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A review by readsforlove
Curses by Lish McBride
1.0
Book 6 of the Trials of Beauty and the Beast retellings. (Yes, I am still suffering)
This one, amongst all the others, I think, pissed me off the most. (Which is saying something, because Hunted really pissed me off.) (...okay, maybe Hunted still takes the cake, but this comes pretty damn close.) The reason this almost surpasses Hunted is because of the promises that it takes in its pretty little fingers and squashes like a grape. This book promised a gender-bent retelling, heavily implying it would be feminist! Wohoo! What we get is a novel told from so many perspectives that it took ages to get into the story and care, a strange and frustrating mass of attempted themes that half heartedly tried to leap before they plummeted off a cliff, right along with any hope this novel had at being good by the 75% mark.
Because what happens 3/4 of the way through? I'll tell you what happens.Merit is drugged, turned into a mindless version of her beastly form, and out of commission for the entire rest of the book until the very end. I kept waiting for things to change, for her to fight the beast and win back her independence and freedom and her self, but she was the textbook damsel, and would have been royally fucked (literally) if not for Tevin, who deserved so much better because SURPRISE she also never really asked him about anything of importance? Ever? When they had their little tiff, he brought forth valid concerns that she didn't even blink at. This novel had a great opportunity to explore classism, and it just ... failed utterly? At every single turn? It made it into such a shallow theme that could be stated as "ooh how sexy and cute that a rich girl would marry a poor con artist" and I despise it.
The only reason I got through this book was because of how lovely the side characters were. But even then, when that Thing happened at the 75% mark, I almost DNFed right then and there. Like ... what? the fuck? I'm so livid. Why would they take the main character out of her own story?? It was the least empowering and feminist read I've done yet. Because in all the other B&B retellings, she at least is given the choice to return, and even then, the beast was neverreduced to a mindless monster. The beast was allowed to retain his humanity in all other versions I've read of this story, yet when we made that Beast a woman, we couldn't give her that, now could we?
Which leads to yet another thing that pissed me off about this book, which was that we're supposed to have a female monster. A womanly beast. And instead, we have this whole tincture situation, which again, Things (with a capital T!) could have been said about that, but the author just didn't utilize that and instead we are left with a non-monstrous heroine for many of the important scenes. Would it really have been the worst thing to let our lady Beast be trapped as a Beast for the whole story?
I could rant for much longer because there were lots of little things that rubbed me the wrong way about this book as well. (Like, what the fuck was this book trying to say about Merit and her mother? Who was the reason Merit was cursed? like???)
I did like Tevin a lot, though he did a complete character change right after the plot got going and fell for her so fast. It was not messy, really, and I honestly kind of wanted it to be because that's who we met at the beginning of the book, and then they changed. Not in a good, character-arc way. The change was immediate to suit the plot, and I am pissed off.
Val was pretty great though.
This one, amongst all the others, I think, pissed me off the most. (Which is saying something, because Hunted really pissed me off.) (...okay, maybe Hunted still takes the cake, but this comes pretty damn close.) The reason this almost surpasses Hunted is because of the promises that it takes in its pretty little fingers and squashes like a grape. This book promised a gender-bent retelling, heavily implying it would be feminist! Wohoo! What we get is a novel told from so many perspectives that it took ages to get into the story and care, a strange and frustrating mass of attempted themes that half heartedly tried to leap before they plummeted off a cliff, right along with any hope this novel had at being good by the 75% mark.
Because what happens 3/4 of the way through? I'll tell you what happens.
The only reason I got through this book was because of how lovely the side characters were. But even then, when that Thing happened at the 75% mark, I almost DNFed right then and there. Like ... what? the fuck? I'm so livid. Why would they take the main character out of her own story?? It was the least empowering and feminist read I've done yet. Because in all the other B&B retellings, she at least is given the choice to return, and even then, the beast was never
Which leads to yet another thing that pissed me off about this book, which was that we're supposed to have a female monster. A womanly beast. And instead, we have this whole tincture situation, which again, Things (with a capital T!) could have been said about that, but the author just didn't utilize that and instead we are left with a non-monstrous heroine for many of the important scenes. Would it really have been the worst thing to let our lady Beast be trapped as a Beast for the whole story?
I could rant for much longer because there were lots of little things that rubbed me the wrong way about this book as well. (Like, what the fuck was this book trying to say about Merit and her mother? Who was the reason Merit was cursed? like???)
I did like Tevin a lot, though he did a complete character change right after the plot got going and fell for her so fast. It was not messy, really, and I honestly kind of wanted it to be because that's who we met at the beginning of the book, and then they changed. Not in a good, character-arc way. The change was immediate to suit the plot, and I am pissed off.
Val was pretty great though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse