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bzliz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
In a harrowing world where women are commodities to be bought and sold, used and abused, Sophia desires more. She’s memorized the story of Cinderella just as the King has mandated and she has a few qualms with the lessons the citizens of Lille are supposed to learn from it. Sophia’s best friend (and first love), Erin, makes it clear that she’s not willing to go against the grain of society to hopefully live in exile with Sophia. Heartbroken, Sophia attends the annual (mandatory) ball where men get to select wives for themselves and the girls have absolutely no say in anything but she escapes after her friend Liv is singled out by the cruel king and dragged away. She meets Constance while taking refuge in Cinderella’s tomb, who offers her an escape, a chance at freedom, and eventually an opportunity to kill the king and fix their broken society.
The world is pretty vivid in how horrible it is. Abuse of all kinds apparently runs rampant and people truly just ignore it in hopes that they won’t get executed for speaking out. Obviously some people aren’t chill with what’s going on but they keep to themselves for the most part because they’re punished if they do speak out. I liked Sophia’s connection with Luke but I wish it was more substantial- like they’d been friends for a while and he really had a reason to stick his neck out for her- because when he came to save her at the ball, it felt unnatural. Like he’s been protecting himself for so long but after a few sassy interactions he feels compelled to protect her so they can both be secretly gay together but still stuck in this horrible place. I’m also confused by Erin’s characterization. She breaks Sophia’s heart by refusing to run away out of her own sense of self preservation and wants to follow the King’s terrible laws, but she already broke rules and norms by having a relationship with Sophia. Someone that set on keeping themself safe doesn’t seem like they’d ever admit or act on any gay feelings.
I enjoyed the dynamic between Sophia and Constance, and I really liked Amina’s murky morality. Even though it was easy to guess at the “plot twist” of the prince’s secret to youth, I did not see Amina’s plot twist coming. Constance wasn’t a knight in shining armor; she was a solid foundation on which Sophia was able to build her own feelings of rebellion against tyranny and I think the message of “we can stand up to things that are wrong and also girls can save themselves” is a pretty good one to put out in the world.
Mind the content warnings, especially if you can’t stomach descriptions or discussions of misogyny, sexual assault, physical abuse and domestic violence, and implications of pedophilia.
The world is pretty vivid in how horrible it is. Abuse of all kinds apparently runs rampant and people truly just ignore it in hopes that they won’t get executed for speaking out. Obviously some people aren’t chill with what’s going on but they keep to themselves for the most part because they’re punished if they do speak out. I liked Sophia’s connection with Luke but I wish it was more substantial- like they’d been friends for a while and he really had a reason to stick his neck out for her- because when he came to save her at the ball, it felt unnatural. Like he’s been protecting himself for so long but after a few sassy interactions he feels compelled to protect her so they can both be secretly gay together but still stuck in this horrible place. I’m also confused by Erin’s characterization. She breaks Sophia’s heart by refusing to run away out of her own sense of self preservation and wants to follow the King’s terrible laws, but she already broke rules and norms by having a relationship with Sophia. Someone that set on keeping themself safe doesn’t seem like they’d ever admit or act on any gay feelings.
I enjoyed the dynamic between Sophia and Constance, and I really liked Amina’s murky morality. Even though it was easy to guess at the “plot twist” of the prince’s secret to youth, I did not see Amina’s plot twist coming. Constance wasn’t a knight in shining armor; she was a solid foundation on which Sophia was able to build her own feelings of rebellion against tyranny and I think the message of “we can stand up to things that are wrong and also girls can save themselves” is a pretty good one to put out in the world.
Mind the content warnings, especially if you can’t stomach descriptions or discussions of misogyny, sexual assault, physical abuse and domestic violence, and implications of pedophilia.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, and Rape
Moderate: Classism, Homophobia, Slavery, Child abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Trafficking
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia
agenericmirkwoodelf's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
The fact that I didn’t like this book makes me sad. Because, I wanted to. I really, desperately wanted to. The overall premise seemed fascinating! It held the potential to be something truly meaningful and moving.
Unfortunately it was not.
I’ll start off with what I did, in fact, like about it, before moving onto my issues.
The good:
- The premise. Love fractured fairytales! Loved the idea of using Cinderella’s story as a creation myth, while also calling out the outdated ideas that story was built upon.
- The concept of the villain. Without spoiling, I’ll admit I found that to be incredibly neat!
