Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Cinderella Is Dead

Ein wundervolles Buch das dazu aufruft alles zu hinterfragen was einem vorgebetet wird. Eine sehr vielseitige Handlung mit Verlust, Angst, Unterdrückung und Verrat aber auch Hoffnung, Vertrauen und die getrieben von dem ewigen Gedanken, dass da mehr sein muss.

Content Warnings

emilyisgrace's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.25

Content Warnings

ebp's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

cupcakesweetheart804's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.5

This review will contain spoilers for anyone who wants to avoid those. I really wanted to like this book, but it ultimately fell flat for me.

Let's start with the positive aspects of the book:

The LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC representation, especially in the YA fantasy realm. I think more books should be published for this audience with this type of representation. Especially with BIPOC characters as the main characters, rather than being reduced to side characters that are only present to move the plot forward.
The twists being placed on the Cinderella story.
I enjoyed getting to see a version where Prince Charming is actually a bad person, and the twist of the fairy Godmother being a witch was fascinating. Although I found her reasoning for continuing to aid in his plans to be a bit weak, it was interesting to see how she still suffers from the guilt 200 years later.
The writing is done in a way that makes the story easy to read, so I would recommend it for people who are not big into reading, but especially for those new to reading fantasy.
I do like the fact that the story is about strong powerful women fighting against the patriarchy, although that also is a part of my critique.
I also liked the fact that Ms. Bayron didn't feel the need to drag out the story to become a series like a lot of fantasy stories that are released these days. While the story could've been fleshed out more, it would've been too much to do another story set in this same storyline.

Now onto the aspects that I did not enjoy:

The World building - There is not enough time making sure the world makes sense, nor that it feels like a real place. We are told multiple times that the kingdom of Mersailles is bigger than just the city of Lille, but we are never told or shown any other areas of the kingdom. The lack of a drawn map also makes it difficult to have a scale of Lille or the rest of the kingdom, and let me to believe that the city is entirely surrounded by the White Woods, which I don't think is true.
The magic system - The magic system is never fully explained, nor does it play a part until
Constance and Sophia make it to Amina's cottage in the woods.
We know that Sophia doesn't believe in Helen's potions, but for the first 1/3 of the book it is the only connection to magic in the entire book.
The romance - Sophia begins the book completely infatuated with her love for her childhood best friend Erin. We are told that Erin is also in love with her, but I never got the impression that the love was mutual. I was looking forward to two badass sapphic characters taking down a patriarchal system, but Constance and Sophia's lovestory begins too quickly. Sophia moves on from Erin so quickly that it feels strange. I understand that teenagers can fall in love quickly, but it makes it feel like her feelings for Erin so not hold as much weight as we are lead to believe in the beginning.
The handling of the patriarchy - I was surprised by the fact that no one gives any trigger warnings for this book. Despite the popularity on TikTok and YouTube, I have yet to see anyone mention the abuse that is depicted in this book. While it is not described as explicitly as it would be in an adult book, there are still depictions of domestic violence and femicide within the story. I was unprepared for this. It is mentioned that a lot of what happens to women in this society is a direct result of the laws the king has put in place. Which gets to my next point, why are these laws in place.
We learn that Prince Charming has been single handedly running this kingdom for over 200 years. Which begs the question of why he wanted to take over this specific kingdom, and why he chose to put these laws in place. He is written almost like a cartoon supervillain, which I feel like is a disservice for what the story was attempting to do. We never find out why he hates women so much, just that he does. We know that he fell in love with Cinderella at first sight, and that he slowly drains her life to punish her for not loving him. But we never understand why a man who clearly hates women would try to force Cinderella to love him. I can believe that he would kill her to avoid her being able to leave him, but that is the only part that I believe.
Luke - While I did enjoy the character of Luke, he was underutilized. He could've been written out and the story itself doesn't change.
Sophia - I wanted to like her as she should be everything I would want in a main character, but I found her to be annoying. She was stubborn and headstrong to the point where she constantly endangered herself and others. I've read worse main characters, but I found myself at times wanting her to experience at least some consequences.
The overall pacing - The first two paragraphs of the plot summary take 125 pages to happen. I understand that some backstory has to be given, but that is a bit absurd. I also felt like it would take too long for an event to occur, but then it would pass really quickly. For instance,
when they raise Cinderella from the dead to speak with her. It takes 5 chapters for them to finally perform the necromancy spell, only for them to end it within the chapter WITHOUT their questions being answered. It took so long for it to happen, only for the whole thing to be over almost immediately.

I don't think this is a bad book. In fact I think I would've enjoyed this if it was out when I was 13-15. I just think that it is a story that could've been developed a bit better. I do plan on reading more of Kalynn Bayron's books, I just think this one was not for me, which is ok. Reading is subjective after all. I'm glad that some people were able to enjoy this book more than I was.

Content Warnings

morethanmylupus's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

This is a fun, diverse retelling of the Cinderella story. Sophia is a strong MC who is both trying to live a happy life (ie with her friend Erin not with some random man) who ends up discovering more about the truth of the Cinderella story in the meantime. There are fantasy elements mixed up in the Cinderella story, plus plenty of patriarchy to fight. This was great to read on audiobook.

Content Warnings

lady_red's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

Lovely plot! I just feel like the book and the writing needed a little more refinement before publication (unless you’re looking for an easy, one-sitting book).

Content Warnings

More...