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general_riegan's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
One star added for the ending.
This was one of the most unique beauty and the beast retellings I’ve ever read (and I’ve read quite a few). That said, there are definitely parts of the book that I didn’t like (pelican beak. If you know, you know). However, the ending more than made up for the things that I didn’t like as much in the rest.
This was one of the most unique beauty and the beast retellings I’ve ever read (and I’ve read quite a few). That said, there are definitely parts of the book that I didn’t like (pelican beak. If you know, you know). However, the ending more than made up for the things that I didn’t like as much in the rest.
theloststreetmouse's review
4.0
It took me a while to get into book mostly because of school starting again and being so busy but the start of the book felt really slow to me. Once it picked up though I found myself devouring what was left of the book! I stayed up till 3am to finish because I couldn't go to bed without knowing how it ended. I loved the writing it was exactly what you would expect from Stacey, whom I love!
merilizabeth's review
2.0
I was expecting a reverse hostage situation in this one, but somehow the whole thing did not convince me. We all nowadays know what Stockholm syndrome is, but in the end, it was just fanfic based on the Beauty and the Beast storyline. I read it quite quickly, but it did not leave the aftertaste I wished it would. The epilogue felt more sincere than the whole book. The plot had holes in it and frankly was boring. Some dialogues felt awkward. The ending with death and revival and transformation is understandable because of the original story but somehow I felt that they should have stayed as they were because there was no problem with the differences after all. Also wanted somewhat more passion. Not the book I am used to reading I guess or just wasn't for me.
tmathews0330's review
5.0
A dystopian fairy tale. Beauty and the Beast is among my favorite fairy tales. This book referenced it lightly but completely stands along. Beautiful writing, multi-dimensional characters who grow through relationship, a gem of a book.
atrailofpages's review
5.0
Omg, where do I even begin! First, I love Beauty and the Beast, and will read any retelling of it. This was by far the most unusual, and definitely darker, retelling. It was more of a gender bending Beauty and the Beast and yet not.
The girl was the princess this time who is ignorant and blind(literally) to everything and just accepts what she’s told and given. She doesn’t try to do anything for herself, allows everyone to make those decisions. She thinks she’s hideous and that she has no choice in her own life.
Then the beast is the boy who hates the “Smooth Skins”. Who would do anything to bring them down and save his people.
It’s a true enemies to lovers story and I loved every bit of it. The romance may have seemed rushed, but it was believable to me and I loved it! Their relationship was just so beautiful and endearing, and at times, steamy
The girl was the princess this time who is ignorant and blind(literally) to everything and just accepts what she’s told and given. She doesn’t try to do anything for herself, allows everyone to make those decisions. She thinks she’s hideous and that she has no choice in her own life.
Then the beast is the boy who hates the “Smooth Skins”. Who would do anything to bring them down and save his people.
It’s a true enemies to lovers story and I loved every bit of it. The romance may have seemed rushed, but it was believable to me and I loved it! Their relationship was just so beautiful and endearing, and at times, steamy
sandygx260's review
4.0
This intriguing book is a supreme tease, a mosaic waiting for the reader to start building the whole. “Of Beast and Beauty” is a skilled mix of sci-fi brutality, fantasy magic and fairy tail love topped with a cry your eyes out ending.
Unfortunately a large crater warps the road to the splendid ending.
The main crater marring “Of Beast and Beauty” was my failure to care about the characters for pretty much the book’s first half, damn, for almost two-thirds of the story. Isra and Gem suffered and loved, but they failed to create any true emotional depth for me. I think the main problem was the teen-age petulance that takes place for a long stretch of the book. Maybe this hemming and hawing is important to the whole YA matrix, but I found it tedious to the point of not caring what the characters did in the story.
Once the plot crawled out from this crater, it was like reading a different novel. When did the story click? When Isra regains her sight. Once she can see again, her personality changes.
While Isra is blind, she’s strong in different ways, but she’s more passive and accepting of her world. When she regains her sight, she’s strong in another way, but in some aspects she’s actually weaker. Am I making any sense here? At first, I was put off at the change in Isra when she regains her sight, but I accepted how it related to the plot.
Noble Gem is consistent, grunting and growling through the tale. Hey, he’s a guy.
The last third of the story was amazing, full of ups and downs, chaos, and death. The ending, yes, Stacey Jay delivers a terrific fairy tail ending.
If the first two-thirds of the book held the impact of the last third, five stars to the max. As it stands, I’m giving the story four stars due to last third of the book, the intriguing plot, and the complex worldbuilding.
