Book Review – Fury: A Cinderella Story by David Allen

‘Fury: A Cinderella Story’ is a diamond of a story that just needs polishing to really make it great. The ideas in it are great – a modern retelling of the Cinderella fable that then transforms into a Dante’s ‘Inferno’-inspired revenge horror story, complete with demonic entities and themes of damnation and redemption. The main character, Cindy, and her ‘stepsisters’ Anna and Jay, are well written and lively, jumping out of the page to engage the reader in the first few chapters. The interpretation of the fairytale into a modern cleaning services company and its IT technicians, as well as the change to this Cinderella actually enjoying her life, give us a believable modern alternative while still allowing us to spot the characters inspired by the fairytale and appreciate what the author has done with it.

However, the good ideas behind the story are often overshadowed by its flaws. The three male villains of the piece are sometimes painfully stereotypical, which at first seems deliberate, but when the narrative switches over to them it becomes a little too much to take seriously. The book turns into an almost slapstick comedy of their less than charming personality traits, punctuated by the moments of horror that appear suddenly and clash with the rest of the narrative. I think the narrative would benefit from a few more scenes with Cindy after ‘the incident’ (trying to avoid spoilers!) where we can see how she is transformed, what deals she makes, how she feels about it, and how she involves her friends. Instead we remain with the three men, and as a result when something supernatural happens, it feels like the reader is missing something.

The book could also do with some more editing, as there are numerous spelling and grammar mistakes that pull the reader out of the flow of the story, as well as the odd continuity or character mistake that makes things a little confusing.

This all feels like a lot of criticism to give to the story, and I don’t want to give the impression that I didn’t like it. I really enjoyed the beginning and the end of the story, but the middle felt rather rushed, as if the author was hurrying to get to the finale. There are a fair few moments where the author tells us what is happening rather than ‘showing’ us, wrapping up in a sentence what might have been better to describe in a full paragraph. (I would also suggest that Coopers’ fate could be lingered over a little more, but maybe that’s just me speaking as a woman!)

All in all, it’s a great idea and a good story. It just needs that final polish to really make it shine.