Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

44 reviews

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Infidelity and Bullying

laineydunne's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

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

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

saskiahill's review

fast-paced

3.5

---

Content Warnings

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

a_sleepy_berry's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

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

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

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

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Death, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Blood, Body horror, 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.

---

Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Kidnapping

robinsong's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Classism, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Murder, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Child abuse, Child death, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Bullying

emilyrose23's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious medium-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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death