Review: Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

 Hi Readers,

 

Today we are talking about Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron.  I initially picked this one up in 2020 when a local bookstore was doing a virtual young adult book club.  I then proceeded to instead focus on homework and neglect my fun reading.  Responsibilities win!

Anyway, Cinderella is Dead falls into the realm of a fairy tale retelling.  These tend to have potential to me to be really good and interesting or they can easily fall flat.  Cinderella is Dead surprised me and I think to its benefit it wasn't straight retelling of Cinderella.  This was a story of what happened to the village years after Cinderella had lived.  This one had a lot going on with it, so I'm going to provide the official synopsis so I don't miss anything - 

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.

Whew!  I found Sophia's journey to take down the king a lot of fun.  It has some unexpected twists and definitely an extra touch of fantasy magic to it.  Sophia and Constance make a fun team to read about, but it kind of feels like their romance was a little fast.  Sophia meets up with Constance shortly after escaping and leaving Erin behind and it almost feels like their have an instant romantic connection.  It's obviously kind of nit-picky thing to focus on.  Overall, I enjoyed this on and anyone looking to fun with an LGBT retelling of Cinderella should check it out.

4/5⭐ 

Kattie