I was very excited to read Cinderella is Dead. A book with a Queer Person of Color main character fighting the patriarchy, what’s not to love? A lot. This book had been on my TBR since its release last July; however, its been a disappointment. I did not finish the book. I got about 200 pages in before I admitted defeat and put the book down. While the premise of the book is good, something about the world Bayron wrote feels off. I know it’s not so far-fetched that a community or a country put so much faith in a book, but something about the story makes me want to roll my eyes.

There is no romantic chemistry between Sophia and Erin. At the start of the book, I wondered if Sophia's feelings for Erin were unrequited or if Sophia was making Erin uncomfortable with her advances. It takes about a hundred pages before Erin shows feelings toward Sophia besides annoyance. Even then, it was more feelings of wistfulness and jealousy. Soon after Sophia, meets Constance, who I am assuming becomes the new love interest, and their relationship developed rather quickly. They have much better chemistry and camaraderie than Erin and Sophia, so there was improvement there, but not enough to save the book.

Sophia also acts like she is the only person who is forced to conform to societal pressure and tends to think only about herself. Erin continually tells Sophia she does not want to risk her life nor her family’s life and flee Lille, but Sophia continuously brings up escaping. Sophia is constantly talking about how she cannot make her own decisions in life. Yet Sophia wants to save everyone by taking them away from Lille despite Liv and Erin saying they want to stay. Sophia comes across as someone who does not think about how her actions affect other people and that not everyone wants the same life as her.

Two side notes that bothered me about the book: (1) private conservation happens in the middle of events with a ton of people around, but there never seems to be any real consequences to being overheard, and (2) this book could have used a map.

I got about 50% through the book before I had to put it down. I wanted to enjoy this book, but it was just a letdown. I cannot fully express why I disliked this book, but something about how Bayron wrote the story left much to be desired, two stars.