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A review by pkc
Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
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.
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: 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