Cinderella is Dead: A Review

 a review of Cinderella is Dead. Featuring the second cover, because I am a stan.

"Cinderella reiterations are a dime a dozen. Cinderella is Dead flips them all 180 degrees, giving a kick-butt QPOC story and an inspiration to readers everywhere."

Trigger warning: this review contains mentions of homophobia, domestic abuse, and totalitarianism.

Introduction

    Pride Month might be something of a corporate event in the bookstore sphere, but I have to admit there's one good thing about it. LGBTQIA+ books are put front and center, and that is exactly how I discovered Cinderella is Dead. I'm always looking for new books to read, so discovering this LGBTQIA+ fairy tale retelling completely by chance? It seemed to scratch the itch in all the right ways.

Hearing that it was a fairy tale retelling didn't intrigue me that much. Those were a dime a dozen (quick shoutout to the Twisted Tales series here), but a QPOC fairy tale retelling?

    Cinderella has been dead for two hundred years, and the fairy tale which propelled her into literary immortality has long fallen apart at the seams. Like a shattered vase, the teenage girls of Lille are now required to attend the annual ball or risk death. Any girl not married by eighteen is a forfeit, never to be seen again.

Sophia Grimmins is one of the hundreds of girls who will be brought to the palace the year she turns sixteen. Sophia has less than zero interest in parading in front of suitors, even with the risk involved; she would much rather marry her childhood best friend, Erin. An unmarried girl is in even greater danger if she happens to be in love with another woman. Any allies that Sophia has in the world are more fleeting than lightning, with any runners or rebels murdered. Questioning the story leads to death, and yet Sophia cannot stop herself.

What if there was a way out?

When Sophia arrives at the ball- her nightmare of domestic abuse by a thoughtless man leaning over her head- she flees into the forest. It is there that she arrives at the tomb of Cinderella and meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her stepsisters.

Sophia wants to live, and Constance wants to end a nightmare of 200 years. Together, they vow to take down the king and free Mersailles while seeking the answer to their burning questions: what happened to Cinderella 200 years ago? How much of the story is true? Is there hope for the people to live? The answer to all of those questions, regrettably, is all the same. It's complicated.

One critique often mentioned in reviews of this book is a lack of worldbuilding. This aspect of Cinderella is Dead, however, works in its favor. As the capital of Marseilles, Lille is where the bulk of the story is set. Focusing the development in this particular way allows for the story to render itself complete. Attempting to widen the scope could well result in locations becoming lifeless. Unfinished. The worldbuilding present in Cinderella is Dead is completed as well as could be asked for. It is not an entire world which Bayron introduces to us here, but a portion of one. That piece of the pie was cooked to perfection.

The characters.

In addition to the main characters of Sophia and Constance, Cinderella is Dead elevates the reality of Lille by introducing minor characters which fit into the circumstances. Like puzzle pieces: the seamstress who helps Sophia with her dress for the ball; Luke, a gay man who wanted to rescue her from Lille by marrying her; and Erin, Sophia's friend whose bitterness speaks of a lack of hope. Sophia's hope is there, but it is an ember which burns on a pile of ashes. Talk of resistance is taboo, but Sophia is tired of pretending. She is the scared kitten who will lash out when cornered, and that works for her. Her motivation flits between courage and fear at the beginning, as Sophia's confidence only asserts itself in small ways before meeting Constance. Without the support of her parents, of anyone to reassert that courage, she threatens to fall.

The other female lead of Cinderella is Dead, Constance's last name is never given. In a manner befitting of her fiery hair, Constance is the extrovert. As a result of living a life on the run, Constance has forgotten how to laugh. Laugh lines are replaced with those caused from frowning. The lone spark of resistance, Constance is burning out. Her family- the last of Cinderella's descendants- has fought a war for two centuries without much success.

Her determination, however on its last leg it may be, attracts Sophia like a magnet. The two teach each other how to laugh again. Even if the plot becomes a bit predictable, stay for the dynamic between Constance and Sophia. They learn how to push forward with their own scars.