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A review by books_with_kaumudi
A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
4.0
Rating - 3.75/5
A nice re-telling of the fairy tale - Beauty and the Beast, with interesting additions.
The story is told in dual perspective - one follows the perspective of Harper, the "Beauty" and the other follows the perspective of "Rhen", the "Beast". The respective perspectives are narrated in first person. Being a retelling, I already knew how the story is going to progress in general, but there definitely new details added to the story that kept me engrossed in the story. The first and foremost being the fact that the story is a portal fantasy. Harper belongs to the normal world whereas Rhen lives in a parallel fantastical world which has been cursed. Harper gets plucked from her world (or rather she tries to stop a plucking and gets plucked instead) and is brought to Rhen's world where she is expected to break the curse that is placed upon Rhen. The curse itself manifests in a very different way in this retelling - Rhen has about three months at the end of which he will transform in a formidable beast. If he manages to have a girl fall in love with him in these three months, then the curse will break, else the season repeats and everything resets.
I liked the overall story-telling but there wasn't something that was made me go wow. I liked how the characters were portrayed and how they developed. The prince is not just the arrogant prince and Harper is not just the girl with cerebral palsy. Both of the characters are more than the role that was cut off for them. I liked how their relationship with each other developed and how both of them grew to respect and care for one another. The development of relationships of Rhen and Grey and similarly Grey and Harper is something to look forward to.
A nice re-telling of the fairy tale - Beauty and the Beast, with interesting additions.
The story is told in dual perspective - one follows the perspective of Harper, the "Beauty" and the other follows the perspective of "Rhen", the "Beast". The respective perspectives are narrated in first person. Being a retelling, I already knew how the story is going to progress in general, but there definitely new details added to the story that kept me engrossed in the story. The first and foremost being the fact that the story is a portal fantasy. Harper belongs to the normal world whereas Rhen lives in a parallel fantastical world which has been cursed. Harper gets plucked from her world (or rather she tries to stop a plucking and gets plucked instead) and is brought to Rhen's world where she is expected to break the curse that is placed upon Rhen. The curse itself manifests in a very different way in this retelling - Rhen has about three months at the end of which he will transform in a formidable beast. If he manages to have a girl fall in love with him in these three months, then the curse will break, else the season repeats and everything resets.
I liked the overall story-telling but there wasn't something that was made me go wow. I liked how the characters were portrayed and how they developed. The prince is not just the arrogant prince and Harper is not just the girl with cerebral palsy. Both of the characters are more than the role that was cut off for them. I liked how their relationship with each other developed and how both of them grew to respect and care for one another. The development of relationships of Rhen and Grey and similarly Grey and Harper is something to look forward to.