was absolute perfection. Since I did not bother reading any descriptions of it before starting, I did not realize until part way through that it was a retelling of The Little Mermaid.  Maybe should have guessed from the title... but it was a fulfilling "ah-ha!" moment once that finally clicked haha. That ending was absolutely perfect. Incredibly sad but absolute perfection nonetheless.

I hope that Miko tells him of the sacrifice that Star made.

The Queen’s Army" ★★★★☆
Finished on 6/29/22
This one was good. Not nearly as good as The Little Android, but this actually provides new insight into the main storyline.… after reading Scarlet, I’ve decided I like this one very much. It provides wonderful insight to some characters that are introduced in that book. Maybe this one would be better saved for after Scarlet… but I did enjoy having the insight from this short story while reading Scarlet.

Scarlet   ★★★★☆

"The Keeper" ★★★★★
Finished on 8/16/22
This was a perfect short story! It was both good on its own, and provided a lot of background information on what exactly happened to Cinder before she became a Cyborg. 

"Glitches" ★★★★★
Finished on 8/17/22
This was another perfect short story! Again, it was great on its own and it also provided some background on what it was like for Cinder as she transitioned into living with her adoptive family. 

"After Sunshine Passes By" ★★★★☆
Finished on 8/17/22
Another great short story, but not as good as the ones about Cinder… probably because I am not attached to Cress’s character yet.

Cress ★★★★★

"Carswell’s Guide to Being Lucky" ★★★★★
Finished on 10/7/2022
This was fun to see the event from Carswell’s past that was mentioned in Cress… it gives more insight into his character.

Fairest ★★★★☆

"The Princess and the Guard" ★★★★★
Finished on 1/4/2023
I absolutely loved this one! I love Winter and I love Jason. It has been a while since I read the previous books, and it’s driving me crazy that I cannot remember what has happened to Jason… I know he has been involved. Hopefully the next book will do a good job of recapping because I am once again hooked on this series!

Winter  ★★★★★

Wires and Nerve’s graphic novels  ★★★★★

"Something Old, Something New"  ★★★★★
Finished on 2/9/2023
This was the perfect little ending story to the series. I was very happy with it.