Cinderella Is Dead

Kalynn Bayron

Jul 2020 · Bloomsbury Publishing USA

About this ebook

"Wholly original and captivating." - Brigid Kemmerer, New York Times bestselling author of A Curse So Dark and Lonely

Girls team up to overthrow the kingdom in this unique and powerful retelling of Cinderella from a stunning new voice that's perfect for fans of Dhonielle Clayton and Melissa Albert.

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.

Ratings and reviews

4 stars — Yet another book that I was wary of when I started…just wasn’t immediately sucked in, you know? Kept wondering where it was going to go. But somewhere along the way I did get sucked in, and I desperately wanted to know details of the mystery. I think this is probably a 3.75 star book for me, but since that’s even more impossible to indicate than half stars, I’m just going to be generous. It was great to have an ownvoices aspect to this story, but I will say that Sophia being black really didn’t play into the narrative at all (it’s just nice having a black heroine). But the LGBT aspect played a HUGE role. I appreciated the role it played, and only occasionally did it feel like the allusions to present day were a bit heavy handed…otherwise it was pretty smooth and eye opening. I was worried a bit about the romance in this one, particularly given Erin. But I thought that was all handled very well, and it was really cute watching Sophia and Constance develop feelings, and navigate a new potential relationship. Their romance didn’t play a major role, but their orientation definitely did. As far as the retelling aspect, this is obviously not exactly a retelling so much as a “what happens after”, and “maybe we didn’t have all the facts” type of story. But I’m still classifying it as a retelling, because the story plays a MAJOR role in the plot. There were certain aspects of the story that, as a READER, were so obvious it was actually painful when none of the characters saw it. Why can’t they just be reading this book and seeing all the clues the way I am? I’m a bit impatient that way, so that was…occasionally frustrating. But there were plenty of other aspects of the mystery that I *totally* did NOT guess, and kept me on my toes! I kind of loved a few of the explanations in this one, it really made me think and want to keep reading. There are some heavy themes involving domestic violence, the toxic elements of inequality among the genders, and all that falls out of that. I appreciated the way it presented how good people can feel hopeless and thus allow a bad situation to continue. All in all, I was entertained and kept on my toes. And the side romance didn’t hurt at all. I feel like I’ve been generous in my reading lately (and how I’m rating this), so I bet a couple months ago Lenore would have rated this one more 3.5, but still a fun ride.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I loved this fresh take on a fairy tale retelling! There are so many out there, but this is the first one I have seen that weaves in the original fairy tale into the history of the story. They reference reading the book so many times - each home has a copy! It was amazing. There was also a shoutout to another fairy tale - I'm hoping we get a book on that one too! The characters were amazing and diverse. This was a true dystopian time, but there was so much hope in the book! Definite must-read if you love retellings or dystopian tales!

I'm almost done with the physical copy for a book club, and it's turning out to be very good 👀

About the author

Kalynn Bayron is a debut author and classically trained vocalist. She grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. When she's not writing you can find her listening to Ella Fitzgerald on loop, attending the theater, watching scary movies, and spending time with her kids. She currently lives in San Antonio, Texas with her family.
@KalynnBayron