Book Review: Cinderella Is Dead

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

ARC provided by NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron is the newest retelling of a widely known Cinderella tale. Set in the faraway kingdom of Mersailles, this story introduces Sophia, a sixteen-year-old girl in the capital city of Lille, forced to attend an annual ball in the king's palace. The curious twist of this book is in the kingdom's ideology: Cinderella's story, first recorded two hundred years ago, is worshipped akin to the Bible, every girl dreaming of a fairy godmother before the ball and the place by the king's side. Sophia is exhausted by the grave reality of the lack of choice she faces every second of her life: the women of Mersailles hope to be chosen during the ball, and the failure to acquire a husband in three consecutive years results in grave punishment – obscurity, and, most likely, death.

Here is where I come out and say it: Cinderella is one of my all-time favourite stories. A considerable chunk of my sporadic fiction written over the years is in some way inspired by the girl that got what she rightfully deserved for her pain; even now, when I am fully critical of fiction glorifying royalty, I dare say I turn to it in my moments of weakness and yearning (take Red, White & Royal Blue which I read uncritically and would probably spit venom at if I did otherwise). The newest rendition of my beloved tale caught my attention, and I rushed to read it.

What followed was a decent read. I can't praise it, but I also cannot say it was wholly disappointing: if you've followed me for some time, you know I am drawn to the darker side of fiction, the disturbing twists on classic stories and questionable morals of their characters. Cinderella Is Dead introduces a grim world of extreme misogyny, where women are treated like property, and a tyrant who sets an example by glorifying the abuse. Sophia is the hope of Mersailles: she sees through the oppressive ideology and refuses to accept the life forced upon her. She is outspoken and defiant, ready to sacrifice the relative comfort of her life for the sake of mass liberation; I think, overall, that this story effectively comments on the importance of critical thinking.

The narrative that subverts a tale as old as time only aids in this regard; I truly think that a modern retelling should use the strengths of the original – like Cinderella's agency, for example – in the context of its contemporary world, and I think Cinderella Is Dead does it quite effectively. The Brothers' Grimm Cinderella seeks personal liberation, which in her world means simply ascending the steps of social class; the original tale is that of determination, which is what the king of Mersailles so successfully exploits. Kalynn Bayron presents the reader with an alternative, "uncensored" version of the tale, wherein Cinderella is actually a rebel conspiring against the king – a tyrant who managed to acquire immortality. I especially loved the persistent theme of empowering womanhood. (Sophia, or any other girl, for that matter, does not hate other girls on the page – except for only two times where it is explicitly acknowledged that the roots of this hate lie in fear and systemic oppression.) Cinderella's mother is executed for her plans to overthrow the king, her stepmother is the ideological heir to that legacy, and Cinderella's stepsisters are near and dear to her heart, actively working against the king together. I think this "uncensored" story that the king has been suppressing and rewriting after Cinderella's death is my favourite element of the book; hell, I would've loved to read the full version instead.

In this regard, the sapphic romance in this book is especially brilliant. I won't get into queer theory here, but I love the fact that although not explicitly so, Sophia's lesbianism is a political stance at its core. In a world determined by heterosexual culture, Sophia is truly the rebel with an actual potential to turn the tide.

As it stands, however, Cinderella Is Dead is one of the many cases of a great idea that could have been executed better. The dialogue was what disappointed me most gravely: flat and generic, it was going in circles, with the characters reaffirming their goals, conveniently revealing their plans to one another just so the reader understands where we're going and why, and just generally every character sounding the same, be it a two-hundred-year-old diary entry from Cinderella herself or Sophia's new friend. The action is also quite underwhelming: a lot of the scenes feel like they are going nowhere, adding nothing to the story. There is, for example, a scene that I skimmed over in which Sophia runs into a pack of wolves in the forest and ends up losing her horse. It takes up a couple pages, but it never actually causes anything in itself. The romance is similarly pointless: as I mentioned above, it absolutely does serve a political purpose, offering an entirely new ideology to the rigid world, but it itself it is the usual case of insta-love for the purpose of romance in a fantasy narrative.

Descriptions of places and people are quite rushed, and the world never feels fleshed out. As a standalone retelling of a story most Western readers have read, seen and heard a thousand times over, it works, because we all know what a roughly-medieval-inspired fantasy world should look like; as its own story, however, it is considerably lacking the meat on the bones. I would definitely recommend it to younger readers, maybe up to thirteen (I cannot imagine recommending it to my younger sister now – I think it is just past her time to read and love it). If you are looking for a new Cinderella retelling, I think it is worth checking out. If you want a sapphic romance story with a predominantly Black cast, I think it is a perfect choice. If you want something truly groundbreaking in terms of themes or style, I'd say skip it with confidence.

Thanks for reading! :)

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xxx