This is an adventurous story about a young woman rebelling against societal constraints and choosing a new path. Fairy tale retellings have been done a lot, and this one is very original, as it goes for the darker take on the genre. The book is about how legends can be used to indoctrinate people into behaviors and force compliance under the guise of benevolence.
This book is sweet and romantic, and also filled with action. The characters are nuanced and flawed, with realistic motivations. Sophia is a wonderful heroine and her story is heartwarming.

***Spoilers*** Omg!!! I absolutely love this book!! The moment I started reading I was hooked. While Sophia is not my favorite MC, Constance balances her out and they are awesome together. This book fits in so well with the story we all know and love of Cinderella that it gives me a shiver thinking of all our “true” history that may not be quite so true. I liked the premise of the story, because who doesn’t love two queer girls overthrowing a tyrant of magical proportions; but I didn’t realize just how amazing it was going to be. I finished this in two days because I just wanted to keep going. The writing was fluid and so easy to get into that I swear this couldn’t have been 400 pages! (Of course it totally is tho)... I was so invested that by the end I was gasping aloud, shouting for Sophia and her friends to prevail, and then screaming noooooo when the major twist happens at the end. I’ll not completely spoil it for you, but it was really good. It’s official, I’ll be buying this book and reading any other book Kalynn Bayron writes. Now I’m off to figure out how to get her Captain Hook origin book!!

Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Look. Sometimes reviewing books is hard. Especially in times like this when all I want to do is hit the all caps and use more exclamation points than what would be considered wise.

Remaining “professional” when you love a book this much is no easy feat. So *ahem* I’m just throwing professionalism out the window.

YOU ALL NEED TO PICK THIS BOOK UP AND READ IT!!!!! Drop everything you’re doing right now!!!! Nothing is more important than blessing your lives with this gem of a story.

It’s very rare for me to fly through a 400 pages book in a day, but I seriously could not stop reading this. I breezed right through it while devouring every single word.

A truly exceptional book that I will be throwing at everyone I know.

**ARC from NetGalley**
A fascinating spin on the Cinderella story. Some characters aren't who you think they are which keeps you on your toes. I like the fight and spirit of the main character. She wasn't afraid to challenge the status quo. Just because a rule is there, doesn't mean it's fair. She learns that some things are worth standing up for. Fabulous.

I wanted so badly to love this book. The premise and characters are there, but there's a woeful lack of well-designed pacing and world building that led me to start just skimming once I got about a third of the way through. Definitely worth the read but only with lowered expectations. I think this would also do a fair job at being a crossover novel for teens and older kids.

Cinderella is Dead is the first book I've read by Kalynn Bayron. I absolutely enjoyed it. I thought it was a unique twist to Cinderella.

This story follows 16-year old Sophia as she is coming to terms as the annual ball closes on them. Falling in love with her best friend Erin and wanting change from the oppression that she and the rest of the females in kingdom feel.

Forced to attend a ball where she is either chosen or not to marry a man who only looks at them as objects to do what they wish with, she escapes and finds the descendants of Cinderella's family, and much more.

I enjoyed the book. There were some interesting twists and turns that happened. Some of them were obvious, while some of them were ones that I didn't see coming. I enjoyed how this book had oppression, sexism, abuse in many forms. I feel like if it was written in a certain way, the overall arc of the book would've been clouded with all of the issues that Ms. Bayron was addressing; however, she did such an amazing job with it that I was able to keep track of everything that was going on and understanding the issues that were being covered.

This book was absolutely phenomenal and definitely one of my top reads this year. Such a clever and refreshing twist on a classic fairytale. I loved that all the key aspects of the fairytale were there but this retelling had everything needed for equality. It had POC characters, queer Characters and a great strong storyline. I highly recommend this book

DNF

Unfortunately I just can't get into this one. But I'm not sure if it's the book or my mood, so I'd like to try it again someday.

Oh my gosh, this book is amazing! I honestly don’t know what to say about it except that I NEED MORE OF EVERYTHING ABOUT IT

I gave this one a four out five stars. I loved the main character Sophia and her love interest Constance. I loved their relationship and how it builds. I really like how they are there for each other. I liked how Sophia realized her worth and what she deserved. I got a bit a little slumpy while reading this but it was just me and not the book at all. I can't wait to get myself a copy. I totally recommend this one.

Really great atmospheric read! Couldn't stop thinking about it the whole time!

Bayron created an awesome story that turned the original tale on its head in the perfect way.

“And you're not lost?"
"Maybe I am. But the difference is that I want to be found. I'm not happy pretending everything is fine when I know it's not."
"And just who is it that you suppose will find you?"
"It'll be me. I will find myself.”


Name: Cinderella is Dead
Author: Kalynn Bayron
Type: Standalone
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Retelling, Fantasy

Cinderella is Dead has an incredibly good premise and idea behind the plot, however the actual story was not what I was promised or thought I was going to read. There were many aspects I enjoyed, however the bad plot point sallowed me to block out the good of the book and therefore make me not enjoy it as much as I though I would have.

Cinderella is Dead, follows our main character Sophia. Sophia wants more than what she is offered in her patriarchal society. She is supposed to attend the ball and be married of to a man, but she doesn't want to be married off and most specially to a man. She is in love with her best friend Erin, but her town doesn't allow her love to bloom. As Cinderella (yes the real one) has been dead, for over 200 years, Sophia thinks it is time for her to find herself and after attending the wretched ball she escapes into the woods. There she finds Constance and together they try to search for Cinderella's remains, in the hope of finding answers that will allow Sophia to eliminate the King from the throne.

The story sounds great in paper, it has amazing representation (being that our main character is of color and also queer). However, I feel that the author didn't spend enough time digging into the characters and into the world building for us to care enough. I have never fully enjoyed Cinderella, and although this retelling is far from the actual story, it still uses a lot of the factors the real fairy tale has. It also doesn't make them spooky enough for me to enjoy. I didn't enjoy our villain, and I felt the issues were sprung out and resolved to fast. The main character was kind of too much of a teenager and thus we never really see her grow and mostly I found herself to be confused and not sure of herself.

I think the story line would have been great if more emphasis was given to our characters and the back story of our world. Not all men are bad, yet some clauses or plot points didn't make sense to me or give me a sense of dread as most adventure books should give you. I never once felt nervous for our characters, I always knew they would succeed and maybe a little more imagination could have been included into this tale.

-- 2 stars --

A huge thank you to NetGalley and to Bloomsbury for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Cinderella Is Dead follows our main character Sophia and in this world it has been 200 years since Cinderella has died and teen girls have to attend a ball every year so that men can select wives. Sophia has never agreed with the ways of her village and wants nothing more then to marry the women she is in love with Erin. When Sophia is attending the ball she attempts to run away and finds herself meeting the last known descendant of Cinderella. This will catapult Sophia and her new friends to hopefully take down the corrupt society.

As for the Cinderella trope, it’s not my favourite. I think there was a period in Ya when we were getting so many Cinderella retellings and I just got so tired of reading the same story line. Although when I heard about a queer retelling or should I say reimagining of Cinderella I became very excited. This book was a lot of fun, it wasn’t the perfect read for me but I am so happy that I did have the opportunity to read it. A lot of my issues with this book were the plot holes, there were just too many for me and it really hindered my reading. I also just wasn’t sold on the romance and found it fell a bit flat for my tastes. That being said I am very much looking forward to checking out more books by this author in the future!

Once again a massive thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury.

Sophia is a young queer Black woman living in Cinderella’s kingdom where, generations after Cinderella died, society is based on a monarchy-approved version of her story. Sophia runs away and meets Constance, a descendant of one of Cinderella’s step-sisters, who explains how the story has been falsified to enable oppression of women and queer erasure. Together they fight to end the monarchy and tell Cinderella’s true story. Rather than just reimagining Cinderella, the author upends every element of the traditional story. The narrative centers queer characters and characters of color organically, successfully creating something new, fresh and engaging.

I think the thing that drew me to this story most was this idea that a culture could twist a fairy tale, particularly Cinderella’s story, until it actually became a reason to oppress women and remove their personhood.

Our relationships with fairy tales can be a bit complicated as it is. I know women who’ve rushed toward a wedding, thinking of it as this happily-ever-after moment without a lot of thought for what comes next. That seems to me like a model we’ve adopted from fairy tales.

But– all that aside– CINDERELLA IS DEAD was a super quick read. It’s a bit dark, between the twisted fairy tale story and some dark magic and violence. Sophie is brave and angry and incapable of giving up on the people she loves, and I love those things about her. She’s headstrong, kind of an “attack now, plan as I go” kind of girl.

I love Sophie, but there were times I wanted to see more emotional range from her. She stays super intense through so much of the story. Honestly, though, that intensity might have been what drove me through the book so quickly.

Something about the writing style and the setting reminded me a little bit of THE SELECTION series. It’s kind of the opposite in terms of the plot, but I think readers who liked the series for its strong-willed heroine and the marriage of romance and rebellion will definitely enjoy CINDERELLA IS DEAD.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Everyone knows the story of Cinderella, which is why it’s sparked so many retellings and reimaginings over the years. We’ve all read one. Probably several. But there’s something truly special about Kalynn Bayron’s Cinderella is Dead, which takes the fairytale we thought we knew and reimagines it as a powerful story of resistance.

(Full review at Culturess: https://culturess.com/2020/07/08/cinderella-is-dead-review/)

Cinderella is Dead is a feminist counter-narrative to the classic Cinderella fairytale. It's a cautionary tale about the danger of the "happily ever after" and how it drives the oppression of women and strengthens the patriarchy. At times, the story felt weighed down by its strong messages of resistance, feeling more like a sermon than YA fantasy novel. The lack of world-building removes much of the fantasy and magic that is experienced in other alternative tales like Wicked and or The Confessions of An Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire. The concept of this novel is great but poorly executed. I will say, however, it is an interesting read.

In the Kingdome of Lille, the fairy tale of Cinderella is treated as gospel. By demand of the King, every family must keep a copy in their home and every girl must learn the tale by heart. Sophia has learned the tale like all young girls, but even though her life depends upon it, she cannot envision a happily ever after where she goes to the King’s annual ball and finds a suitor. What she can envision is throwing caution to the wind and fleeing the kingdom with her best friend Erin, whom she would much rather marry than a prince. But there is no room for a young girl to deviate from the King’s plan in Lille. In fact, girls who fail to adhere to the story or find a suitor by 18 always disappear. When things go array at Sophia’s first ball, she must make a quick escape to save her life. As she flees, she encounters Constance, a descendant of Cinderella’s stepsister Gabriella. Together, the girls embark on a quest to find out what really happen to Cinderella the night she met the Prince and expose the King’s wickedness in an effort to find their own happily ever after together.

VERDICT is that this is a brilliant take on a classic story that enthralled me as a reader. I loved the reimaging of Cinderella and the extra layers of complexity woven into the story. Sophia is an engaging and daring protagonist who finds herself in trouble from the very first pages of the book. Readers will be rooting for her from the very beginning. I was really intrigued by the relationship dynamics between Sophia and Constance. I would really like to read another novel from Constance’s point of view where we get to learn more about her background growing up as a descendent of an “evil” stepsister.

I loved this take on the Cinderella! The characters were believable, though some things in the plot were a little cliche, and I wish there was an opposing voice to the "men are horrible voice" just to add some depth to the discussion that was trying to be had there. The word building was probably the strongest part of this book!

With elements of both fantasy and dystopia, this book could offer something for many different YA readers. The premise, that everything we know about the Cinderella story has been twisted by Prince Charming to create a society that oppresses women, is intriguing and interesting to explore. The characters, however, are flat and not very believable. Rather than gradually coming to an understanding of how difficult it will be to leave the kingdom of Lille, the main character, Sophia, wildly vacillates between saying she’ll do anything to leave and saying there’s no possible means of escape. It felt like few of the characters were true to themselves, and it was difficult to sympathize with them at all. Constance, for instance, seems fearful of going to the White Wood, but when they arrive, seems to know just how to handle its dangers.
I left thinking about a college theater professor, who would sit and watch our assigned sketches and, if he didn’t find us convincing, shout “I don’t believe you!” I simply wasn’t convinced by the characters and ultimately, didn’t feel that I knew them well enough to care what happened to them.