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jpfortmiller's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Confinement, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Animal death
tkatt20's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I think this has become my new favorite fairytale retelling. I was on the hunt for something beauty and the beast inspired and every list or recommendation i found online had this book on there. While I was skeptical at first based on the 3.89 star reveiw on goodreads, I gave it a shot and I am so happy I did. This was exactly what i needed and everything i had been looking for, I loved literally everything about this. The characters, the writing, the plot, I cant find a single thing about this that I didn't like and if you know anything about me, that's extremely hard to for me to do.
If you'll allow me to gush about this book a little more, ill provide some more reasoning as to why i love this so much, other than "i loved it". Starting with the characters, every one of them were interesting and they each had depth to them that made it very easy to love reading about them. They all had very good and nice personalities, but I didn't find it boring. Usually, in the typical YA fantasy, you'll have a character that ends up being a villain and often times end up hating that character, but that wasn't the case here. That may not make a lot of sense but I felt like this story needed this to portray the message that the author wanted. And it works. I wasn't bored reading about them for even one minute, each interaction betweem the MC and each side character makes sense. There's no unnecessary diolouge or scenes, and while having a majority of good characters may be boring to some, I think it helps break up stereotypes and make this story unique compared to other Beauty and the Beast retellings. I thought the pacing was perfect for a slower story even up to the end where I usually find the endings of YA standalones to be rushed and convenient, but that wasn't the case with this one. Sure I predicted a few things here and there but there were some amazing parallels between the beginning and the end that you usually wouldn't find in a standalone. Plus, because this story had a slower pace to it, it allowed the writing style to really stand out, and for a story with such beautiful writing, it just added another thing to my list of everything I loved.
Overall, I was so pleasantly surprised by this. I can see why some may not love this as much as I did, but if you want something thats slower paced with an amazing message, then look no further. But in the meantime, im off to buy every edition of this book that I can find.
If you'll allow me to gush about this book a little more, ill provide some more reasoning as to why i love this so much, other than "i loved it". Starting with the characters, every one of them were interesting and they each had depth to them that made it very easy to love reading about them. They all had very good and nice personalities, but I didn't find it boring. Usually, in the typical YA fantasy, you'll have a character that ends up being a villain and often times end up hating that character, but that wasn't the case here. That may not make a lot of sense but I felt like this story needed this to portray the message that the author wanted. And it works. I wasn't bored reading about them for even one minute, each interaction betweem the MC and each side character makes sense. There's no unnecessary diolouge or scenes, and while having a majority of good characters may be boring to some, I think it helps break up stereotypes and make this story unique compared to other Beauty and the Beast retellings. I thought the pacing was perfect for a slower story even up to the end where I usually find the endings of YA standalones to be rushed and convenient, but that wasn't the case with this one. Sure I predicted a few things here and there but there were some amazing parallels between the beginning and the end that you usually wouldn't find in a standalone. Plus, because this story had a slower pace to it, it allowed the writing style to really stand out, and for a story with such beautiful writing, it just added another thing to my list of everything I loved.
Overall, I was so pleasantly surprised by this. I can see why some may not love this as much as I did, but if you want something thats slower paced with an amazing message, then look no further. But in the meantime, im off to buy every edition of this book that I can find.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Domestic abuse
ems_rxlibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, and Self harm
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