This would be the third Kalynn Bayron book I've tried to read and honestly, I think I give up. Her characters are dull, the dialogue strained and the plot meanders. There are also lots of hints of anti-white sentiment if not overt microaggressions which made it uncomfortable for me to read.
DNFd

Wow wow wow. I absolutely loved reading this! I haven't read a book in one day in a long time lol. This was such a pleasant, easy read and I just couldn't help but continue reading it! As much as it was say predictable that really didn't bother me in this case as it was just such a great story. I absolutely loved Sophia and Constance. Both complete badasses. Cinderella is such an icon so reading this just felt idk nostalgic in a way because of my childhood but also refreshing? Makes sense to me anyway😂.
I loved it I just hoped to have a little more with side characters such as Luke who I just adored! Overall just a lovely read ❤️

I was really keen to read this one as I really love reading retelling of classic fairytales. While not being a direct retelling, Cinderella is Dead makes its own take on the old story. It is a memorable story with a great romance and an exciting lead character. I did however feel like it was a bit slow going in places and don't think that it needed to be as long as it did. Some of these were fixed by other things that I liked in the story but I did find it a chore to get through. I did read the audiobook though and I did enjoy that. Overall it was a mixed bag but if you want to read this story, I think you might enjoy it !

I appreciated the diversity and representation, and the concept was really good. The execution was lacking for me, unfortunately.

This was such a fun read and had a unique concept I hadn’t seen before. It was the perfect blend of dystopian and political fantasy that kept me hooked as I read. It’s always fun when girls are out for revenge and want to overthrow the patriarchy. The characters were great and I was rooting for them as the plot took some good twists and turns towards the end

I loved the idea of this book, but the story and characters simply dont live up to it. The writings isnt that great either and felt quite imiture using 'I did this and then she did that' and it was quite a drag to get through the book.

Having read ‘this poison heart’ by this author I thought I’d give this book a try. It did not disappoint. A Cinderella story set 200 years after her death intrigued me. I loved the fairytale setting and the way the author handled the issues of misogyny and sexism.

Cinderella is dead is a delightfully original retelling of the Cinderella story. Although it's based on a fairy tale, and we all know we've had a lot of re imaginings of those, it brings a fresh perspective with an unique story line. Sophia is about to attend her first royal ball, an event in which the young women of the kingdom are expected to find good husbands. The problem is, Sophia would rather marry her best friend.
Sophia is a strong character who follows her heart, she escapes the ball and meets one of Cinderellas last descendants. I found that the romance built between the characters was well developed, although i found it was a bit too fast in places. The story has a good plot with a perfect amount of magic woven in. The antagonists are interesting, although i found that the ending felt a bit too rushed, that can be expected from a stand alone title vs a series.
I appreciated that the main character didn't just drop her previous life and beliefs completely, Sophia still has loved ones to consider and her beliefs from the society she was raised in don't just disappear. Overall i enjoyed this novel, i did find the pacing to be a bit off, too fast in some parts while others dragged a bit, and some of the characters dialogue felt a bit clunky, but not enough to make it un-enjoyable. This take on a classic fairy tale was refreshing and exciting, and the inclusion of a LGBT protagonist of colour is excellent. It's always great to see diversity in books, and the way the main characters sexuality is portrayed is done well.

This book has been haunting me for sometime. Before I was accepted for the blog tour I was two minutes to midnight on pre-ordering this bad boy! It has a lot of good stuff in it! Fairytale retellings? Check. LGBT antics? Check Poc Queer lead? Check Morally grey magic character? Check Revolution? Check. Let’s go through it.

Cinderella Is Dead is set 200 years after Cinderella has died. The King runs Lille with an iron fist and it is the most patriarchal society imaginable. Every year there is a ball where girls need to be chosen or they are forfeit. It’s a hideous concept and one that is genuinely quite freaky.

Sophia our heroine is headstrong and gay as hell which we love to see! She is hopelessly in love with Erin and is slowly finding out that there are more gay people in Lille even though it is banned. It all comes to a head when she escaped the ball and meets a very badass redhead.

This book really surprised me quite a few of the recent fairy-tale retellings haven’t done it for me. This book is a very similar style of retelling to The Surface Breaks by Louise O Neill although I’d argue its better in execution. The idea of Cinderella being used as a state text is so cool and different.

I also loved the justifications for some of the characters. How traditional villains were turned into heroes and how all the good characters in the story turn out to be very different. Also there is a twist that made my head spin in the best way possible.

In terms of cons I say the ending was very neat. Almost too neat. It just tied up perfectly which did irritate me a bit. I’d also say Sophia’s constant pursuit of Erin did get quite annoying as I felt we never really saw Erin like her much. It felt more like a crush rather than anything else. I’d also say there was a lot of talking that closed up things so conversations almost felt too clean. Everyone justifies their emotions in a way that felt clinical.

Overall though this is a fantastic retelling. I really loved some of the twists in it and I the central romance is fantastic. Other fairy tales are mentioned so I do wonder if the author will ever explore those.

Something completely different for me and I really enjoyed this one! This is Cinderella but in a re-telling like no other and I flew through this as it hooked me in straight away.

This is a young adult book that explores some pretty big themes - inequality and prejudice being a huge part of this book and I loved that the author tackled them in such a brilliant way. Cinderella is Dead promotors diversity and girl power to the max and I found it really refreshing to read the traditional tale told in a way which young people (and adults) of today can connect with.

Whilst some parts were a little predictable and at times frustrating, the overarching themes of the book are so important that you can forgive the little quibbles and focus on what the author was trying to convey the most. A very powerful read and one I think should be on every school library bookshelf - a book of hope and of the fight to break down barriers and achieve equality!

A fantastic twist on the tale of CINDERELLA and an addictive read thanks to the author's engaging writing style and unique world-building. Highly recommended.

Firstly I love the premise for this book! I was totally here for a dark Cinderella retelling with a f/f romance. A lot of the ideas were great - the 'is she good or evil fairy godmother' for example. However, something just didn't quite feel right to me. I think a lot of the characters were too black & white and lacked personality - the focus seems to be basically on whether they agree with how their society works and whether they believe the Cinderella story, but beyond that I don't really think we find much out even about the main character. The romance also didn't work for me. The main character at the start of the book is really upset that her girlfriend thinks their relationship is less important than fitting into their society, and continues to worry about her throughout the book, and yet as soon as she meets the new romantic interest she's suddenly really into her with pretty much no time in between. Just didn't work for me.

I had high hopes for this book when I first heard about it and while it was an enjoyable read I was a bit disappointed. The characters felt very two dimensional and the plot was a bit lacklustre. Fun but not great.

The first 100 pages or so I couldn't stop reading - I was so invested! However, once we got to the middle of the story, it became a bit boring to me, and I found it kind of hard to power through. The ending was really good, though, and I found myself picking up the pace once more. Can really recommend!

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

A book about lesbians challenging the patriarchy?? YES. I knew I needed it. Plus it's a fairytale retelling?? Just shut up and take my money.

The world in which Cinderella is Dead is set is both fantastic and incredibly frustrating. I found it hard to not want to yell at the characters when they accepted the incredible misogyny or felt powerless to fight back. It is a wonderful extrapolation of how things could have ended up, 200 years after the events in Cinderella.

Sophia is a great lead - she is strong enough to take a stand and to find others who will stand with her. I loved her and her relationships. They managed to show all aspects of what it is like to live in a world like that without it feeling overbearing.

I did find it a little predictable in places, but this wasn't a bad thing. Plus in places it also really surprised me! And I found the writing really gorgeous - I am definitely going to be checking out future books by Kalynn.

Overall I found this thoroughly enjoyable and definitely recommend it. 4 stars.

Thanks to Bloomsbury for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sapphic Cinderella retelling, about Sophia, a young girl who's in love with her friend, Erin, but must attend the annual ball decreed by the King, where suitors choose their future wives.

I enjoyed the twist on a traditional fairy tale where Cinderella has been dead for two centuries and her descendants are living in a post-fairy tale world. And not a very happy one at that.

The world-building that opens the novel sets up a dystopian society, where men choose their wives and women have no agency or power. No-one can speak out against the King and anyone who refuses to attend the ball disappears and is never seen again.

Sexism and inequality are rife in this partiarchal society and the constant mistreatment of women will anger in readers (I was certainly MAD). This seems to be a purposeful move by the author to challenge sexist behavior and misogyny. Bayronn shows the different ways that a patriarchal society hurts men as well as women, and she ends the story with the perpetrators being held accountable (which I thoroughly enjoyed).

