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A review by kimalexander
Beauty's Kingdom by Anne Rice, A.N. Roquelaure
3.0
Spoilers for all four books.
Oh Anne Rice.
When I heard she was writing a sequel after so long, I was thrilled. I loved those books, even with the problems they present regarding consent. And I HAD to know what happened to Lexius, he was by far my favorite character. (If you set the book down, it may or may not open to his chapters.) I wondered if she'd bring him back, along with some of the others I'd particularly enjoyed reading about.
So it was good news/bad news. She certainly fixed the consent issues, and the new book reflects the changing use of language - in the original books, all the men (not the women as I recall) refer to a lot of their sexual activity as 'rape' when it's abundantly clear that's not what they mean.
SO Beauty and Laurent take over Bellavalten (did I know that was the name of the kingdom?) and we waste no time deciding the now-dead queen was a stone bitch who won't be missed and her son was an even bigger waste of time. On with the spanking!
But first, a million pages of new rules and regs.
I found Dmitri's efforts to deal with his blazing case of PTSD interesting, and liked that Alexi seemed to be happy with his lot. I was glad not to spend much time with the Captain of the Guard whom I always found oafish.
One mystery solved - my Lexius is mentioned on nearly every page - he's written letters! He's on his way! He's almost here!
He shows up nearly at the end, and well. I guess it's just not my vibe. He's given little space on the page and leaves quickly and to an uncertain future. I think I'll prefer to remember him as he was before his unusual transformation.
Other than things taking a sharp left when we find out what he's been hiding (literally) my issue with this book is, frankly, there's not enough actual sex! (If you're into pony play, get two copies.)
That said, will I buy another book if she continues this series? What do you think?
Anne, I am your slave.
Oh Anne Rice.
When I heard she was writing a sequel after so long, I was thrilled. I loved those books, even with the problems they present regarding consent. And I HAD to know what happened to Lexius, he was by far my favorite character. (If you set the book down, it may or may not open to his chapters.) I wondered if she'd bring him back, along with some of the others I'd particularly enjoyed reading about.
So it was good news/bad news. She certainly fixed the consent issues, and the new book reflects the changing use of language - in the original books, all the men (not the women as I recall) refer to a lot of their sexual activity as 'rape' when it's abundantly clear that's not what they mean.
SO Beauty and Laurent take over Bellavalten (did I know that was the name of the kingdom?) and we waste no time deciding the now-dead queen was a stone bitch who won't be missed and her son was an even bigger waste of time. On with the spanking!
But first, a million pages of new rules and regs.
I found Dmitri's efforts to deal with his blazing case of PTSD interesting, and liked that Alexi seemed to be happy with his lot. I was glad not to spend much time with the Captain of the Guard whom I always found oafish.
One mystery solved - my Lexius is mentioned on nearly every page - he's written letters! He's on his way! He's almost here!
He shows up nearly at the end, and well. I guess it's just not my vibe. He's given little space on the page and leaves quickly and to an uncertain future. I think I'll prefer to remember him as he was before his unusual transformation.
Other than things taking a sharp left when we find out what he's been hiding (literally) my issue with this book is, frankly, there's not enough actual sex! (If you're into pony play, get two copies.)
That said, will I buy another book if she continues this series? What do you think?
Anne, I am your slave.