It was ok. Obviously that's personal opinion, and my irritation and disappointment are compounded by the fact that I probably over2.5 stars rounded up
It was ok. Obviously that's personal opinion, and my irritation and disappointment are compounded by the fact that I probably overhyped myself on this book. It may even be that I just fall outside the target audience for this one. It was a quick read and I did enjoy parts of it. The following is an account of my frustrations so please apply a generous pinch of salt.
There are chefs and cooks out there who are so natural and instinctive in the culinary art, that they can eye-measure and throw seemingly random ingredients into a pot together and still get a marvellous meal. There are authors out there who can do the literary equivalent - no plotting or planning ahead of time, no careful characters studies, no persistent 'but why' at various aspects of the growing book. Based on Echo North I would respectfully suggest that Joanna Ruth Meyer is not one of them.
The overall story is alright. I imagine many people will enjoy it. I am well aware that I am hamstrung by my love of sub-plots (there are none, very linear narrative) and well thought out plot structure. The writing itself is lovely, clear and clean. The imagery used is good. And as a concept, there's a lot going for this book.
Echo is horribly disfigured with facial scars when she attempts to rescue a wolf from a trap as a little girl of seven. This makes her something of an outcast - after all, how else does the Devil mark his own (I am well aware that that was a common belief but dear gods bring the Christian religion into fantasy and you'd better be telling a stonking good story to keep my attention). Her father remarries disastrously many years later and Echo finds herself drawn to a white wolf who keeps appearing at the edge of the forest. Could it be the same wolf who injured her ten years ago? When she argues with her stepmother over her missing father and storms out into the snow, the wolf offers her a bargain.
This is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, East of the Sun, West of the Moon and the Scottish folk ballad Tam Lynn. Meyer basically took three of my favourite things and mashed them together to make something I couldn't stomach. It could have been a book written for me, but in actual fact it didn't work. Here's the thing with fairy tale retellings, if you want them to work then you must incorporate and re-imagine the themes because the stories themselves are dated and often misogynistic but the themes are eternal. When someone says they have a favourite fairy tale, what they're really saying is that they have a favourite fairy tale theme. So in my case, I love the theme of compassion and looking beyond the surface in Beauty and the Beast, I love the acquisition of wisdom through experiencing suffering and having the grit to continue in East of the Sun, and I love the courage, understanding and sheer bone headed stubbornness, the demand to be self directing despite your sex in Tam Lynn. I saw literally none of these themes examined at all in Echo North, so that was strike one for me. And then ignoring the inherent sexual nature of all three of those sources just seemed to demonstrate a lack of understanding.
Or more accurately, this book was just not for me. As in it was literally not written with someone like me in mind.
Two other issues for me were contrivance and lack of deep characterisation. I never felt we were really allowed into Echo's head or that we ever experienced what she felt, so consequently the other characters became quite 2D - with the Wolf Queen and the Stepmother being very moustache twirly. Echo is a very passive character too, which sat ill when you think of the MCs of the source material - Janet from Tam Lynn in particular. (Literally ignored every suggested husband ever presented to her, climbed out of the castle and went to find a man she did want to sleep with. Later, stood toe-to-toe with the Fairy Queen to get the father of her unborn child back.)
As for contrivance, yes I know in fairy tales the fairy godmother shows up, or the North Wind, or someone who can endow our heroine with something that gives her a shot, but here it felt like a cop out. There were characters whose arcs were never tied off. What was the Wolf Queen's motivation, for instance? This is not a hard question - there's an entire body of folklore to dip into and borrow from. But even in fairy tales the villain's motive is never 'just because'. I felt like there were a lot of elements here that were just thrown in and while fabulous in their own right - the mirror library for instance - they just didn't add anything to the story. What was the purpose? Was it just whimsy? Because the whole point of whimsy is that it has a dark side; it's unsettling. This was just...random. Further emphasised by the fact that the structure of this book was very wobbly.
Anyway, it didn't really work for me BUT I can see someone else loving it. Someone who wants a simple, undemanding, fantasy fairy tale love story, that's clean and sweet, and not especially driven by conflict. I have the hardback edition of this book and it's gorgeous btw. Personally I would recommend Diana Wynn Jones' Fire and Hemlock, Edith Pattou's North Child (East), Sarah Beth Durst's Ice, Pamela Dean's Tam Lynn and Juliet Marillier's Son of Shadows and Heart's Blood, if you're looking for retellings of the stories I mention in my review. However if you love fairy tale retellings and are looking for a quiet book that doesn't tax your brain at all, give this a go....more
ARC provided by NeyGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I have read a lot of Beauty and the Beast retellings this year - it really seems to have beARC provided by NeyGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I have read a lot of Beauty and the Beast retellings this year - it really seems to have been a trend recently - and honestly, I think this is the best one I've read in 2018. Anything that's based on a fairy tale is going to have unsavoury aspects as I've mentioned in my reviews for Beast - a Tale of Love and revenge and The Beast's Heart. I think a lot of authors overlook this and then are sideswiped by readers disliking their books. After all, how could something as timeless as a fairy tale, especially one acknowledged to be a huge favourite with mass popular appeal, not engage the masses? The reason is simple - a fairy tale is not timeless. A fairy tale's themes are timeless. In order to successfully adapt a fairy tale so that a modern audience will engage with the adaptation, the author must address the unsavoury aspects of the original, whether by changing those aspects in a skilful enough way that the reader is on board with the changes, or by running at those aspects head on and calling them what they are. I'm very partial to the Erlkonig mythos for example but I'd never dream of calling it anything but kidnapping!
So starting from the viewpoint that B & t B is a very rapey fairy tale, How does ACsDaL measure up? In some ways, fairly well. Harper ends up in the 'Beast's' clutches far more by misadventure than by design on her part of anyone else's. She is forced to stay when she doesn't want to, but not because the beast is holding her prisoner. Because he doesn't have the power to return her to DC himself. Yes, he locks her in her room but then she does keep lashing out with (pardonable) violence and won't listen to explanations, so she doesn't realise that the surrounding country is dangerous. It's not great but it's not exactly being imprisoned either. (Also while I applaud an MC who lashes out with a tyre iron when it appears she's been kidnapped and a strange man is approaching her, I would like people to consider how we would expect a man to act in that situation where he appeared to have been abducted by two women. Is it alright for him to hit them with an iron bar? Just a thought.)
Harper is probably the best developed character. I ended up quite liking her and I really appreciated that she didn't do stupid things just out of stubbornness. If someone explained why you shouldn't do something, she didn't just tear off and do it anyway (*cough* Feyre *cough*)
The beast is Prince Rhen , who is only a beast when he fails to break the curse at the end of a season. Since he's had 327 seasons, he's obviously not on a winning streak. The curse forces him to take a different form each time and slaughter anyone near him. Honestly, I wasn't fussed about him. He had very little agency, to the point where I wondered why we had his POV. However, I did like the fact that he thought about things Harper said and changed his opinions when wrong. He was also competent at statecraft and politics which was a breath of fresh air. It's not cool to have an ignorant heroine barrel in and take over when she doesn't know anything, it's lazy writing. The author allowed us to see that Harper realised she didn't know anything about rulership and made several gaffes.
Grey, the long suffering elliptical Captain of the guard was an interesting character. I have a horrible feeling given how this ended, that there's going to be some kind of love triangle in the next book though.
Here's the thing about Beauty and the Beast. In the original story, the beauty is NOT kidnapped or imprisoned. She is bargained away by her father or at best, chooses to sacrifice herself for him and her family and their honour. It's a metaphor both for an initially distasteful arranged marriage - 'he's no looker right now but he may turn out to be a prince'. And also for female sexual awakening. So it just doesn't quite work if the beast is not a beast when the curse breaking is supposed to be taking place. I had the same problem with A Court of Thorns and Roses and those stupid masks. Add to that knowing the stakes at the beginning - there's a curse, I need you to fall in love with me - doesn't work for me. I get that it's such a popular tale that it's tricky to reboot, which is probably why it should be left alone for a bit now tbh.
