Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

150 reviews

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

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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

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

nordicat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, and Lesbophobia

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

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.

bethhstanley's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I found myself saying "yeah we get it, move on" so many times. Honestly it was a great story but frustratingly slow and repetitive. The big revelations were clear throughout the book and i felt like either: Sophia was an absolute idiot for not figuring it out, or Bayron thinks the readers are idiots and needs to spell it out for us.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Slavery, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

prufrockpreptooth's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful 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? No

4.25

Une super lecture !
Je l'ai lu en espagnol, clairement pas la langue dans laquelle je suis la plus à l'aise, donc un peu de mal à entrer dans l'histoire, mais une fois que je suis entrée dedans, je l'ai plus lâchée et j'ai lu plus de 200 pages en 2jours - un vrai record personnellement pour de l'espagnol !
C'est prenant, avec des retournements de situations, un superbe cast de personnages féminins badass, et une certaine rage féministe qui fait du bien. Le tout avec un worldbuilding autour du conte de Cendrillon plutôt sympa - et si on peut prendre deux minutes pour parler de la beauté de cette couverture absolument breathtaking !!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Homophobia

kaiden1565's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism and Violence

Minor: Homophobia and Sexual assault

saskiahill's review

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

snowielazuli's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad 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? N/A

3.5

This book is good for a YA public looking for fantasy and a more adult take on a classic fairy tale. 

The characters are young and it translates in the way they act sometimes, but what's going on around them can be a little gory (without too much details though), so watch out for trigger warnings if needed. 

Don't go thinking it's a big world build, but it's just enough for the story to make sense, in that little region where everything goes on. It's fast but everything you need to know is there.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury