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fairydens 's review for:
Cinderella Is Dead
by Kalynn Bayron
Although this one was not quite what I expected, I still found myself reading it in one sitting. A diverse range of characters spun into a fast-paced Cinderella retelling set two hundred years after the death of the beloved princess? There was little chance I wouldn't pick this one up.
What I enjoyed about this book were the hints of world building woven into the story and the general premise accompanying it. This world sees the tale of Cinderella become akin to gospel truth - every household must own a copy of the fable, and every young girl must aspire to be like Cinderella in both attitude, dress, and decorum. Girls strive to gain favourable matches at grand balls just as Cinderella matched with her Prince Charming, with a maximum of three chances to find a husband before they are considered 'forfeit', a fate considered worse than anything. It certainly puts an interesting twist on the aftermath of the fairy tale we all know and love. The book takes a young black girl desperate for more than the world would let her have and turns her into a hero befitting her own fairy tale.
There were some aspects, however, that fell a little flat for me. I found Sophia's desperate love towards her childhood friend a little one-dimensional and uncomfortable to read, a feat only worsened by her instant connection to Constance, leaving her childhood friend almost entirely forgotten at the drop of a hat. Furthermore, the plot was at times only thinly held together by Sophia's general hardheadedness, and was overall a bit bland. The characters did not feel aptly developed enough by the end for me to have read several hundred pages about them and their hardships. I would have liked to have seen the world more fleshed out, as the little odds and ends we received were intensely interesting, but not enough to carry through the entire storyline.
If you want a fairy tale retelling full of diverse, queer characters, then this is for you. Sophia is bold and unapologetic, so I believe she's likeable, and she certainly has a heroic side to her. If nothing else, the twist towards the climax of the story was impossible to look away from, the ending of this book was satisfying.
What I enjoyed about this book were the hints of world building woven into the story and the general premise accompanying it. This world sees the tale of Cinderella become akin to gospel truth - every household must own a copy of the fable, and every young girl must aspire to be like Cinderella in both attitude, dress, and decorum. Girls strive to gain favourable matches at grand balls just as Cinderella matched with her Prince Charming, with a maximum of three chances to find a husband before they are considered 'forfeit', a fate considered worse than anything. It certainly puts an interesting twist on the aftermath of the fairy tale we all know and love. The book takes a young black girl desperate for more than the world would let her have and turns her into a hero befitting her own fairy tale.
There were some aspects, however, that fell a little flat for me. I found Sophia's desperate love towards her childhood friend a little one-dimensional and uncomfortable to read, a feat only worsened by her instant connection to Constance, leaving her childhood friend almost entirely forgotten at the drop of a hat. Furthermore, the plot was at times only thinly held together by Sophia's general hardheadedness, and was overall a bit bland. The characters did not feel aptly developed enough by the end for me to have read several hundred pages about them and their hardships. I would have liked to have seen the world more fleshed out, as the little odds and ends we received were intensely interesting, but not enough to carry through the entire storyline.
If you want a fairy tale retelling full of diverse, queer characters, then this is for you. Sophia is bold and unapologetic, so I believe she's likeable, and she certainly has a heroic side to her. If nothing else, the twist towards the climax of the story was impossible to look away from, the ending of this book was satisfying.