Day: January 15, 2021

Review: Cinder by Marie Sexton

An interesting Cinderella retelling.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Kindle Edition. 80 pages. Published February 4th 2012

Blurb:

A CinderFella Story

Eldon Cinder would give anything to see Prince Xavier one last time, but only women are invited to the royal ball. When the local witch offers to make Eldon female for just one night, he agrees.

One spell.

One night.

One dance.

What could possibly go wrong?

Likes:

  • Short but complete.
  • A good fairytale retelling.
  • Just different enough from the source material to make it unique.
  • The initial friendship was sweet.
  • Interesting ending.
  • Milton.

Dislikes:

  • Angst was just a little too real.
  • Lots of potential problems glossed over.

I am not the biggest fan of fairytale retellings. I find most of them boring because, even with changes made to the story, it’s like a train that can only follow the track it’s already on. But the blurb intrigued me. So I gave it a shot. And I’m glad I did.

The basic structure of the Cinderella story remains, but a lot of the details have been changed. Honestly, this story reminds me more of the movie Ever After than the typical Disney tale. That’s part of what makes this story work so well. Eldon is still treated like a servant, but he meets the price before the ball. In fact, they become friends.

If it wasn’t for Eldon’s desire to say goodbye to Xavier, the romance wouldn’t have progressed. Sure, Eldon develops a huge crush on the prince. And the angst from it throughout the story was real. But even though I knew the two men would have a happy ending, I wasn’t sure how it would happen.

The female transformation, which was mentioned in the blurb, was part of what caught my interest. I wondered how it would work. The witch was an interesting character, and I liked that she was firmly on Eldon’s side. I also liked that just because Eldon’s body was female didn’t mean he automatically had the grace to move well.

Eldon’s stepsisters were the perfect mean girls. I loved how Jessalyn’s attempts to separate Eldo and Xavier only pushed them closer. Watching her get her comeuppance was very satisfying. And Milton gets a special shout out for being such a good dog.

My one complaint was how many potential problems were glossed over. I know it’s a short story, and to address the problems would have taken the length of a novel at least. But I would have at least liked for them to be acknowledged.