Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

178 reviews

peggy_racham's review against another edition

4.5

Fast, engaging and queer. Its a beautifull debut novel and a real break from the mold of the  fairytale story

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Homophobia, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Grief, Blood, Classism, Kidnapping, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Physical abuse, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Misogyny

skye_era_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring tense medium-paced

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

5.0

WOW. This was my first Cinderella retelling and I cannot put into words how much I loved it — plus it was sapphic so that’s a huge win! 
Cinderella is Dead shows a dark twist to our beloved Disney version of Cinderella. The people of Lille are under the rule of a very cruel king who demands that everyone lives by his rules and the rules of the Cinderella story. Girls and women are forced to go to the ball, where men will either choose them or they will be forfeited. But Sophia wants to put a stop to this. She does not want a husband, and she intends to save herself and the people of Lille from the king’s reign.
I absolutely loved Sophia and Constance’s relationship, and loved

Amina (the “fairy godmother” until we realize she was the king’s mother!! I was GAGGED at that point okay! I was YELLING.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Vomit, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Torture, Homophobia, Violence, Murder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

tarlie_12_xoxo's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Abandonment, Murder, Domestic abuse, Child death, and Violence

shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, and Death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Slavery, Classism, Animal death, and Bullying

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Violence, and Misogyny

msbedelia's review against another edition

I understood that this was a "Black, queer Cinderella destroys the patriarchy" book for young adults (great premise!), but I didn't anticipate just how much unrelenting misogynist violence and violent rhetoric there would be to show just how bad the society she's fighting against is. I usually reach for YA for something lighter- even when themes are mature- but in terms of triggering events, this *feels* more like The Handmaid's Tale, and without the lyrical prose and insight that made that work so beautiful. This book might be *extremely* fun for someone in the age range it was intended for, but despite my curioristy for how it turns out (and what the truth about Cinderella is!), I have to DNF at this time. I can't do the unrelenting dystopia, and the overt nature/simplicity of the authoritarianism- while very much a YA genre feature- is also boring and grating to me. But again- would probably encourage a teenager to read it and see what they thought. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Misogyny, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexism, and Acephobia/Arophobia

bookishkellyn's review against another edition

dark

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

3.5

Cinderella and the information she took to her grave played a disappointingly smaller part in the plot than advertised, but giving Prince Charming dark origins was imaginative. The plot twist involving the “fairy godmother” (Amina) was unsatisfying. I can’t put my finger on it, but there was something missing from this book. It fell into that YA trap of feeling obligated to send a message instead of just telling a story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Abandonment, Homophobia, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, and Animal death

dragongirl271's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Rape, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Animal death, Police brutality, and Bullying

Minor: Gore, Violence, Suicide, Torture, and Trafficking

melist6's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Death, Murder, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Outing and Adult/minor relationship

mushmysteriesandmore's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 A retelling of Cinderella, featuring a queer romance, feminist movement at its finest and a whole new slant on the Cinderella fairytale. The familiar characters of Cinderella, Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother in particular are not what we are familiar with. What if Cinderella didn’t love the Prince like we thought? What if the Prince wasn’t as Charming as we were led to believe? And what if the Fairy Godmother wasn’t the answer to every girl’s problem but the cause?

I loved the two leads in this book. Sophia does not want to be chosen by a man at the mandatory royal ball, she doesn’t want to be beholden to a man, like every other woman in her town. This town is completely backward in its treatment of women, they should be seen and not heard, all women have a curfew of 8 pm and at the age of sixteen they are legally bound to attend the royal ball in the hope of being chosen by a man to be their wife, otherwise, their lives are forfeit into servitude or worse.

This book was brilliant, I was completely hooked from start to finish. I loved the new take on the old fairy tale and how our heroine Sophia refused to accept the laws passed down for centuries. Her fledgling romance with Constance, a descendant of one of the ‘evil’ stepsisters is wonderfully innocent but passionate.

The plot will have you swinging this way and that as you try to figure out what is happening. There are a few weird and dark moments (necromancy for one) but all in all, this book was one of my favourites so far this year. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Murder, Death, and Violence

Necromancy