A review by snowhitereads
Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

 
I’m usually not a fan of fantasy novels or fairytale retellings, but when I heard this book was a dark feminist spin on the famous Cinderella fairytale I knew I had to read it.

First of all, can we appreciate how gorgeous the cover is? *chef’s kiss*

Imagine Cinderella but make it dark, twisted, adventurous, with BIPOC characters and sapphic.  

This one is for the  girls who want to marry the princess rather than the prince charming and for the ones who want to be their own knight in shining armor.

It’s a retelling that does an awesome job at portraying issues like the patriarchy and nice guy concept, as well as tying in other fairytales in the same universe, and emphasizing that stories can be manipulated by people and twisted over time.

As someone who is not really into fantasy I really liked the fast pace of the book and how it didn’t spend too much time in world building. 

I read some reviews that said the plot was predictable and although I have to agree that it didn’t surprise me, seing a BIPOC, sapphic and feminist main character in that role, fighting for what she wants and being unapologetic about that was refreshing.

Most of all, I love the spin that the author gave to such iconic characters such as the fairy godmother and prince charming. 
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