Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron reminds me a little of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale because it illustrates a dystopia much like how our society was and still is, where men have all the power and women are pushed down to be submissive. Meanwhile, it rewrites Cinderella's story and shows us what could have happened after she and her Prince have their happily-ever-after. It also comments on how the original fairy tale and Disney's retelling both have a lack of details and are superfluous, giving society and young girls the wrong message.
Additionally, I was reminded of Logan's Run because of the "We've got a runner" line that repeats twice in the book. Logan lives in a futuristic dystopia and must catch Runners who defy the system. Then, he is purposefully made a runner in order to find the mythical Sanctuary the runners try to get to. Then, Logan sees that their way of life is wrong.
Cinderella Is Dead is the second fairy tale retelling I've read. It gives Cinderella and her family agency while delivering a message of empowerment that lacked in the Disney cartoon. The first retelling I read was House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig. (I'm looking forward to Book 2: House of Roots and Ruin in July!)
Summary
Cinderella's tale is taken as gospel in Lille, and their king is a tyrant who has laid down several laws that put women at the mercy of men. At the annual ball, young girls who are invited are required to attend and dress in high elegantly in the hopes of being chosen to be a wife by a suitor. If not chosen, the girls are forfeit and sent to the workhouses or end up dead. Sophia is sixteen years old and has received her first invite to the ball. Every fiber of her being tells her to run and she tries to convince the girl she loves to come with her, but even running has great fatal risks.
Trigger Warning: This book contains domestic violence and assault.
-- Spoilers --
The Cover
The first thing I noticed was the dress because it's the same color as the dress used in the Disney movie. While reading, however, Sophia is wearing a sapphire necklace her father gave her, but it's missing on the cover. She is also wearing ribbons, not butterfly clips as we see on the cover. Towards the end, she's wearing a silver dress with glass butterfly clips, so the cover artist mixed both outfits together to create the cover. Despite these differences, the cover is stunning!
I love that Bayron gives Sophia both a blue and a silver dress since there is some debate about Cinderella's dress color in the Disney cartoon.
References
Cinderella Is Dead is based on Disney's version. There were several Easter eggs in the retelling that I enjoyed seeing:
- Disney Cinderella reference (p. 283): "Can't you bibbidi-bobbidi-boo the place back together?"
- Brothers Grimm reference (p. 13): Sophia's last name is Grimmins.
- Brothers Grimm reference (p. 265-266): "It's a collection of peculiar stories [...] Put together by two sisters who spent the entirety of their lives traveling the world in search of strange tales. The story of the queen with the magic mirror is in there [...] 'The White Snake,' and 'The Two Brothers' [...]." The one story that is talked about in detail is the story of Snow White, though it is never mentioned by name. I think Bayron did this as a way to pay homage to Disney's first movie featuring a princess.
- Beauty and the Beast reference (p.329): Manford opens his library to show Sophia and asks if she likes to read. I can't help feeling as though this is some sort of nod to Disney's Beauty and the Beast, especially since he is referred to as a monster several times (though he has Gaston's spirit and mentality, not Adam's).
Worldbuilding
In the beginning of the book (p. 23), Liv has money on her person and gives Erin and Sophia coins to make wishes in a fountain. Neither one of the girls reacts about Liv having money. However, much later in the story, (p.179), a male merchant says that women aren't supposed to have money, which is confirmed by the seamstress's husband. I found it surprising that all women, and not just the seamstress, were not allowed to have money since it's not mentioned when Liv has money.
On Goodreads, once person mentioned that they liked that Bayron showed the French culture since the original Cinderella story was French, but they took issue with other non-French names being present, especially Sophia and Luke, since both have French alternatives. While this reader wanted consistency, I think Bayron intentionally did this to be inclusive and to show that there are other types of people in this town. Constance has red hair and freckles, which makes me think that she is of Celtic descent. And this Cinderella story, like the
1997 movie, has a black protagonist, showing that there are other people in this world than just the all-Caucasian cast of Disney's cartoon
Cinderella.
Another issue a reader had was that Luke was a great character to introduce, but then he is removed from the bulk of the story since he's taken prisoner by the king. Initially, I agreed because Luke had great potential to be Sophia's sidekick and friend on her journey. However, I think Bayron did this so that Sophia has a personal reason to return to the castle. There are many faceless and nameless young girls who are at the mercy of the king and other wretched men in Lille, but with Luke taken prisoner, Sophia has someone she knows whom she has to save. Knowing someone puts the stakes higher. People are willing to risk more for those they know and love than for a world of strangers. Additionally, this is balanced out by Constance having her friend, Émile, also be a prisoner in the castle.
