I loved Cinderella is Dead, it takes the original fairytale and completely flips it on its head. It's not really a retelling, because this book isn't about Cinderella, it's about what happened next, 200 years later. There are some great twists and turns along the way and I was completely captivated.

The post Cinderella era sees misogyny completely dominating society. Women are suppressed in every way, forced to marry whatever man wants them, and then obey their every rule. It seems only Sophia sees how wrong this all is, not only does she not want to enter into an abusive marriage, she's also in love with a girl. The structure of this broken society was believable and there are plenty of heartbreaking moments as the novel progresses.

What I most enjoyed was the fresh take on the Cinderella tale. No stone is left unturned in the original story, with every element reexamined and the rose tinted view removed. I particularly enjoyed this version of the Fairy Godmother, queen of sass!

Sophia was strong, fierce and completely determined to overthrown the tyrant controlling the kingdom. She was exactly the kind of girl I would want my daughter reading about. Comfortable with her own identity, and willing to stand up to anyone trying to take that away from her.

Highly recommend this one, I've already preordered my copy!!

This novel is amazing! It's one of the best YA novels I've read this year. I spent a few days walking around glued to my Kindle while reading it. Cinderella is Dead will be adored by teen readers who love political fantasies and dystopian novels about rebellion.

I love fairytale retellings and this one was completely unique. Sophia's world is a fairytale morphed into a nightmare, bringing a new twist to the saying that history is written by the victor.

Bayron's characters are superb. Sophia is strong, kind and determined not to follow the path set out for her by Lille's cruel king. In Cinderella is Dead, heroines don't need a handsome prince to save them from dark fates - they rescue themselves and tear unjust, patriarchal systems to the ground in the process.

The novel has strong feminist themes, exploring the way society treats women, and the lives we should demand for ourselves. If you like the sound of a queer, fantasy version of Only Ever Yours (with a greater sense of hope) you'll love Cinderella is Dead.

Cinderella is Dead contains plenty of magic and twists that were difficult to anticipate. At its heart, however, is a beautiful romance, and Sophia and Constance's relationship is definitely one of this novel's main strengths.

I know you should never trust a book by its cover, but this is one of the prettiest I've seen for ages. It will be seized eagerly off of bookshop and school library shelves, and I love how striking the title is too. There are definite hints in this story about other fairytales which might have been mis-told, and I would love to see this concept return in future books.

This book, the craft, the writing. Everything was beautiful. Black, Queer girls fighting back and telling the government to do one? This book needs to find the hands of teenagers everywhere. Cinderella is here and she is gay and she is pissed off.

I enjoyed this book, it was a new twist on a classic fairytale. It was a book where we knew how the story would play out from the beginning but took some unexpected turns. I loved the characters and how they were determined to make a change for the better.

I really struggled to rate this book as there were parts I really loved and parts that let the book down a little. Ultimately though, it was a 4* read that provided a much-needed re-imagination of the Cinderella story.

Bayron brings to the forefront a POC LGBT story and in doing so draws out many of the issues with the current format of our fairytales. Sophia desperately wants to marry her childhood best friend in a culture that strictly forbids any deviation from expectation. But, she stumbles upon a secret which drives her to move against the King.

At times I found Sophia annoying - she was naive and ignorant to the struggles of people around her. But, I do feel like this was in-line with her character and that, as a young adult, she was believable. The story was a little rushed, I would have loved to get more detail to help pad out the story - but I still thoroughly enjoyed the read.

Without spoiling too much, the ending was satisfying and is what took this rating up to a 4* read. I highly recommend it and it should be required reading for all YA and teen readers - I'll certainly be sharing it with my younger sister.

“Cinderella’s story is a lie"

This book is more for the Teen then young adult. I have to say the idea of it was great, but it can be a little confusing at times as wasn't sure which Cinderella story we were re-telling the Grimm's one or the Disney one.

The characters where strong women and the LGBTQ+ theme was a well written one.

The romance side of it was rather quick and was all at first sight which was a little disappointing.

But a good quick read if you need a retelling

I love a good re-telling of a classic story and I thought this adaptation of the classic Cinderella tale was very interesting. In this story, the tale of Cinderella is a myth. This is a world where men rule, where girls are brought up trying to emulate Cinderella and get chosen at a ball, otherwise they face forfeit. Or worse. The protagonist, Sophie, is about to go to her first ball and does not want to be chosen. Not only does she also hate the way her life is ruled by men, but she doesn't want a husband full stop.

Sophie as a protagonist, I mostly enjoyed her though I definitely think, especially at the beginning, she could have been smarter in hiding her distaste for the world. The way she acted, she was basically asking to get arrested or worse. And while I'm not saying that's right, and that she should be able to act the way she wanted to, she knew the risks and to try and change her life, she had to not get arrested. Of course, this got better later on in the story.

However, while Sophia got better, the plot...didn't. Whereas the first portion of the book did excite me, the middle just didn't. Nothing really happened and I found myself wanting to read faster just to get through it all and get to the end. And then, while the end was interesting, with some twists I wasn't expecting (and some I really, really was) it was so rushed, I feel like the payoff for this story wasn't explored enough. I would have liked to hear more about what happened to certain characters at the end.

I will say, I'm not the biggest fan of worlds like this. I prefer challenging old-fashioned behaviour and values like this by removing them completely. I'm also not a fan of insta-love, which is seemed this story had. I did like Sophie and her love interest together, but it ultimately just didn't feel believable to me. Overall, I would have to give this story 3.5 because I thought the writing was really good, but the middle bit of the story, and the insta-love dragged it down for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars. This book has a fascinating and original concept - it is set 200 years after the death of Cinderella, and her story as we know it is imposed on the people of Marseilles - there is a ball every year, and the women have to dress up, and be paraded around to the men, and the men choose the women they want as wives. However, Sophia, our would much rather be free - and would also much rather be in a relationship with her best friend Erin.

While the book has a great concept and genuinely surprising twists, I thought it lacked in execution. Right from the start Sophia is pushing against the systemic violence, sexism and homophobia she, and other women (and marginalised people) has to deal with every day, but there's nothing to really show us how she became this way. The world is interesting but I wanted a little more - and the characters too, while good, felt a little underdeveloped. All in all, this is not a bad book, I enjoyed it and it is a quick, compelling read, but I just wanted a little more.

This book opens so strongly, that I really wanted to love it. It has such great diversity and representation, but those characters were given very little room to develop and came across as unnecessarily contentious and contradictory.

The middle of this book, from Sophia fleeing the ball until she returns to the castle, was a struggle to read. The writing felt sloppy and rushed and I felt that some characters (like Luke) were quickly disregarded by Sophia despite being drawn into danger for her sake.

Though the end redeemed the read slightly (I do love the overall message of being free to love and think for yourself) there were so many areas where it could have been strengthened by more of Sophia’s internal conflict (she seems happy enough to disregard Erin until it suits her, despite being in love with her all her life).

"I am left just as I am, and after all this time, I know it is enough."

This book was the perfect escapism needed right now in quarantine life, and every day life in general. I loved the setting and the way it was written. It really felt magical when reading it and I got completely lost in the world. This book was the first re-telling I've ever read, and if you've never experienced one before, this is definitely the one to start you off with.
The emotions I went through with this book were ones that I haven't experienced with a book in a while, and it was interesting to see the parallels with certain situations that happen in real life.
The only problem I had with this book was that I thought at some points the pacing was a bit off, and it either went really slow or really fast. However, this didn't take away anything from the writing or the characters, and didn't take away my shock at the plot twist. I'll definitely be reading more re-tellings from now, and I hope to read more of Kalynn Bayron's books in the future!
Thanks to NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book before publication in return for an honest review.

Cinderella is Dead is a book that basically cements my belief that YA fantasy is not for me anymore. This book, for someone who is still into that genre (and maybe a few years ago that would have been me), is perfect. I am not that someone.

So. Firstly. Why you might want to read this book.

• It is a book that uses a fantasy world to critique misogyny and homophobia and it does it well. I’ve read so many books that have worlds that are both misogynistic and homophobic and don’t even think to confront it. This one definitely confronts it.

• There’s a really creative retelling of the Cinderella story, I actually enjoyed that a lot.

• It’s sapphic! I mean, obviously, given the blurb, but it’s worth saying again. It. Is. Sapphic.

But if you’re interested in why I didn’t get along with it, here goes.

• There is almost more attention paid to using the story as a vehicle to critique misogyny and homophobia than creating an engaging world. To be honest, it’s bland. Except for the whole Cinderella-as-a-creation-myth aspect, there is nothing that really stands out about the world compared to every other YA fantasy.

• It wouldn’t have been a problem, but the plot didn’t really stand out for me either. I mean, I guessed pretty much everything that went down. I started playing a game with myself to see if I could guess right to keep myself interested.

• I’m not a massive fan as putting a bigotry in a story to critique it. I definitely prefer creating worlds where it’s not even an issue and critiquing it that way. But. Each to their own.

• The villain had zero motivation beyond he did it because he could. And okay, maybe that’s realistic, but I wanted more from him. He was very two-dimensional overall.

• There’s not a whole lot of tension in the book. Not that there was no danger, but that I never felt particularly like they were in that danger. Like they went for a walk around town and they didn’t even try dodging guards or anything. There was never any chance they would get captured.

So yeah. While the premise and execution of it weren’t for me, they may well still be for you, so please, feel free to just ignore this review.

