Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
A feel good fantasy book, good for when you want something light and lovely to read.
Felt a bit rushed at the end, but that's the only thing I can fault it for. It's got that fairytale feel that's a bit lost in current grimdark fantasy, and I'm happy to have read it.
Felt a bit rushed at the end, but that's the only thing I can fault it for. It's got that fairytale feel that's a bit lost in current grimdark fantasy, and I'm happy to have read it.
I have read this before, quite awhile ago, but after reading [b:Beastly|544891|Beastly (Kendra Chronicles, #1)|Alex Flinn|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1334260193s/544891.jpg|532177], I decided I needed to reread this one to see if it was as good as I remembered.
Happily, the answer is yes. It's funny, I couldn't have told you exactly how it went, until I started reading it, but my memory was only about a chapter or so ahead of where I was, in terms of what I could remember.
It is pretty much a straight fairy tale telling of the story, albeit with lots of details fleshing it out. There were a few oddities: for most of the book, it feels like one of those once upon a time, in another fairy tale land, but then she makes a reference to the minotaur from Greek mythology, and after some other references, it seems that maybe we are in OUR world, albeit many hundreds of years in the past, but with magic. This was a bit jarring, but didn't make much of a difference in my enjoyment.
Even though this wasn't updated for modern, or retold in a new or unique way, it was satisfying with lots of beautiful descriptions of scenery, gardens, clothing, and more. I'm usually a skim-past-the-boring-description kind of a girl, but McKinley writes it so beautifully, it draws me in.
Happily, the answer is yes. It's funny, I couldn't have told you exactly how it went, until I started reading it, but my memory was only about a chapter or so ahead of where I was, in terms of what I could remember.
It is pretty much a straight fairy tale telling of the story, albeit with lots of details fleshing it out. There were a few oddities: for most of the book, it feels like one of those once upon a time, in another fairy tale land, but then she makes a reference to the minotaur from Greek mythology, and after some other references, it seems that maybe we are in OUR world, albeit many hundreds of years in the past, but with magic. This was a bit jarring, but didn't make much of a difference in my enjoyment.
Even though this wasn't updated for modern, or retold in a new or unique way, it was satisfying with lots of beautiful descriptions of scenery, gardens, clothing, and more. I'm usually a skim-past-the-boring-description kind of a girl, but McKinley writes it so beautifully, it draws me in.
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was one of my favorite books in high school. I love a good fairy tale retelling, and this one is lovely and mysterious and sweet. I didn't love it quite as much as I remember loving it in high school...but I also think this was because the narrator was not my favorite. She did a great job, but I felt like she made beauty seem kind of silly and juvenile, which isn't how I remember feeling about her many years ago.
I read this to see if my teen daughter might like it and decided that she would think it's too young for her. But I found it to be a sweet retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
This is one of my all time favorite books. Definitely the best Beauty and the Beast retelling.
I can absolutely see how the 1991 Beauty & the Beast pulled inspiration from this version of the story more than any other. Lovely and easy to read, it reminded me of some of my favorite things about the original fairytale.
One of my favorite stories, I liked this reselling. Beauty is strong and intelligent but doesn't believe in herself. One of my favorite parts is when the beast tries to convince her she's beautiful, and says there are no mirrors so it is as I see it(loved that if there were no mirrors what we could relieve of ourselves!) It ended kind of suddenly but it was an enjoyable and quick read.