- The take on the fairy godmother. Again, I can’t say much without venturing into spoiler territory, but it was a unique choice, and I enjoyed it.
So, why the 2 stars? Well…
The Bad:
- The writing. The writing. Oh gosh. I really don’t want to be rude here, but the writing didn’t feel at all like it was worthy of a final draft. It was blunt. The pure epitome of telling as opposed to showing. So, so many times I wanted to slam the book shut because characters would just state their feelings in convenient bursts of exposition. Phrases like ‘I feel guilty’ and ‘She is nervous’ are everywhere, with very little imagery to back them up. In fact, there was hardly any imagery at all. Maybe this works for some people, but it did not work for me.
- The characters are flat. No one really changes. No one has a lot of depth, or a really clear personality. Sophia’s only defining characteristic is that she’s not like other girls. she’s a rebel. Again, this is told to us very bluntly.
- Charactets just…say the message of the story outloud. Constantly. With no nuance at all.
- A lot of the descriptions felt really generic. For example, the witch’s hut is described as exactly what one thinks of when they think of witch’s hut. Same goes for pretty much all of the other locations.
So, yeah. I think this book could have been something great! It just made the fatal mistake of assuming all the readers were fools without the ability to read between lines. Kalyan Baytown had some fantastic ideas! Really, she does! And I really really hope she keeps up the writing so her prose can improve.
Unfortunately it was not.
I’ll start off with what I did, in fact, like about it, before moving onto my issues.
The good:
- The premise. Love fractured fairytales! Loved the idea of using Cinderella’s story as a creation myth, while also calling out the outdated ideas that story was built upon.
- The concept of the villain. Without spoiling, I’ll admit I found that to be incredibly neat!
- The take on the fairy godmother. Again, I can’t say much without venturing into spoiler territory, but it was a unique choice, and I enjoyed it.
So, why the 2 stars? Well…
The Bad:
- The writing. The writing. Oh gosh. I really don’t want to be rude here, but the writing didn’t feel at all like it was worthy of a final draft. It was blunt. The pure epitome of telling as opposed to showing. So, so many times I wanted to slam the book shut because characters would just state their feelings in convenient bursts of exposition. Phrases like ‘I feel guilty’ and ‘She is nervous’ are everywhere, with very little imagery to back them up. In fact, there was hardly any imagery at all. Maybe this works for some people, but it did not work for me.
- The characters are flat. No one really changes. No one has a lot of depth, or a really clear personality. Sophia’s only defining characteristic is that she’s not like other girls. she’s a rebel. Again, this is told to us very bluntly.
- Charactets just…say the message of the story outloud. Constantly. With no nuance at all.
- A lot of the descriptions felt really generic. For example, the witch’s hut is described as exactly what one thinks of when they think of witch’s hut. Same goes for pretty much all of the other locations.
So, yeah. I think this book could have been something great! It just made the fatal mistake of assuming all the readers were fools without the ability to read between lines. Kalyan Baytown had some fantastic ideas! Really, she does! And I really really hope she keeps up the writing so her prose can improve.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Murder and Animal death
Minor: Trafficking
megdough's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Hate crime, Death, Gaslighting, and Murder
Minor: Trafficking, Death of parent, Body horror, Gore, and Animal death
roorooreads's review
dark
reflective
fast-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
3.0
This just did not work for me unfortunately. The writing seemed to be written very young, especially with the themes found in this upper YA book. I loved the premise and hearing a different side of the story. But the romance was insta love and in my opinion, insta love that was not done well. The interactions of our main character Sophia and her love interest felt very awkward and forced. I will say there was one thing I didn't seem coming but the rest was fairly predictable. I really really wanted to love this book but unfortunately it just wasn't for me. I do think though that this would appeal to a younger teen audience who are ready for some slightly more mature themes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Trafficking, and Sexism
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Blood, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Murder, and Kidnapping
wynnie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Death, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Violence, Pedophilia, Lesbophobia, Confinement, Classism, Body horror, Blood, Terminal illness, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, and Sexual assault
Minor: Chronic illness, Trafficking, Animal death, Confinement, and Suicide
Far darker than you would initially think, quite a lot of mentions of triggering topics. Sexual violence against women is talked about frequently.bethhstanley's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
slow-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? No
3.0
I found myself saying "yeah we get it, move on" so many times. Honestly it was a great story but frustratingly slow and repetitive. The big revelations were clear throughout the book and i felt like either: Sophia was an absolute idiot for not figuring it out, or Bayron thinks the readers are idiots and needs to spell it out for us.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Murder, Sexism, Homophobia, Grief, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Slavery, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny
saskiahill's review against another edition
fast-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Trafficking, Grief, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Torture, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Physical abuse
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.
