Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

35 reviews

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Slavery, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia

paigereitz's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

3.5

This was a cute story and I enjoyed it, but it was a little direct/on the nose at times. I really liked the concept, but the delivery was so-so. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Sexual violence and Death of parent

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.

directorpurry's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, and Lesbophobia

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

sven47's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

If Iran was like Enchanted (the movie). 
Women are things, on this one. My feminist heart screamed many times over the sexism and brutalism men in this fantasy world treated women. 
The plot was obvious to me from the start, the villain mechanics, and all the magical plot points, but it didn't bother me because I was so invested in Sophie's, our main girl, journey and eventual win. 

The romance felt rushed but I was happy for a black queer character to find her happiness so I was totally ok with that as well. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

dancing_on_ur_muml0l's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Omg I loved this so much!! the knife scenes, the romance, the action, the badass female protagonists and the dystopia vibes are immaculate!! And Luke is literally my favourite character he's so nice!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, and Death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Think about the Hunger Games and the Selection as one book. That's what this book is. Go read it it's amazing!

josieruby1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

karcitis's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Excrement, Death of parent, Outing, and Classism

aroseb's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent