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clevermird's review
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This book had a bit of an uphill battle with me, as Beauty is one of my favorite books and another take on the story of Beauty and the Beast from the same author seemed a bit like gilding the lily. But on the other hand, Beauty is a pretty straightforward retelling and there's plenty of room to create variations on the theme, so why not check it out?
In this take, Beauty is again the youngest of a rich merchant's three daughters (Lionheart and Jeweltongue being the other two), but when her father loses his fortune, they are forced to move to a small village and live simply in Rose Cottage, where Beauty discovers a talent for gardening. Her father hears that an old ship has come in and on the return from this ultimately fruitless journey, finds himself sheltered by a magical castle in a storm. You probably know the rest of the story. . .
Interestingly, it seems that every strength of this book is also a weakness and vice versa. From the start, Rose Daughter takes a different tone than its predecessor. Gone is the practical, down-to-earth first-person narration in favor of a dreamy third-person viewpoint. This works to the book's advantage - it is a fairytale, after all - although it does become a bit 'much' at points, particularly once we reach the Beast's castle and the descriptions of flowers and textiles seem to go on and on until readers lose track completely of what's what.
Likewise, the book has some very creative ideas for how to shake up the classic story of Beauty and the Beast, adding in a complex backstory and, perhaps most unusually, separating the "turned into a beast" curse from the "must find love or else" curse. However, most of this is saved for the last two or three chapters, leaving little time to explore its implications in favor of spending the early part of the book in vignettes with the villagers and domestic drama that, while charming, wind up crowding out the parts that readers came for. Spending too much time on setup and not enough on climax is a frequent weakness of McKinley's writing, but this was an especially egregious example.
Yet again the duality shows up in the characters. Beauty, in this version, has a love of flowers (particularly roses) and a recurring nightmare, both of which intriguingly tie her into the story of the Beast and his enchantments. Rather than a complete stranger chosen by pure chance, she is entwined with the whole story in a way. But as cool of a development as this is, there isn't a lot else to her character, and the same can be said of most of the others. The Beast in particular suffers from this. As the love interest, he should be getting as much focus as Beauty, but we learn very little about him and the couple has very little chemistry apart from their shared affection for flowers.
I make it a rule not to spoil the endings of books if I can help it and I will keep to that here, but I will say that I found the final twist on the classic tale to be the most unique and memorable part of the book and even if it raises some logical questions, that alone was almost worth the price of admission.
While Rose Daughter has some really creative ideas and some beautiful prose, it's ultimately held back by flat characters and an unfocused story. I enjoyed reading it well enough, but if you're searching for an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, there are far better choices.
In this take, Beauty is again the youngest of a rich merchant's three daughters (Lionheart and Jeweltongue being the other two), but when her father loses his fortune, they are forced to move to a small village and live simply in Rose Cottage, where Beauty discovers a talent for gardening. Her father hears that an old ship has come in and on the return from this ultimately fruitless journey, finds himself sheltered by a magical castle in a storm. You probably know the rest of the story. . .
Interestingly, it seems that every strength of this book is also a weakness and vice versa. From the start, Rose Daughter takes a different tone than its predecessor. Gone is the practical, down-to-earth first-person narration in favor of a dreamy third-person viewpoint. This works to the book's advantage - it is a fairytale, after all - although it does become a bit 'much' at points, particularly once we reach the Beast's castle and the descriptions of flowers and textiles seem to go on and on until readers lose track completely of what's what.
Likewise, the book has some very creative ideas for how to shake up the classic story of Beauty and the Beast, adding in a complex backstory and, perhaps most unusually, separating the "turned into a beast" curse from the "must find love or else" curse. However, most of this is saved for the last two or three chapters, leaving little time to explore its implications in favor of spending the early part of the book in vignettes with the villagers and domestic drama that, while charming, wind up crowding out the parts that readers came for. Spending too much time on setup and not enough on climax is a frequent weakness of McKinley's writing, but this was an especially egregious example.
Yet again the duality shows up in the characters. Beauty, in this version, has a love of flowers (particularly roses) and a recurring nightmare, both of which intriguingly tie her into the story of the Beast and his enchantments. Rather than a complete stranger chosen by pure chance, she is entwined with the whole story in a way. But as cool of a development as this is, there isn't a lot else to her character, and the same can be said of most of the others. The Beast in particular suffers from this. As the love interest, he should be getting as much focus as Beauty, but we learn very little about him and the couple has very little chemistry apart from their shared affection for flowers.
I make it a rule not to spoil the endings of books if I can help it and I will keep to that here, but I will say that I found the final twist on the classic tale to be the most unique and memorable part of the book and even if it raises some logical questions, that alone was almost worth the price of admission.
While Rose Daughter has some really creative ideas and some beautiful prose, it's ultimately held back by flat characters and an unfocused story. I enjoyed reading it well enough, but if you're searching for an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, there are far better choices.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Classism and Sexual assault
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