200 Years after the events of the classic Cinderella story, now all girls when they come of age are required to attend a royal ball where the men of the kingdom choose a girl based on the finery they appear in. Given 3 chances to be chosen if a girl is not chosen they are made forfeit and never seen again.
Sophia attempts to find away to avoid this forced event as she battles with her own sexuality and her attraction to her childhood best friend Erin.
Fleeing from the kingdom Erin learns the truth behind the so called Fairy tale that controls the land.
Spice Rating ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫
Emotional Rating💧💧⚫⚫⚫
This book was a random find when I was having an impromptu trip to the works. I was drawn to this book instantly and could not bring myself to leave it there.
In this twisted take on a time 200 years after the classic Cinderella story, the author in detail delves into the struggles of women and people of the LGBTQ+ community being oppressed by a kingdom ruled by a misogynistic tyrant king.
The story follows Sophia and her struggle with being stuck between her feelings for her female childhood best friend and her duty to her family and the kingdom. Sophie is an amazingly headstrong independent character and I really enjoyed how her character is written and how her personality really makes her stand out from the crowd throughout this book.
Bayron did a really good take on a twisted tale that delves into the idea that all that is told isn’t always the exact truth and how it can effect the public and the way people live day to day.
All the way through this book I was fully rooting for Sophia and her antics as she went from just trying to escape her fate to planning to overthrow the monarchy.
Bayron really did well with representing so many dark moments throughout this book that often reflect in the real world even without the rules that are set in this story.
Overall if you want a nice quick read about queer women overthrowing the patriarchy then this book is for you!
But as always I can’t go into too much detail without going into spoiler territory so as always…
!!! Warning !!! Spoilers Ahead !!!
“Do not be silent. Raise your voice. Be a light in the dark.”
There are many characters with very distinct personalities in this story but one did feel quite lacking for me. The apple of Sophia’s eye and her childhood best friend Erin. Erin’s character is hyped up quite a bit in the story and even in the blurb of this book before we meet her and when she is introduced I felt very disheartened. Erin to me felt to have a very standoffish feeling about her and had a way of acting like she was better than Sophia. I see the purpose for this story wise but it had me feeling straight away that I didn’t understand Sophia’s attraction to Erin at all with her dismissive actions towards her. In the events after the ball we see that Erin has got a short end of the stick with the man she was chosen by being one with a temper who was clearly mistreating her. As horrible as it sounds after how Erin had treated Sophia I didn’t feel any commiseration for her. If anything it almost felt deserved.
Apart from the titular character, a favourite character of mine in the book was the “Fairy Godmother”. Amina is the name of the woman behind the title. She is revealed to not be a fairy but in fact a experienced witch who lives in the woods which explains how she was still alive after 200 years since the original event. When reading I felt like Amina was a very grumpy grandma style character and her antics with Constance were very entertaining. Quite often Amina’s actions did make me suspicious of the character and the ending twist just grew those suspicions. I won’t spoil that for you!
Overall pretty much every character was rememberable which is quite rare and made a nice change.
“It’s risky…But sometimes that’s the only way to get things done. Take the risk, light the fuse. Onward.”
Throughout the book there are some very dark moments just shedding a light on how deranged the king and his supporters are.
One part that really sticks with me is when a woman is brought in font of the public after being accused of assisting Sophia escape just because Sophia visited her seamstress shop the day of the ball. What took place was a rather disturbing public execution just so that the king could make a show to the kingdom what would happen if they went against his will.
The way Bayron described the event almost had me in tears and even now thinking back the scene is so vivid in my mind. from the event to the reactions of the people that were gathered to witness the gruesome event and even the feeling of terror and remorse that went through Sophia.
I feel this scene was the main fire that sent Sophia into her determined ways. knowing an innocent had died just because they were seen with her was the last straw for Sophia.
From the good to the bad so many scenes made such vivid images that I will never get out of my head when I think of this book.
So many scenes made this a book I will not soon forget!
“The truth is tricky. People want to know it, but when they do, sometimes they wish they didn’t.”
Overall this book was quite a fun read. The characters and story are definitely something I will remember for a good while at least.
Yes at times the story did get predictable but with Bayrons’ writing it still made the whole experience enjoyable. The only reason this book is not a 5 star for me is because of how many tropes were used. even though the story was entertaining there wasn’t something so different that it blew me away. As I compared the book to Disney’s Twisted Tales before I must say that is the feeling I got all the way through and nothing really gave me the impression that is was anything different apart from the inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community. If this story had pushed a bit further to distance itself from the Disney feeling then I feel this would’ve been an instant 5 star for me.
But still overall a really good book that I fully enjoyed from start to finish!
Have you read this book? what are your thoughts on Cinderella Is Dead?
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As always I do love recommendations so if you want to see my take on a book you’ve read please let me know in the comments and I’ll more than likely make a post in the future about it!
But for now, thankyou for reading today! thankyou for following my journey! I’ll see you in the next post!