BEAUTY is a beautifully illustrated re-telling of the BEAUTY AND THE BEAST story which takes all the elements of the classic fairytale that we love (the handsome prince, the ancient curse, the beautiful girl and, of course, the haunting castle) and puts a modern spin on the characters, their motives and their desires.
It's fun, contemporary, sexy, and perfect for fans of ONCE UPON A TIME, GRIMM, SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN and more.
It's fun, contemporary, sexy, and perfect for fans of ONCE UPON A TIME, GRIMM, SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN and more.
What did I think?
It took me a while to move on to this final book of the Tales from the Kingdoms, but knowing me this would be down to my Cinderella moment when as a 3 year old child I was crying my eyes out at the end as 'I didn't want it to finish'. I just have to say it one more time: these books published by Gollancz must be the most beautiful hardback books I have ever seen. Just look at them:
Although ultimately a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Beauty has a proper mixed bag of fairytales in it. So whichever was your favourite as a child, and you didn't read about them in Poison and Charm, chances are your favourite fairytale character will appear in Beauty.
I do love the TV show Once Upon A Time, so I was thrilled to find Rumpelstiltskin (dearie) appearing unexpectedly in Beauty. I loved how Sarah Pinborough brought a little bit extra to his character but I'll not say any more as it will spoil the story. This is my definitely my favourite of the three Tales from the Kingdoms, it's an absolutely genius characterisation of 'the beast' - so simple yet so clever.
I love reading adult fairytales - although loosely based on our childhood favourites, they remind us of happier innocent times when anything was possible and our imagination could run wild. With the addition of 'adult' to 'fairytales', you do get a more risqué version of your favourite childhood classic so any demure readers should be prepared to be shocked and slightly uncomfortable.
Beauty is fabulous escapism fiction that will awaken your inner child and allow your imagination to have free reign while you escape from the real world and visit a faraway kingdom from once upon a time.
Beauty is fabulous escapism fiction that will awaken your inner child and allow your imagination to have free reign while you escape from the real world and visit a faraway kingdom from once upon a time.
My rating:
Buy it from Amazon
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