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A review by lily_peach
Beastly Beauty by Jennifer Donnelly
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I loved the lore and worldbuilding in some aspects, but felt very let down by it in others.
The setting felt, at times, completely out of sync with the portrayal of the characters. It felt confusing to have characters wearing frock coats and corsets while they used modern slang.
I do think a gender swapped Beauty and the Beast can be interesting, and in some ways this was, but I don’t think Donnelley went far enough with it. Why not make Arabellapermanently a talking beast like in the original , or if you really need her to be beautiful, why not make her ‘perfect’ but completely uninteresting (i.e. the misogynistic view of an ideal woman) by day but retain her actual personality as a beast by night? That way there would actually be some stakes in Beau falling in love with the ‘real her’. Overall, I just felt there was not enough difference between cursed and uncursed Arabella’s personalities.
Finally, I would have respected Arabella more if she hadactually killed that awful prince.
In conclusion, some good worldbuilding and I like a lot of the magical aspects, but it fell flat in other places due to anachronistic characterisation and a lack of committing to a true beauty and the beast retelling.
The setting felt, at times, completely out of sync with the portrayal of the characters. It felt confusing to have characters wearing frock coats and corsets while they used modern slang.
I do think a gender swapped Beauty and the Beast can be interesting, and in some ways this was, but I don’t think Donnelley went far enough with it. Why not make Arabella
Finally, I would have respected Arabella more if she had
In conclusion, some good worldbuilding and I like a lot of the magical aspects, but it fell flat in other places due to anachronistic characterisation and a lack of committing to a true beauty and the beast retelling.