3.6 AVERAGE

selenareads's profile picture

selenareads's review

3.0

3 stars

I appreciate this book so much. Ella is such a wonderful, strong, powerful character — but not in the way of usual YA protagonists. She’s resourceful, with a healthy idea of her own self-worth. She recognizes the problems of society and the people around her, and is able to pinpoint that they are not right and she should not change for them. This book is so subversive of the worse parts of the Cinderella story, and I’d give it to any young girl.
adventurous lighthearted 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: Yes
adventurous hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous hopeful fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I got an ARC of this book from an aunt who worked in the book industry, and it has been my faithful companion for the past two decades. I used to carry this book around in my backpack at school at all times, in case I finished the book I was already reading and needed something else during silent reading time. I must have read this book dozens of times, but I never get tired of it. I can’t exactly explain the pull, but this book is like a security blanket for me. 

In this Cinderella retelling, the happily ever after is not so happy and the tales of magic and fairy godmothers have been greatly exaggerated. Ella is bored to tears by all the "princess lessons." When she finally finds the courage to tell the idiotic Prince Charming that she does not intend to marry him, things go from bad to worse. After a daring escape from the castle dungeon, Ella finally finds her true happily ever after.

What I liked best about this retelling was the fact that Ella's own determination set her course. She didn't sit around waiting to be rescued.

A childhood favourite. Important tones of feminism, activism and classism all bound within a fairytale.

3.5 stars

I really enjoyed this Cinderella retelling. It follows Ella after the prince finds her and brings her back to the palace. Ella quickly discovers that royal life isn’t what it’s cracked up to be and that infatuation isn’t love.

I love her spunk and how she thought for herself. The way this book debunks love at first sight and knowing true love is awesome!

My biggest gripe is that it’s marketed as middle grade, but briefly reference sex and rape multiple times, which feels a little mature for that age range. Ella is 15, so I think this could pass for YA, but it’s pretty short and lacks some of the depth you might find in a YA. It straddles that line and I wouldn’t be comfortable passing this off to my daughter. Then again, she’s the younger end of MG, so maybe 12 year olds would be fine? I guess that’s up to parental discussion, but I like to put those warning in reviews for middle grade books, in case other parents might have issues with it like I did.

I read this book many years ago and it still sticks with me as a book I disliked. Overall, the main character was annoying. I also couldn't get into the writing style of this book, even though, I really enjoyed the Shadow Children series.

Cinderella has long been one of my favourite fairy tales, and I love reading different variations on it. The premise of this one -- that Cinderella's post-ball life is not so "happily ever after" -- really appealed to me. The problem with fairy tales is that they reinforce now-antiquated gender roles (this is, after all, a large part of why they were first written). So I was very excited to read a version that tackles some of those problems.

A part of me really wanted to give this book four stars. It took me a little while to get into the author's writing style, which seems a little too modern for a fairy tale set in a vaguely-defined distant past, but once I did, I really enjoyed it. With one glaring exception, which bothered me so much that I decided to knock off an entire star.

For a story that is supposed to be about not equating the value of a person with his/her appearance, it is awfully obsessed with conventional beauty. When Ella is reflecting on how thin she had been under her step-mother's rule, she thinks that at least she was still fat "in all the places that mattered" (or something very close, I don't have the book at hand). The step-sisters are repeatedly described as fat and unattractive, undoubtedly meant to link the idea of their physical ugliness and their ugly personalities (which we don't actually see in the book). I was very disappointed to see the "fat = ugly = bad person" trope perpetuated in this book. Ella does not want to be valued only for her beauty, but then she (aka the author) relies on descriptions of physical ugliness to convince the audience that her step-sisters were bad people? Not cool, and it kind of undermines the point.

Seriously disappointing compared to Haddix's other books.