This story centres around Sophia, a rebellious young woman who struggles with her place in society and her sexuality in a world where a woman's only role is marry and serve the man who selects her at a royal ball.

The world building in this book is brilliant. It completely twists not only the story of Cinderella, but also the story of her happily ever after in a way that is totally unique and engaging.

I wasn't a big fan of Sophia - I thought she was quite fickle, and found it very easy to forget about people she supposedly cared about. However, many of the peripheral characters were really interesting (especially Luke and Constance) and I would have liked to have more of them in the spotlight!

The plot was fast with plenty of twists to keep you engaged. I hope the author intends to work her magic on a few more fairytales!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This review has been posted to Goodreads and will be submitted to Amazon after release.

Right off the bat, Cinderella Is Dead grabbed me with its interesting premise. Just like in our world, the children of Mersailles are raised on the story of Cinderella: with the help of a fairy godmother, a mistreated young girl attended the ball and won the heart of the prince, the ugly stepsisters mutilated their feet, the prince found his bride, and Cinderella went away to the palace to live in finery for the rest of her days... but what about after the wedding? Fairytales, as much as I adore them, never show what happens after true love's kiss, and Cinderella Is Dead takes the classic story and adds a darker twist.

Here, princes aren't so charming, stepsisters aren't so wicked, and the 'happily ever after' isn't very happy at all. Our protagonist, Sophia, lives in a society cruel to its girls. All households must own a pristine, palace-approved copy of Cinderella, one man must be designated head of each household, women and children come under his ownership and face a curfew early in the evening, and each home must display a portrait of its reigning monarch, King Manford. Most readers of young adult fiction know the 'misogynist fantasy world' trope very well, and I have to admit that I'm getting a little tired of it myself, but I didn't find it stale in this novel. Sophia is by no means a passive heroine; she knows that the way her world treats her is wrong, and when we meet her, she's prepared to do whatever she must in order to leave.

I liked Sophia as a character, and enjoyed how she was immediately willing to stand up for herself and for those around her -- but I feel like the novel's supporting characters could have used more development. As it was, I don't think we really got a proper look at the villain's motivation, and as refreshing as it was to read a lesbian take on the Cinderella story, I wasn't wholly sold on the main romance. The attraction there read as quite physical, and could have been made more compelling with more banter between the two girls (though Constance's quips about proper fighting did make me laugh!), or even more narrative time spent growing their connection.

Certain aspects of the writing were a little sparse for my tastes -- there are times when, rather than describing the specifics of a character's expression, we are told that they 'seem shocked' -- and I would have loved more descriptive language, especially given our glittering setting. Nonetheless, this was a quick, hard-to-put-down fierce fairytale, and the beginning and final confrontation were both well done and a little disturbing in places!

Ultimately, while it might not have shaped up to be a fast favourite of mine, I enjoyed this book. I'm happy that a Cinderella retelling with a black lesbian heroine exists so that more and more readers can find themselves represented in beloved fairytales. I'd be interested to see if the author plans on turning any other tales on their heads -- and not just because of how gorgeous the cover art is here. I reckon there's a lot that Kalynn Bayron could do with Sleeping Beauty!

Cinderella is Dead is a richly diverse and lovely read. It takes a well known and overused story in Cinderella, flipping it on it's head to make a relevant, modern and inclusive story with very likeable and relatable characters.

This story is based on Cinderella and I will admit Cinderella isn’t my favourite fairytale but I was excited to read this book.

The story was okay, it was a little predictable for me but I still enjoyed it. It is set 200 years after the death of Cinderella. I liked how it took the tale of Cinderella and used it as a history for the world. I also enjoyed how it used elements from the fairytale and used them, for example the Ball is mandatory. It twists the tale of Cinderella and shows a different side to the story. I found it easy to read and the writing style was okay. It felt like a fairytale story which I liked.

The worldbuilding was okay. I felt like there could have been more. The kingdom is ruled by one man who believes he is better than everyone and he sets the rules. Men are the ones with power in the world and some of the male characters are misogynistic. The majority of the people follow the kings rules so they won’t be executed and some of them believe the story the king tells them.

The characters were okay. I felt there was more to know about them. I didn’t fully connect to them. The main character Sophia was strong. Sophia resists the current rules because she loves a woman. There are f/f relationships in this which I liked. Constance is another main character who resists the kingdoms rules and these two join forces to take down the king. There are several more characters, including the fairy godmother and some characters are hiding secrets.

I loved the diversity in this we have a black main character who is also a part of the lgbtq+ community. There are f/f relationships and there’s also mention of a m/m relationship. I think the diversity was good and we need more books that are diverse.

Overall this is a good book with a fairytale setting and a queer black main character that takes down the patriarchy.