Cinderella is Dead
Pros
- Having a black girls and guys be apart of this Cinderella fairy tale world.
- The author came through with gowns and fairy tale for me.
- Fantasy- when we finally got to the fantastical it was very interesting.
- The world it was fascinating to read about.
- Queerness- One of my favorite parts of the story because the message about queerness is shown layered into the story and not heavy handed. There is an added layer to story because the conformity is also about not presenting queerness.
- The little bit of adventure aspect to the story.
- That the story had a definitive ending- there are threads for a series but this book can be a standalone.
Cons
- Feminism is weak- there is no argument this is my least favorite part of the story.
A. Feminism is heavy handed & not explored deep enough
B. Is this feminism black feminism or white feminism applied to black girls?
For example, I don’t like the damsel in distress being seen as a bad thing when being applied to black girls because black girls have never been allowed to be damsels in distress…
C. I’m over the whole character telling me they are feminist without characters being about it- actually showing their feminism
D. Main character veers into not like other girls and girlie girl-ness is bad
E. This was built up to be this hardcore take down of patriarchy (look at the cover and the marketing) when it is not.
- There was not enough fantasy.
- Telling not showing is bunk- bunk=wack
- Convenience- the king seemed to not be trying that hard to find Sophia because she would be in the most obvious places, the story wrapped up too easily
- Angry girl- I’m not feeling this new trend of the girl who is angry as a personality trait. I am seeing characters who are brash without the proper characterization to back up their anger/brashness. What makes it even worse is they seem to be missing common sense (for lack of better word) that would make them more intriguing characters to follow. It just seems they go from plot point to plot point based on either convenience or stupidity.
Stories that did it better…
feminism, messiness of fairy tales~ Ever After High Series
showing different type of characters in fairy tale world, messiness of fairy tales~ Princeless
A Song Below Water Sneak Peek
Liked: Idea of the supernatural creatures (gargoyles and etc), there is a message that is being shown through the sirens about violence against black girls/women that is important
Disliked: Telling instead of showing, messages are heavy handed- they are too blatant its like the message is the story- almost to the point there is no story other than the message, the story is everywhere instead of streamlined, I already feel the fantasy is going to be weak and take a backseat to the #message. Also, all these messages are coming out in small quarters (27 pages)
Analogy of police brutality to super-powered people (this is a trend I do not like that I first noticed in Children of Blood and Bone) it is an entire rant but to keep it simple I don’t think it meshes well as a analogy to oppression.
Is the black girl references try hardy?
Conclusion: I’m disappointed by black ya fantasy books because it feels like they are not delivering on that adventure, journey, magic that teens ( specifically black) want/need. It is like they are more about the message than anything else.
Conclusion 2: Don’t take my opinion as an endorsement to not read these two black books read them yourself (at least sample them) before you preemptively decide not to read them based on my thoughts.
I want to thank Bloomsbury YA and netgalley for letting me review Cinderella is Dead.
(covers are from goodreads)
themollyweather 