Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

46 reviews

dev921's review

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

maybeimali's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

If you love the story of Cinderella do not read this. Great feminist text that gripped me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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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

laineydunne's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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.

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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

saskiahill's review against another edition

fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

a_sleepy_berry's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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! 

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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

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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

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

Such an interesting and unique take on the fairytale.  I absolutely loved the plot twist near the end and how looking back it made a lot of sense.  There was a decent amount of queer representation with a lesbian MC, gay and queer secondary characters.  It’s a bit more angsty than I would normally read but I’m glad I read it and am happy to note the ending is a Happily Ever After… just a little more violent.  Though I will say after reading a few reviews it would have been interesting to have a chapter with Cinderella’s POV sprinkled in somewhere.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Kidnapping