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.
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
ezrazoe4's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.5
I finished this book out of spite.
I am so sorry but I could not bring myself to like this book at all. I was interested in the premise of the book, but the execution was not it for me. I felt that it was way too heavy handed with its message, which led to rather unnatural-feeling dialogue, like it was pushing it too much. The world is exploring what misogyny would look like in a fairy tale setting, except the world building is pretty much non existent and the plot is... not the best I've ever read.
The characters were... meh. There wasn't much personality to them, really. Perhaps it's because it's a standalone, but it's still not an excuse for flat characters. The romance was insta- lovey and had no chemistry at all. The love interest is barely even developed as a character. the only thing we know about Constance is: 1. Her family and 2. She's dedicated her life to take down the king. That's it. That's all we know about her. I felt like the reason for the main character to get over her ex was a bit forced? the sudden personality change was out of nowhere
the fairy godmother's motivations were really unclear as well. Did she feel remorse in the end, which is why she helped the main character? Probably, but why was she so scared of her son, if she basically held his life in her hands? Couldn't she break the connection between them? She was against necromancy in the beginning, but then it was revealed she is a necromancer? Was it an act? And then she dies and we will never know what happened.
Now, the big villain. The king whose sole motivation for doing 'all this' is because he couldn't get the love he wanted from Cinderella. Now I don't know if he's supposed to be intimidating, or if he's supposed to act like a normal man, but this man had no intimidation factor at all. Everything he says (and maybe it's just the author's style of writing) make him look like someone who's trying to be intimidating and failing miserably. It was not fun at all.
The main reason I didn't like this book, however, was probably the writing. Usually I can excuse badly written characters or plots if the writing is really good, but in this case? No. I know a lot of people say that 'said is dead' is a bad rule, but I think the author could really use some variation in her sentences. There is a whole lot of showing and not telling, and the main character regularly 'aches' and her 'heart breaks' whenever she sees one of the injustices that happen around her. There is actually a lack of description of emotion throughout the book, which is mostly conveyed through a single adjective. For a book meant to inspire, it sure doesn't try to evoke emotion from the readers.
All in all, was throughly disappointed. I kind of wish I didn't buy the book in the first place.
I am so sorry but I could not bring myself to like this book at all. I was interested in the premise of the book, but the execution was not it for me. I felt that it was way too heavy handed with its message, which led to rather unnatural-feeling dialogue, like it was pushing it too much. The world is exploring what misogyny would look like in a fairy tale setting, except the world building is pretty much non existent and the plot is... not the best I've ever read.
The characters were... meh. There wasn't much personality to them, really. Perhaps it's because it's a standalone, but it's still not an excuse for flat characters. The romance was insta- lovey and had no chemistry at all. The love interest is barely even developed as a character.
Now, the big villain. The king whose sole motivation for doing 'all this' is because he couldn't get the love he wanted from Cinderella. Now I don't know if he's supposed to be intimidating, or if he's supposed to act like a normal man, but this man had no intimidation factor at all. Everything he says (and maybe it's just the author's style of writing) make him look like someone who's trying to be intimidating and failing miserably. It was not fun at all.
The main reason I didn't like this book, however, was probably the writing. Usually I can excuse badly written characters or plots if the writing is really good, but in this case? No. I know a lot of people say that 'said is dead' is a bad rule, but I think the author could really use some variation in her sentences. There is a whole lot of showing and not telling, and the main character regularly 'aches' and her 'heart breaks' whenever she sees one of the injustices that happen around her. There is actually a lack of description of emotion throughout the book, which is mostly conveyed through a single adjective. For a book meant to inspire, it sure doesn't try to evoke emotion from the readers.
All in all, was throughly disappointed. I kind of wish I didn't buy the book in the first place.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual assault and Domestic abuse
Minor: Trafficking
jjjreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Slavery, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Lesbophobia, Sexism, Violence, Child death, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Bullying, and Hate crime
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Death, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Grief, and Outing