As the main character, Sophia is strong-willed and determined not to be trapped in a loveless marriage. I liked her bold nature and determination to fight for a fairer society, but I didn't feel much chemistry between her and Constance, her love interest. I also found it unlikely that she would be one of the only people to notice the inequality between men and women and be willing to challenge it? Surely others before her would have had the same issues and wanted to do something about them?

The writing style was addictive and the fast pace of the story meant that I kept sitting down and reading 70 or 80 pages in one sitting, which is more than usual for me. My main issue was that I often had more questions than I had answers while reading. Sometimes characters would do things or events would happen and there wasn't a clear reason for why things were unfolding as they were. If the plot was a house, the foundations would be strong, but the material holding the walls and roof up would need to be woven together a bit more tightly.

On the whole, I enjoyed the first half of the novel and found it such a quick read, but I had so many questions in the second half of the novel that I finished it feeling neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.

Trigger warnings for domestic violence, murder, kidnapping, gaslighting, violence, sexual assault

A fantastic debut, Bayron has proven she is a voice to watch with her incredible imagining of the Cinderella story and what came next.

2.5 stars

Everyone knows the story of how Cinderella fell in love with Prince Charming and lived happily ever after.
Every girl dreams of the night of the royal ball, a compulsory event when girls have the chance to be chosen as a bride by the men attending.
Sophia has been dreading having to go to the ball. In love with her best friend, Erin, Sophia hopes to escape with her so that they can live the life they want instead of the life the king has made for them - a life where women have no control or freedom.
When the night of the ball comes around, everything goes wrong and Sophia finds herself on the run. Hiding in Cinderella's tomb, Sophia meets someone willing to help her.
Can Sophia bring an end to the cruel king's reign?

Going into Cinderella Is Dead, I was really excited to read it as I'd heard lots of good things about it. However, I ended up being disappointed, unfortunately.
Sophia was an okay protagonist, but I never felt like I really connected with her and none of the characters really stood out for me.
At first, I enjoyed what I was reading, but the more I read, the more I found my enjoyment waning. I struggled to stay interested in the plot and I wasn't invested in what was happening. There was one twist I didn't see coming, but the rest of the plot was fairly predictable.
The themes were important and I liked the diversity.
I wasn't a big fan of the romance as I couldn't feel the connection between the characters and it felt a bit rushed to me. However, I did like that it was an F/F romance.
The writing style was what I struggled with the most - I found the dialogue odd and there were a few times where the a line of dialogue drew me out of the book, making it hard to stay immersed.
I'm disappointed that I didn't enjoy this more as I liked the premise. Unfortunately, this was a book where the execution didn't didn't work for me.

Overall, this was an okay but disappointing read.

Cinderella died 200 years ago but her legacy lives on in a town called Lille. Women are oppressed by men, every year girls aged sixteen and above must go to the ball to be picked by leering men who they are then betrothed to. Families work hard to buy the perfect dress and hope that the fairy godmother will appear to help them. If they end up attending three balls and don't get picked they are then forfeited. No one knows what happens to those women. Sophia is sixteen and she's getting ready for her first ball but she is questioning the whole system, why are women treated this way, why must she go to the ball, why can't she be with Erin?

The writing wasn't my favourite. I didn't think it flowed well, it felt very stunted. Quite often the main character had feelings or learnt something new and then a few pages later that thing came to pass. I felt like I was being told the story, not discovering it myself. This meant the first three quarters of the book was predictable. But the last quarter I had no idea what to expect, the plot developed with twists and turns that I didn't see coming and that I really enjoyed. It's a 3.5 but rounded up for an enjoyable read. I loved that the author got 'bippity, boppity boo' in it.

There was a strong, clear message about oppression, speaking up and activism. I think you would like this one if you enjoyed Only Ever Yours, Delirium, Matched, Uglies.

I was so excited to love this book because I love retelling (I even bought myself a physical copy) but this just wasn't for me.

The world building and writing just fell flat for me, everything was told rather than shown and it overall just felt rushed.

I think that this may have worked better as a duology to give you time to immerse yourself into the world and be attached to the characters and relationships.