A review by octavia_cade
The Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve

medium-paced

3.0

In all honesty, Beauty and the Beast has never been my favourite fairy tale. I find Beauty annoying - there's something so simperingly sickly about that request for a rose, and I've never quite trusted her. That being said: this was a surprise. I've never read the full original story before, and I was interested to discover that what I thought was the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale was really only half of it. Beauty awakened the Beast and saw his transformation into a prince about halfway through the book, and I was wondering if it would be followed by an extended essay, or something like that.

No. The story continues, and there's a long, long explanation about fairy infighting and baby swapping and a surprise heritage reveal, along with more shapeshifting and a creepy fairy babysitter trying to sexually groom their charge and failing miserably. It does come across as convoluted, if not a wee bit confused, and I can see why all the popular retellings stop where they do. I appreciate the surprise, though, and if I'm not likely to read this again anytime soon, I was nonetheless more invested in this particular story than I have been for some time. Beauty's still too saccharine for me, though.