Generally I quite enjoyed this despite that. I found Harper engaging. The style, though loose, was easily accessible. What knocked the rating down for me was the world building which was a bit sparse, Harper's largely unexplored back story which felt a bit thin, and Lilith who was a very one note villain. The mechanics of the curse left a lot to be desired too. I know a lot of people felt the book improved towards the last third but I went the other way and started enjoying it less. I really didn't appreciate a 'Frozen' type finale, not because I wanted romantic love to conquer all but because I felt it really wasn't well done. However it's a fast, easy read with some real gems of humour sprinkled throughout and two or three great characters. If you love retellings of fairy tales, give it a whirl....more
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
If you are expecting a modern, dynamic and innovative take on the classic fairy tale then loARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
If you are expecting a modern, dynamic and innovative take on the classic fairy tale then look elsewhere, this is not the book for you. Shallcross has created a lush retelling of Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve's 1740 story - told entirely from the Beast's perspective. There are obviously Beauty and the Beast type stories from cultures all around the world - the Hindu 'The Tiger's Bride' and the Norwegian 'East of the Sun, West of the Moon' are two of my favourites. Ultimately like all fairytales, however, Beauty and the Beast is deeply problematic. I mean it's one of my favourites (Irish Fairy tales pip it to the post for me) but it is still a story about a young woman being imprisoned until she falls in love with her captor. No amount of desperation on the captor's part really excuses that. Ok so we all know the Beast let's the Beauty go - proving that he is no longer a beast inside the shaggy pelt - but it's all still a bit squickky. A few hundred years ago it was a parable for accepting that you may not be especially happy with your family's choice of husband for you (if you were a young woman) but that no matter what your bridegroom seemed like on the outside, he could well be a prince on the inside. You were enriching your family with his wealth. There's also a thinly veiled hint that sex is not quite the ordeal or monster you might as a blushing bride believe it to be. All this is quite distasteful to a modern audience so I was intrigued at Shallcross' decision to set it in Eighteenth century France and more or less retell the best known version of the fairy tale.
Forget the Disney film, which has given us the most enduring version of the Beauty in the zeitgeist. The author has not drawn on Disney at all for inspiration as far as I can see - ok there area few books scattered around in the story but that's it. (Really the marketing department using 'the tale as old as time' in the blurb is a bit misleading in that respect.) Instead the author has drawn heavily on Jean Cocteau's 1946 French film La Belle et la Bete an interesting if somewhat old fashioned aesthetic.
On the whole Shallcross does make the more unsavory aspects of the fairy tale palatable to a modern audience. The Beast is portrayed fairly sympathetically. Of course since he is a prisoner both in his castle and in his shape, there is very little action and great lengths are gone to with a magic mirror in order for him to have a voice in the parts of the story that wouldn't normally involve him. Isabeau (the beauty) has more interesting interactions with her family - two sisters and father - than she does with the beast unfortunately. You can see why Disney dispensed with invisible servants and brought in an army of singing kitchen appliances because without that, this story has two characters for most of the tale and it really stretches thing to make every walk, inner etc at all gripping. So to compensate the beast uses the magic mirror to watch Isabeau's family - unbeknownst to her - and we see what her sisters get up too. Those were some of my favourite scenes in the book actually which is a mixed blessing because the focus should be on the love story and yet I just wanted to hear more about Marie and Claude.
In the end I was left with mixed feelings about this book. On one hand the prose was gorgeous, the romantic plot was allowed plenty of space to bloom, it was interesting to see the beast's perspective and even I unromantic and unsentimental as I am found the story quite sweet. On the other hand the magic was a bit too convenient without any explanation, the reason for the beast being cursed makes no sense at all - seriously was the fairy drinking that day?!- and there is no antagonist to help drive the plot. (Disney added Gaston which turns out to be a wise decision. Even Cocteau had an under-developed love rival in his film.) You need antagonists in order to create tension and jeopardy. This had none.
And there were a few things that really made me raise an eyebrow. Isabeau spending most of the book in tears or having fits of vapours. We have hundreds of years of fairy tales and books written by men telling us this is what women do, we so don't need any more of them imo. The beast spending so much of the book just not using his brain at all. And also crying. Considering there was no antagonist and no obstacle to them being together other than stubbornness and a flimsy situation with Isabeau's father, there is a lot of needless heartbreak going on here which I grew impatient of tout de suite. And the mirror. The mirror really was an issue for me because it wasn't like turning on the tv to catch the tail end of the news. No, the beast was glued to it whenever he couldn't be with Isabeau. That and the way he watched her when she was walking in the garden having said she wanted to be alone was epically creepy. Towards the end of the book he even watches her changing clothes. I thought it was an editing blip and he'd turned away but no it's brought up later and taken as a sign devotion. Maybe if it hadn't been on top of all the other micromanaging and spying it would have been of but as it was... Bleurgh. I know a traditional component of the fairy tale is the beast asking the beauty to marry him every night after dinner but to have it replay exactly that way here was troubling. It smacked too much of not taking no as an answer if you're a man who wants a woman. It's not as if the beast even asks why she keeps saying no, he just keeps asking even though it distresses her. All in all there was just too much manipulative male BS in this book - the father's gambit to keep Isabeau home was despicable for instance. And just so you don't think I've got it in for the beast, aside from the mirror and the proposals, he acted well towards Isabeau throughout the book and she did not treat him especially well. Which probably all sounds pretty damning. It's not meant to because I actually quite liked this book. Despite no action, no antagonist, no tension and an old fashioned take on a fairy tale I know inside out, I was still enthralled. If you like quiet, clean fantasy and chaste romance this could well be for you. If you prefer more dynamic and modern retellings then I'd give this one a miss....more
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Here's the thing: fairy tales are sexist in general, if not downright misogynistic. If you ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Here's the thing: fairy tales are sexist in general, if not downright misogynistic. If you are reworking a fairy tale for today's audience, you are already contending with hundreds of years folk tradition feeding the zeitgeist. Let's also remember that fairy tales were never originally intended for children. Some were cautionary tales for those entering adulthood (a concept which is fluid and depends greatly on the period in history) or for entertainment on long winter evenings (no NetFlix back then) or they concealed historical events when it was too dangerous speak openly of them (magical realism has actually been going on for hundreds of years.) With all that in mind, what I'm driving at is that firstly, fairy tales and almost universally unpleasant. And secondly, that if you want to create something that resonates with a modern audience, you, the writer, must understand that you are starting from a position of considerable disadvantage. It's easy to say of events that occur in this book, and in many other books, 'well that's just how things were' (never mind that you are writing a fantasy novel...) but it's also extremely lazy to do so. Personally, I think writers have a responsibility to not add more fuel to the sexism bonfire. Yes, books reflect life, but life also starts to reflect books, or their themes at least, if enough writers start changing the message and enough people start reading it.
This review will contain spoilers so if you want to read this book unspoiled, don't read on.
The Plot Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge is, it will surprise no one, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. However this time it's from the pov of young, naive servant girl, Lucie. We start the story much earlier ('Beauty' is somewhat incidental to the entire plot) and see the young chevalier in his chateau well before he becomes the beast. Here's the first stumbling block: The chevalier rapes Lucie about 10% of the way into the book. He is conceited, pleasure loving and entitled, cruel and greedy and thoughtless in the worst possible way. For those of you troubled by rape scenes, it's on screen and in the pov character's experience. Lucie then finds she is pregnant and tries to drown herself in the river. She is saved by an old wise woman. Lucie begs the old wise woman for revenge - and incidentally a way to get rid of the child (which is so poorly explored and so contrived in how it happens, it's laughable or would be if it was a less serious subject than 'I don't want to have my rapist's baby'...yeah just let that sit for a little bit.) The plot then swings into the familiar (thanks to Disney) version of the original fairy tale - the old woman punishes the chevalier with a monstrous beastly form. Lucie gets turned into a candlestick, incidentally - not the magical, mobile Disney kind either. She is literally a consciousness trapped, immobile in an inanimate object. The fairy tale is more or less faithfully followed, with a slight detour through Jean Cocteau's 1948 film La Belle et le Bete, before coming to a very bizarre and slightly tasteless ending.
Before we get to the tricky stuff
Honestly, I'm not sure I would have enjoyed this if the author had picked a different idea to explore in this book and a different twist at the end. I wasn't especially keen on the style of the narrative, the pace was slow and having an inanimate object narrate a good portion of the book made it even slower since Lucie is literally sat in a cupboard or on a table for most of it. It didn't embrace any of the deep point of view or close psychic distance, or the multi dimensional characterisation I personally look for in a book. I continued to read because it was an ARC not because I was enjoying the experience. So in that respect the book wouldn't have been for me anyway. It was just an additional disappointment that it mangled a favourite fairy tale, showing little understanding of the original while it was at it.
Problems
A glance at the other reviews will show you how many people were offended by that rape scene, especially with how it resolved with the rest of the story. I wasn't offended but I found it contrived and I did roll my eyes at the ending. Lucie falls in love with Beast. It's a bit more complicated than 'girl falls in love with her rapist' but it can certainly be read that way so I'm not surprised other readers were upset.
I think the author was exploring the 'magic bullet' argument. If you're not familiar with this argument, it is a thought experiment whereby anyone can be rehabilitated of the past crimes and violent proclivities (rape, murder, torture, paedophilia etc) with a single one shot cure. The thought experiment assumes that everyone is completely rehabilitated, no back sliding - the perpetrator becomes a literally different person. The question this experiment poses is this: does the cured perpetrator deserve to be punished for the crimes of the person they were before the cure rehabilitated them? So in this case the chevalier raped Lucie - and was apparently no only a serial seducer and philanderer but a serial rapist as well, whose behaviour was rooted in his own awareness of his physical beauty and prowess and his privileged, wealthy position - whereas Beast has no memory of being the chevalier and is kind, compassionate, thoughtful and desperately lonely. Beats is literally a completely different person, so should he be punished for the crimes of Jean-Loup? (And I did laugh at that name - John Wolf? C'mon!) The conclusion Lucie comes to as she pursues her revenge (fairly ineffectually since her revenge consists of her sitting motionlessly and gloating on the Beast's suffering) is that no, he shouldn't be punished.
I think the author was trying to open a debate on punishment versus revenge. It's a shame she completely bypassed important aspects such as accountability and atonement. Logic would state that the only realistic answer to the 'magic bullet' argument is 'no, that new person does not deserve to be punished for the crimes of the old person'. If you answer 'yes' then your concern is with revenge not punishment and therefore you are part of the problem. What the thought experiment does not take into account is that the victims of crimes, especially terrible crimes such as rape and murder and child abuse, have rights too. All too often victims of rape and paedophilia are not listened to, their voices go unheard. The desire of certain contingents of people to not address their suffering and listen to the terrible things that happened to them, but instead to focus entirely on the perpetrator and consider it a success if they are rehabilitated, robs them of their voice even further. In those circumstances, it would be hard as a victim not to draw the conclusion that the perpetrator's life and well being is considered of far more worth than theirs is. Since it was this low grade, constant back ground hum of 'you're less valuable than the man who wants to rape you' that is rape culture in its essence, the 'magic bullet' argument simply adds another note to this already crushing song. And so does this book in that respect. Instead of taking a brave step into the unknown and having the chevalier learn and understand the sheer breadth and consequences of his actions upon another, having him suffer and rehabilitate somewhat that way, the author has taken what I feel to be a cowardly decision and allowed Beast not to be held accountable for the actions of Jean-Loup. It simply isn't good enough. Don't we have enough books and films and magazines and reality shows already carolling that 'boys will be boys' and therefore won't be held accountable for their actions, without adding yet another one? Because that is how this reads.
Beast never really feels responsible for the harm done to Lucie. They both start talking of the chevalier as if he is a separate person. Then it turns out that Jean-Loup is a sort of parasitic sub persona, cast over the poor innocent Beast like a mask. Beast is real. Jean-Loup is not. Hmm ok so the man who raped Lucie isn't real so doesn't it follow that she wasn't really raped by that logic? This is a dangerous line to walk because it is literally mirroring the minimisation so many rape survivors experience. Having Lucie then fall in love with Beast is just the final rotten cherry on a very distasteful cake. Because Lucie doesn't heal and move on by herself. She needs to fall in love with another man (ok a beast) in order to do that. The tiny amount of agency the character has at that point just evaporates. It would be lovely if writers could establish that a character who experiences rape can and will recover without the interference of a better man. In fact if writers could just hand power back to characters who have been raped and let them make conscious decisions to be with someone or not, maybe explore the ramifications if they decide they do want to be in a relationship, that would be awesome.
This is the problem with rape as a plot point. It has a history of silence and shame behind it so if you drop it on the table, you damn well better be prepared to discuss it properly. It is the kind of subject that will take over if not handled with care. In my opinion it hasn't been handled with care here at all. And here's the thing - it didn't have to be rape. Why couldn't the chevalier have seduced Luci and got her into bed with her consent? Why couldn't he have then grown bored with her and gone on to the next conquest? If Lucie had discovered herself pregnant then, it would have been a much more interesting discussion on love and betrayal. Rape needs to stop being the go to plot point just because it's short hand for 'this guy is ee-villlll', seriously try some characterisation and stop being so lazy.
The Problem of Lucie
Lucie is a supremely unlikeable and rather dull character. She is irritatingly naive at the start, and while the attack on her is not her fault at all, you do find yourself rolling your eyes at her obsession with the handsome chevalier. After she gets her revenge, she is even more unlikeable. It's hard to like anyone so consumed with hatred and a desire for revenge, especially when they have no agency to act on it. I suppose Lucie becoming a candlestick could be a heavy handed metaphor for being so blinded with hatred that you can't move on but it just didn't work for me. Reel in Rose (aka Beauty) and we get another of my pet peeves - a subtle but constant waft of girl on girl hate. It's noticeable in the way that Lucie finds Rose's choice of reading materials to be frivolous, that she is reluctant to admit Rose is brave or kind, that Rose is a merchant's daughter looking for money etc etc. Rose herself has little characterisation - like most of the other secondary and tertiary characters tbh - and at points you wonder why the hell she's even in the story.
Contrivance
So much of this plot is contrived. The magic system and the curse don't make sense. The character journeys feel forced. The weird appearances of Jean-Loup's mother are out of sync with the plot. I really hate contrived resolutions and that's how I felt about the 'twist' at the end of this book.
Ultimately this just didn't work for me. I don't think the author was setting out to offend people and if I'm right and this was the 'magic bullet' argument, then I guess I can kind of see what she was doing. I still feel it was a cop out. Worse, I feel it's added to a body of literature stretching back into history that all reinforce the idea that it's beholden of the victim to forgive on terms and time that suits society and even the perpetrator, rather than leaving at least that much power in the victim's hands. I feel it's also added to a number of other problematic arguments around rape culture. Honestly, I don't recommend this but if you're a die hard for Beauty and the Beast retellings, go for it. I'm not offended, just mildly disappointed - I probably won't be reading anything by this author again. ...more
ARC copy provided by Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
This is a mash up of Beauty and the Beast and The Firebird, set in a fantasy Russia. IARC copy provided by Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
This is a mash up of Beauty and the Beast and The Firebird, set in a fantasy Russia. I think if you're looking for a straight forward romance this is probably not hoing to tick all the boxes for you. However I loved this a piece of coming of age fiction. Yeva is a dynamic character worth far more than the some of her parts and certainly more than her personal beauty. Torn between the comfort of her loving family and a growing disquiet that something is missing from her life, Yeva is already searching for personal significance before the ruin of her father's wealth. As a hunter like her father - an unsuitable occupation for a woman - Yeva is most at home with the wilderness. In this the Beast becomes an excellent foil for her - they are equally intractable and untamed. Be warned this is not a tale of kindness and gentle wooing. This is two strong personalities wearing the sharp edges off each other and finding some wisdom. If you've ever read any Russian folklore you'll know that kindness is not a greatly lauded virtue - unlike cleverness, cunning and the will to succeed. Hunted is very inkeeping with this view and the world reflects the cold, deadly but incredibly beautiful landscape of Russia.
