Cinder and Glass ARC review! // a historical cinderella retelling that turns into a bit of a pumpkin

TODAY WE GET TO DISCUSS A CINDERELLA RETELLING! Cinderella is honestly giving Beauty and the Beast a run for its money as far as being my favorite fairytale goes (an absolute honor might I add).

Thank you Penguin Teen for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

🇫🇷 Takes place in 1800s France

👠 Cinderella retelling

👧 Perfect for a younger audience

rep: Filipina-American author

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Cinder and Glass is honestly just a lot of fun. It’s sort of like if The Selection met the classic Cinderella story in a fully historical setting. We follow a girl named Cendrillon (or Cinder for short) who goes to The Ball to escape her wicked stepmother…and unknowingly is entered into a competition for Prince Louis’s hand, even as she is distracted by the prince’s younger brother Auguste.

I LOVED the fact this had little to no “magic” in it. Which is so weird for me considering that I adore magic? And all the best fairytale retellings usually have it. However, Melissa De La Cruz did such a fantastic job describing the atmosphere of Paris, and capturing the subtle intricacies of the Cinderella story that this story felt like a real fairytale nonetheless. And that’s something I really respect.

A lot of the characters in this book feel more two-dimensional than I expected, and truly feel at home in this French tale. My biggest complaint? I feel like I’m the wrong audience for this book. It felt more juvenile in comparison to a book like Cinder, and much more so than Throne of Glass. I guessed the “plot twist” almost immediately.

Cendrillion also was just not my favorite heroine. She didn’t have that Cinderella charm that I so wanted. If you’ve ever seen Cinderella III: A Twist In Time then you’ll know that Cinderella isn’t just kind, she’s also determined, witty, and clever. Her stepsister Anastasia also got a great redemption arc in that movie. Reading CInder and Glass felt like reading a younger adaptation of that movie (minus the time-travel stuff).

Everything else was either really fun (the surprisingly endearing romance, the ball, a few other moments) or predictable in an unbearable way. The princes sometimes felt like people and other times felt like the equivalent of a love interest written for a book directed at sixth graders*. On the other hand, I enjoyed that there were two of them and that part of the book featured a competition. So now you see my dilemma!

*okay but tell me why my first thought was to compare them to geronimo stilton💀

That’s about it! I would definitely recommend this if you like retellings geared towards a younger audience, or if you just want something fun to pass the time. This came out March 8. You can order this, and add it to Goodreads and Storygraph. Tell me: do you enjoy retellings that are more historical or magical?

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