Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

32 reviews

bookswithlauren's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I enjoy books that take our classic fairytales and twist them, look at them from a different perspective and weave an entirely different story. I particularly enjoy how Kalynn Bayron explores how much of a negative impact fairytales can have on a society, something I have often thought about. 

We are fed these stories about lives, people, how they do and should live, from a very young age. When, in reality, they are idealistic, narrow minded and unrealistic. Not every girl is going to grow up to find and marry the man of her dreams, have children and live a perfect life she loves as a home maker. But these stories don't show us any diversity or inclusion of any kind. Children learn from fairytales and I don't think our typical fairytales are teaching anything useful and I love the way Kalynn explores this in Cinderella is Dead.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Murder, Classism, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Blood, Bullying, Death, Grief, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Trafficking, and War

sven47's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

If Iran was like Enchanted (the movie). 
Women are things, on this one. My feminist heart screamed many times over the sexism and brutalism men in this fantasy world treated women. 
The plot was obvious to me from the start, the villain mechanics, and all the magical plot points, but it didn't bother me because I was so invested in Sophie's, our main girl, journey and eventual win. 

The romance felt rushed but I was happy for a black queer character to find her happiness so I was totally ok with that as well. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexism

dancing_on_ur_muml0l's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Omg I loved this so much!! the knife scenes, the romance, the action, the badass female protagonists and the dystopia vibes are immaculate!! And Luke is literally my favourite character he's so nice!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, and Death

Minor: Violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Fire/Fire injury

Think about the Hunger Games and the Selection as one book. That's what this book is. Go read it it's amazing!

josieruby1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexism, Homophobia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death, and Emotional abuse

karcitis's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Violence, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Murder, Sexual violence, Grief, Death, Confinement, and Body horror

Minor: Outing, Classism, Death of parent, Animal death, Excrement, and Animal cruelty

aroseb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Homophobia

Minor: Death of parent

kayladaila's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Grief, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Gore, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Slavery

blackheartbooks's review

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Sophie is like every young girl in the kingdom preparing for the ball. She must buy an extravagant dress, primp herself almost unrecognizable, and make herself available to potential suitors at the cotillion. The thing is, she doesn't want a husband. She wants to marry her best friend, Erin, and live a life she chose for herself. What unfolds next is a Cinderella retelling for the modern age. 
 ⠀⠀
 I loved this story so much. I wish I could have read this when I was in high school. I always felt like a misfit. I didn't feel thin enough or pretty enough, and underneath everything else, I never felt straight enough. So to read about a young lesbian woman taking down the patriarchy was exactly what teenage me needed to read. 
 ⠀
 Bayron's writing is pretty wonderful. She manages to make these big life lessons accessible no matter the age group, and she uses the Cinderella myth in a new and exciting way. I really liked how she deconstructed the internalized misogyny of the original fairy tale and replaced it with women upholding each other to break out of the throes of the patriarchy.
 ⠀
 It'd be impossible to contain everything I loved in a single review. This book is a hard read because it discusses a lot of awful topics, but it does so with grace and care. I love how Sophie was able to both tackle the toxic power structures of her world while still acknowledging that change does not occur overnight. It felt like a believable ending to me as well, while still giving us the happily ever after we expect from fairytales. If you've read this book, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Homophobia, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Minor: Suicide

bird_song's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

patslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence