Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

61 reviews

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

roorooreads's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexism, and Trafficking

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Gaslighting

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

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Suicide, and Trafficking

Far darker than you would initially think, quite a lot of mentions of triggering topics. Sexual violence against women is talked about frequently.

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: 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

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

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

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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! 

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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

talonsontypewriters's review

adventurous dark hopeful fast-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Grief, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide, Excrement, and Vomit