Cinderella is Dead - Kalynn Bayron.

 

Title: Cinderella is Dead
Author: Kalynn Bayron
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Publication date: July 7, 2020
400 Pages
4/5 Stars

Goodreads Synopsis

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.

Review

I always love retellings, so you know when I heard about this book I had to read it! I read a review that described this book as "black Cinderella falls in love with Merida, and together they destroy the patriarchy." The person who wrote that meant to belittle the book, but I love this definition of the book. This was a very solid 4 Star read for me!

I thought this was a great retelling. Different than your usual fairy tale retelling - in that it took the original story and really made it its' own. This story takes place 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, and while girls dress up and go to the Annual Ball it isn't the happy event it was in the original Cinderella story. 

There are rules and curfews set in place - all of which oppress the women in the kingdom. Girls go to the Ball to try and find a husband. Their parents have to dress them in the finest clothing they can afford, many times going into debt to provide them the finest clothing. If they don't find a husband at their first Ball, they are allowed to go twice more - each time dressing up like a princess. But if they're not chosen, the girls are never heard from again. 

There's a kingdom approved version of the Cinderella story that each family must have in their home and read to their daughters, and pictures of the King hangs in every home. 

I thought this was a fitting book to come out this year. It gets you thinking about the wrong things that are happening in your world, and what you're willing to stand up against. Are you willing to start a revolution, or will you simple go along with the flow, because that's the way that things have always been.