Predictability
Because of my experience and the stories I've watched and read, I could predict a few things in this book several chapters before Sophia finds or learns of the answer. For instance, because this is a retelling, I'm expecting the author to make the seemingly good people bad or, at least, morally grey. So, I was not surprised when the fairy godmother turned out to actually be a witch and a bad one at that. I also expected Prince Charming would be bad. This was confirmed when I read the excerpt between the book's dedication and page 1, which uses the word "Palace-Approved." A classic example of "History is written by the winners."
In another instance, Sophia sees King Manford re-enter the ballroom after leaving a guard to prop up "an old woman" right after Liv was taken away. I've watched Doctor Who, read Dracula and other stories that focus on immortality. So for me, I instantly put the dots together that Manford was Charming (and each king in between) and could suck the lifeforce from people. I was just missing the how since there is no magic in Sophia's world (only Amina can do magic).
I failed to connect Amina to Charming/Manford and I didn't realize that necromancy was part of it, so I loved this twist! I also hadn't expected Constance to be a descendant of Cinderella's family, so that was also a nice touch and cool element to add to the retelling.
Remember, a story's predictability is different for each reader because of their background (and it's very hard to write original content). Despite predicting a few things, I couldn't put this book down! I read it in about three days, which is a rarity for me.
Names
Since Prince Charming took on several other names, I wanted to see what each name's meaning was and if it could be significant in relation to him.
Various websites say that "Amina" means "trustworthiness," "honesty" and "faithful."
Sophia
Sophia has some great lines. One of my favorites is on p. 27 where she comments on the king in a mural where he's on a horse and at the head of an army. She says, "I bet he's never led an army anywhere except across the squares of a chessboard."
On p. 23, Erin tells Sophia that not everyone can be brave like her and Sophia reflects that she doesn't feel brave; she feels angry, worried and doubtful. Regardless, Sophia says she's the one who will do the saving. I find her a refreshing fairy tale protagonist. It's only during the last year or so that I am seeing more conversations about people saying that they will find/save themselves; no one else can do it for us. Sophia is straightforward and knows that she will be the one to find herself if she is lost (p. 236).
A Goodreads reader commented that Sophia didn't feel fully fleshed out because by the end, they still didn't know Sophia aside from her strong will to speak her own mind and desire to be herself. But I think that's the point; Sophia's parents and the good people of Lille have been forced to put safety above all else and mask themselves for several generations. Sophia admits to struggling with this because to be true to herself, she can't lie, be fake or submissive. Cinderella Is Dead encapsulates Sophia's (and many others') fight to be herself. By going against everyone who is telling her to shut up, to ignore nonsense such as running away and living her own life, Sophia learns about the mettle she is made from. When her father tells her to leave the house when the guards are searching for her, Sophia has lost a significant piece of her old life and that is the time when protagonists are forged in fire. After Manford is dead and the patriarchy is overthrown, then Sophia, Constance and everyone who had feared for their lives can find themselves and live their lives as they see fit.
Prince Charming & Amina
Prince Charming is a character that could have had more backstory. We're told that he suddenly arrives in Lille and is helped by his mother to gain the people's favor, kills Cinderella's parents because they had ties to the old (unnamed) king and tried to form a rebellion and Prince Charming becomes Lille's savior and king. Since Charming desired Cinderella as his trophy wife and Amina found out that Cinderella was planning to assassinate Charming, Amina put Cinderella under a love spell (or potion, I can't remember which one). Once it wears off and Cinderella truly cannot love him, he imprisons her and later kills her.
Even with this retelling, I and other readers still have questions:
- Were Prince Charming and Amina native to Lille or Mersailles?
- What was Prince Charming's real name? This is mentioned by Constance (p.141-142), but no one asks Amina or Manford for his identity at the end.
- Was he like this before Amina used necromancy on him? She said people brought back from the dead through necromancy are different than they were when they lived.
- When did Amina bring him back from the dead? It would have been before being Prince Charming since Cinderella knew about his "curse." And since he was brought back from the dead, and Amina was being burned alive because of it, how are there no oral or written records of this event in any of Lille's families?
- Why did Amina follow through with her fate even when she identified the moment of her death (p.365-366)? Why not run and try to change it?
- Amina said her mother taught her magic/witchcraft. Who was her mother and why is Amina and her family the only one who can do magic during Cinderella's time?
I'm wondering if Bayron also made Prince Charming/King Manford so two-dimensional because of the necromancy. We see how human Amina is with the scenes in her cabin and at the end, but we are never given an in-depth look at Manford. Does he have any trauma, regrets, sadness? What happened to his father? Who was he?
Hire a Book Reviewer
I have a freelance business where I offer editing, beta reading and ARC reading for mysteries, historical fiction and fantasy stories. Email me about your project at smurphy.writer1@gmail.com.
Happy reading and writing!
Comments