A review by palegreenshutters
Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley

2.0

I felt like this COULD have been really good. I enjoyed the writer's style and her use of language, but I felt like the story was seriously lacking. The Beast isn't even introduced until nearly half way through the book. There were so many great ideas that could have been fleshed out to add some depth to the story. The Beast's ability to control his garden, Lydia and Bessie and the things they were hinting at (did they even know what they were talking about?), Greatheart's eventual acceptance of the Beast, the things that allowed Beauty to sense when the Beast was near by, the list goes on and on. As it was, I felt like she introduced some concepts as a pencil sketch, but never fleshed them out into detail. I was kind of let down by it.

There was soooo much time spent on how Beauty ended up in the Beast's neighborhood, her family dynamic, how life was different in the country than in the city etc. etc. etc. that it felt like it was dragging through the first half of the book and then second half was more: and she met the Beast, got used to him and learned to love him. The End. Oh and let's not forget the magical appearance of everyone she ever knew at the very end. Whaaaa?

Could have been so much more than it was, I kind of want Ms. McKinley to try again and see if she can get it right this time.