Reviews tagging 'Death'

As Old as Time by Liz Braswell

21 reviews

beckyremillard's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Obviously, this is written as a twist on Beauty and the Beast. However, I didn’t find it to be much of a twist. Basically it was the same story with a little extra going on. 

Except, what the hell is the ending? It doesn’t have a happily ever after - the Beast doesn’t turn human or get with Belle.


Overall, I was very close to not finishing this book. Halfway through, I was bored out of my mind. I didn’t like the back and forth to past and present. I only powered through because I hate not finishing, but it wasn’t anything special. 

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maymoo's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Very fun to read would recommend. 

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shecreatesreadsandwrites_'s review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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aurora_earlgrey_books's review

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

As a huge Disney fan I love these books. But iv'e never like the Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin movies. They seemed cliche and boring. But reading this book brought new light to the story and now I enjoy the movie. I love seeing the twists and turns and new character development. You grow to love the characters that didn't really play a large part in the movie who now have new life in the book.

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elisweets's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Honestly, just an interesting twist that could even make sense just by watching the animated film or live action (especially)!! But some of the little details that they added were so good and genuinely had me flipping the pages like a mad person, and possibly tearing up a little here and there as well. Like most books, compared to the film there was much more depth to any sort of relationship The Beast and Belle created. Plus they dive into certain characters back stories that I’ve never really thought about before.
Though I was thrown off in the beginning of the book with the chapters flipping back and forth through time once I reached part 2 I was enthralled and it became much easier!! I would say be warned that part 1 does repeat mostly the same story that we already know and love with few differences so it can be hard to get through at times.

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laurelconover's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I wasn't expecting this story to be as complex (in a good way!) As it was but there was adventure, mystery, intrigue, an interesting twist on a Disney tale with a surprisingly dark underbelly that felt like a full and well done story.

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amberrushworth64's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I really liked this book. The story was very confusing at the beginning as it was hard to keep up with the changing of perspectives in each chapter. It was slow to build up. But had a nice tone to it. There were quite a few graphic things in this book and I think it should include a content warning, especially because of the 
torture descriptions (screaming and such) in the asylum towards the end of the book
 I did not like the last chapter of the book, and I definitely would have written it differently. 

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moonlit_paperbacks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0


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ehmannky's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Well this was a fun time. The romance was definitely the weakest part of this retelling, mostly because it is just so fast-paced that there really isn't a ton of time for Belle and Beast to grow to love each other. The beginnings of something cute is there, but it's not a deep romance. Where this book shines is the portrayal of Belle's mother as the enchantress. I almost would have liked for the book to start somewhere around the time Belle comes to the castle, no prologue, then move to all the exciting action bits, and then have the last third or so be about Belle learning to be around her mother that she isn't sure she exactly likes as a person as she falls more in love with Beast. The book just comes into its own when it does its own thing and breaks away from the Disney movie, and I wish Braswell had had more space to do that. 

It does lean on the "fantasy creatures as an allegory for real marginalized people," which isn't a trope I love. I don't know, other than these complaints, I had fun while reading it. 

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mikaelaandherbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It is a fun retelling of the Disney version for Beauty and the Beast - in this retelling, we get to hear more about Belle's parents, the town she's from, and the curse that the Beast is under. While it is clever and the ultimate reveal/ending was surprising, the beginning was rather slow and didn't pick up pace until Part II of the book.

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