Cinderella Is Dead

Disclaimer: I bought this book! Support your authors especially at your favorite black owned bookstores!Book: Cinderella is DeadAuthor: Kalynn BayronBook Series: StandaloneRating: 5/5Diversity: Black, lesbian main character, lesbian/bi side characters, and gay side character.Recommended For...: fantasy, retellings, dystopianPublication Date: July 7, 2020Genre: YA Fantasy RetellingRecommended Age: 15+ (slight sexual content, illusions to rape TW, domestic violence TW, romance, and creepy male behavior)Publisher: Bloomsbury YAPages: 400Synopsis: It’s 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl’s display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again.Sixteen-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia makes the desperate decision to flee, and finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all–and in the process, they learn that there’s more to Cinderella’s story than they ever knew . . .This fresh take on a classic story will make readers question the tales they’ve been told, and root for girls to break down the constructs of the world around them.Review: Oh my goodness this book is so good! The book is a retelling on the Cinderella story, but with a lot of twists along the way. The main character is not Cinderella but is, what I theorize, what she doesn’t historically represent. She’s the girl who doesn’t wait for the fairy godmother, but charges after her instead. The one who, by her own admission, wants to be the one to rescue the princess instead and wants to be with a princess instead of a prince. Anyways, the book has great character development and world building. The book touches on white washing history through the Cinderella tale and it alludes to a lot of things that Black people generally have to face in their life, from being treated like second class citizens to the girls being taken from them under the guise of a “better life” to the hair straightening scene where Sophia is told that straighter hair is pettier than her curls. And while I might be reading too much into some of these, I think this book does a lot of good even at the most basic plot line of this book: it shows young girls, especially Black girls and kids who are LGBT+, that they can save the princess and that they can be the hero of the story even in the context of the most famous of fairytales which are historically white washed and void of any LGBT themes. I also want to see this author write more books like these.That being said, the only issue I had with this book is that the pacing was a bit wonky and some of the travel scenes were a bit inconsistent, but it very much paled in comparison to how amazing this book is.Verdict: Highly recommend!

Technically this wasn't a story about Cinderella but about a kingdom that took her story and twisted it, using it as a means to oppress the women in their realm.Basically all girls had to find a husband or they were deemed worthless and sold into slavery or worse. They were also forced to attend the balls in search of said husbands or ELSE 😬Of course, being into girls, our MC wasn't interested in tying herself to a controlling man and the more she learned about Cinderellas legend and the rise of their king, the more enraged she felt to the point where she did something about it! Good for her 👏👏Slight spoilers ahead:Not sure why she liked the girl she liked at the beginning....she was such a brat but at least she found someone better and less petty lolAlso....they were a bit too trusting and everything can to a sudden and quick end. It was a good ending but idk....wanted a little more. Pretty good tho, and some interesting twists 😁👍

I loved this book! I was so hooked that I read the final 100 pages in one go. I couldn't wait to see how it would all end. There was a shocking plot twist that I never saw coming and then an ending that was fast, yet didn't make me feel as if it was rushed or lacking in any way.The worldbuilding and plot of this book were fantastic. The author borrowed some dictatorship characteristics from North Korea (such as hanging the dear leader's portrait in every citizen's home) and created a dystopian society where women are second-class citizens and everything they have truly belongs to their husbands or fathers. Some are treated no better than slaves, and all are considered property. The fairy tale of Cinderella has been twisted and is used as both propaganda and religion, teaching females they are only fit to serve their "Prince Charmings." To defy the law is to defy the king's vanity, and the punishment is death. No one dares to disobey, and no one can escape. Until Sophia.The plot revolves around a young woman's desire to break the cycle. Each year women are rounded up like cattle and literally auctioned off at a ball, where their families go broke to dress them in the finest gowns money can buy, because no one has seen the fairy godmother of yore in years. The hope is they will each be chosen by a wealthy husband, but the fear is they will be abused regardless of his station. Sophia has more cause to concern than most, because not only is she already in love, but she is a lesbian.I picked up this book based on the cover art and title alone, when I saw the author advertising preorders on Twitter. I had no idea it had an LGBT love story in it so that was a pleasant surprise! I loved the plot and it moved fast. There is a conspiracy regarding the original story of Cinderella's life that involves her family and its heirs, as well as her marriage to Prince Charming and what he did to her, that was so complex and ingenious. But this is a debut novel and it is not without flaws.I think where the book was a bit lacking was in its characters. Many of them are cookie-cutter types and don't develop or truly show their personalities. One girl exists only to be a martyr; another, to be a jealous, angry ex. They serve a purpose but don't seem like real people themselves. And then there are some that seem to switch personalities. In the beginning, Sophia's mother is adamant she attend the ball and shut up and just deal with it, while her father is gentler and more understanding and apologetic. But on the night of the ball itself they both change, so that her father is ready to disown her over her unwillingness to attend, and her mother wants to protect and hide her. It was jarring when they suddenly switched views. And Constance seems so self-assured and cool and bad-ass, but from the moment she meets Amina she becomes a petulant child and all but loses her charm. The romance was borderline instant-love, which was made less believable when one of them was already supposedly in love with someone else. And there was a great deal of build-up to the character Luke, who suddenly disappears and leaves you wondering why he, of all people, was such a well-written character but ultimately wasted potential.Some events also seem sort of nonsensical. Sophia and Constance are on the road and take an entire horse and cart to carry a very small amount of supplies which they later carry on their backs anyway, when the cart gets stuck in the forest. And no mention at all is made of caring for the horse. They didn't give a lone horse a single thing to eat or drink and ran it through the woods all day with no water supply in sight? It's just not realistic. That horse would have collapsed by that point. Again, it's like a two-dimensional character that serves a role but isn't real, doesn't really exist outside of its function.Sophia herself goes for three days and three nights in a row without sleeping. If that actually happened, a person would become dizzy and disoriented and eventually pass out from exhaustion. I began to wonder if she was a zombie! But it turns out this was merely an oversight by the author. Sophia is awoken by her mother at dawn to prepare for the ball. She runs away from the ball and hides, too scared to sleep at all that night. She travels all the next day, meets her traveling companion Constance, and hides out overnight, again too scared to sleep. The next day they gather provisions and ride in a wagon through a forest, making camp that night...where she is yet again too scared to sleep on the first night.And it was very weird that Sophia, who was terrified of the king's guards and wouldn't even dare confront them, was so certain that she could take on the king himself. Why did it even enter her head that she, without so much as the support of her parents, could waltz into the palace and change the mind of, or even murder, the man responsible for the plight of the women in her kingdom? She didn't think, something must be done; we must join forces and rebel. No. Her immediate plan was that she, herself, would change the world.While the characterization in this story was weak as far as the main character's motivations and the side characters' personalities went, the plot was a good one, involving magic and necromancy and even a zombie or two. I could not completely ignore the flaws, but I could easily enjoy the story in spite of its weaker points. It's a book I would enjoy rereading and would recommend to fans of YA fiction, especially fairy tale retellings.

A fantastic retelling of a classic where "finding your prince" isn't a prize.

Muy bueno!!!

Não li ainda, mas o inglês é bem intermediário. Não que seja difícil, mas tem bastante palavrinhas para ir pesquisar enquanto você lê.Em geral o estado do livro veio impecável, sem nenhum arranhão. Veio bem rápido, cerca de 2 dias. As folhas dele são boas para ler também, não é durinha, mas também não é fina, como folha de bíblia.A capa é linda também, uma das mais lindas que já vi em minha vida. Primeira vez em que eu acho que uma capa é mais bonita em sua versão em inglês, porquê geralmente as editoras brasileiras arrasam nas capas!O livro é menor do que eu esperava. Ele é pequenininho gente, mas é grosso.ele é MUITO leve, muito mesmo. Me surpreendi real com o peso. Parece ser uma leitura gostosa e leve, não sei bem oque esperar mas pra essa capa, precisa ter uma história a alturaGente tudo no livro é lindo, e quando vc ver vc vai abraçar ele como se fosse um filho de tao lindinho que é.Por ser pequeno achei que até ficou mais bonitinha a capa

The book came in a stellar condition. It was wrapped securely and and there is not a single fold. My friend has been eyeing this book for a while and I got it for her birthday 😁

I did mostly buy this book because of the cover and title, but I am not mad about that. This book was excellent! The plot was intriguing, the setting very interesting and I loved the writing style! I am excited to read more from this author!