A few minor points that did irritate me; the father lost himself just a bit too quickly in my opinion. The beast had a chain of reasoning that didn't ressemble out earth logic at all. The story seems to try to both address the concept of unnatural or coerced sympathy with your captor whilst at the same time forging an actual kinship by stating that Yeva and Beast were both prisoners. Not sure it came off. Despite that this would definitely go on my list of recommended Beauty and the Beast retellings....more
So far, so Disney you might be forgiven for thinking but this is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast with real thorns. Bryony is a great character, inSo far, so Disney you might be forgiven for thinking but this is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast with real thorns. Bryony is a great character, intelligent, sensible and a keen gardener. Her back and forth quips with the Beast are funny and endearing. The Beast is cynical, sarcastic but rather squishy under the terrifying seven foot exterior. Their banter keeps a light tone over a fairly sinister retelling of the tale which does not shy away from examining some of the nastier parts. As for the rose, well by any other name this one would not smell as sweet...
I really enjoyed this original and vivacious retelling of one of my favourite fairy tales. My one criticism is that it does wrap up a bit too quickly at the end. And there were certain 'practicalities' in the ending that, while I liked the direction the ending took, I felt could have done with a bit more examination. Still a great read and I'd happily recommend it to any fans of fairytale retellings....more
Utterly fabulous. Would have finished it way quicker if it hadn't been in audio book format.Utterly fabulous. Would have finished it way quicker if it hadn't been in audio book format....more
I won't go back on what I originally said because at that time, that's what this book earned from me. However, this series (by ACoSF) has now bUpdate:
I won't go back on what I originally said because at that time, that's what this book earned from me. However, this series (by ACoSF) has now become so problematic I no longer want to endorse it at all. Please bear in mind I read this book almost 6 years ago and now read even more critically than I did then.
*****
4.5 stars. This book was an utter delight. A brilliant mash up of Beauty and the Beast and Tam Lin with a smattering of East of the Sun, West of the Moon and other fey lore. It has a gradual unfolding start. The first two thirds of the book are dedicated to exploring the growing friendship and later love between Feyre and her captor, to slowly revealing clues as to the nature of his curse and the blight - which will one day consume even the human lands. But the world building is exquisite and richly woven and the journey is steady and engaging so a lack of lots of physical action is not a drawback. It also avoids the insta-love situation prevalent in so many YA books. (Although technically this is New Adult *rolls eyes*)
Feyre is a great character, spiky, hardened, proud but also compassionate, kind and warm under her hardship bred exterior. While she is physically able her strength does not hinge on her athleticism. It was interesting that among her other flaws, one of her disabilities was illiteracy - and her pride stops her from acquiring the skill which would have helped later.
The other characters are well rounded. No one is unrealistically good or utterly evil. The last third of the book is very action packed and will win over even those who found the start slow going. This was one of the best fairy tale retellings I've ever read. Coming to a sharp and satisfactory ending but leaving enough loose threads to allow for book two. Recommended for anyone who loves fantasy and fairytales....more
A highly enjoyable fantasy adventure that treads the path of traditional fairytales and more modern sensibilities. I love the fact that for all this iA highly enjoyable fantasy adventure that treads the path of traditional fairytales and more modern sensibilities. I love the fact that for all this is a fairytale retelling, it's rich with complicated characters, strong female leads and layers of meaning and mystery.
The setting is historical and atmospheric and the story really drags you in, suitably horrible and lovely by turns. Lou was a great character - yes she grated on my nerves at times - but ultimately her forthrightness, kindness and humour win you over.
Definitely recommend this for all fairytale and historical fantasy fans. ...more
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