Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

70 reviews

disnelyse's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

eni_iilorak's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Police brutality, and Grief

holiday7's review

adventurous emotional funny informative mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I don't really know what to say besides I loved the book. It was really good. And I think it was a really good story. Also, stan Constance. I live for her. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Kidnapping

alyvia_jeane's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Animal death, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Bullying

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Kidnapping, and Classism

Minor: Bullying and Infidelity

pkc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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

5.0

I bought this on a bit of a whim in 2021 thinking “why not indulge in another subversion of the Cinderella fairytale?” but I guess…like there’s no other subversion worth consuming. This is it. 

Holy crap I LOVED this story.

The protagonist was so engaging, so strong but proudly showed her vulnerabilities. The villain made my skin crawl. The love interests were fully formed characters in their own right who didn’t just serve to enhance the protagonists story. Representation was incredible (a POC MC, very queer).

Around the tail end of last year, I saw someone do a list of reading icks that they’d hope might be left in 2022. One of them was adults reading young adult books, as if it was somehow a lower class of read that shouldn’t be indulged. It really rankled me when I saw it as a 33 year old lover of YA and books like this beautifully explain why. 

This a story, aimed at young adults, that is absolutely about using your voice to speak out against oppression. It’s not the manic pixie dreamgirl or feelingsy guy that you find in the stereotypes that the genre is wrongly thought to comprise of exclusively. 

Sophia is a strong, ferocious human being who is guided by and intently focused on the right thing to do.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

deadgirlwalking23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

a_libra_library's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I loved the idea. How the story of Cinderella was used as political propaganda and our main character was ready to dismantle a throne and centuries of ideals.  
However the addition of magic and history and plot twists were too many and muddled the story. Too many lines that kind of lead nowhere. 
I loved the sapphic, black romances and our main character staying true to herself and her people- Sophia is a strong lead and I wish I could read more about her and her love interest after the story was over. 

Kalynn is such an amazing author and building a world or a scene I'm excited for her other works. She's so good at writing gore and haunting moments! 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, and Outing