What’s next, Ms. Jay?
Unfortunately a large crater warps the road to the splendid ending.
The main crater marring “Of Beast and Beauty” was my failure to care about the characters for pretty much the book’s first half, damn, for almost two-thirds of the story. Isra and Gem suffered and loved, but they failed to create any true emotional depth for me. I think the main problem was the teen-age petulance that takes place for a long stretch of the book. Maybe this hemming and hawing is important to the whole YA matrix, but I found it tedious to the point of not caring what the characters did in the story.
Once the plot crawled out from this crater, it was like reading a different novel. When did the story click? When Isra regains her sight. Once she can see again, her personality changes.
While Isra is blind, she’s strong in different ways, but she’s more passive and accepting of her world. When she regains her sight, she’s strong in another way, but in some aspects she’s actually weaker. Am I making any sense here? At first, I was put off at the change in Isra when she regains her sight, but I accepted how it related to the plot.
Noble Gem is consistent, grunting and growling through the tale. Hey, he’s a guy.
The last third of the story was amazing, full of ups and downs, chaos, and death. The ending, yes, Stacey Jay delivers a terrific fairy tail ending.
If the first two-thirds of the book held the impact of the last third, five stars to the max. As it stands, I’m giving the story four stars due to last third of the book, the intriguing plot, and the complex worldbuilding.
What’s next, Ms. Jay?
shimauchiha's review
5.0
Here is the thing, Something that plays a huge part in our likes and dislikes is our expectations.
You see, Beauty and the best, is somewhat sacred to me. I've loved it since before I could speak. I hum the songs when I'm nervous or exited. I watch it in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad.
You can see how that puts a tiny bit of pressure on the retellings!
I expect a retelling of Beauty and the beast to be nothing short of a master piece and therefore you may see that while I gave books like [b:Cruel Beauty|15839984|Cruel Beauty (Cruel Beauty Universe #1)|Rosamund Hodge|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1371652590s/15839984.jpg|21580669] or [b:A Court of Thorns and Roses|16096824|A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)|Sarah J. Maas|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1417961340s/16096824.jpg|21905102] average ratings,overall I did not like them.
That was all before this one, Of Beast and Beauty, is actually a master piece. For the first time I can actually compare it to the original tale, I can put them on the same level. I can love this the same way I love Beauty and the beast.
This book was one of those that actually made me pause because I was afraid I was losing my grip on reality. Like I actually doubted if my life was more important than what was happening to Isla. I'm honestly so happy that I read it on my free day because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have left the house before I finished it and that would have been unfortunate if I
had you know classes or work or a life!
It was one of those book that actually made me stop and catch my breath because the suspense was just too much, It was killing me.
It had a thousand of those moments when you genuinely don't know how the hell the characters are going to survive. It had revelations that honestly took my breath away. It made me gasp, it made my breath catch and my heart ache and pound, It really physically affected me.
Even the side characters had such depth and complexity to them. They wouldn't stop surprising you, No matter how much you tried you couldn't put them in neat little boxes, and that's something the authors do so much that it actually seems acceptable in book, until you find a book that just doesn't. That not just its main characters but even the side ones feel real, they make mistakes, the have regrets, hopes, dreams, they have their own motives, past and lives. It's really something.
Speaking of the main characters, they are so wonderfully human, They make actual mistakes with consequences, big ones. They have insecurities and fears and they really don't know anything. They just do the best they can, and they don't know if they're right or wrong.
I don't know what else to tell, maybe there are some flaws I didn't see, I honestly expected to find all 5 stars reviews and I was shocked that I'd never heard of this book, unlike let's say Cruel beauty!
But to me at least.
This was perfect.
You see, Beauty and the best, is somewhat sacred to me. I've loved it since before I could speak. I hum the songs when I'm nervous or exited. I watch it in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad.
You can see how that puts a tiny bit of pressure on the retellings!
I expect a retelling of Beauty and the beast to be nothing short of a master piece and therefore you may see that while I gave books like [b:Cruel Beauty|15839984|Cruel Beauty (Cruel Beauty Universe #1)|Rosamund Hodge|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1371652590s/15839984.jpg|21580669] or [b:A Court of Thorns and Roses|16096824|A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)|Sarah J. Maas|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1417961340s/16096824.jpg|21905102] average ratings,overall I did not like them.
That was all before this one, Of Beast and Beauty, is actually a master piece. For the first time I can actually compare it to the original tale, I can put them on the same level. I can love this the same way I love Beauty and the beast.
This book was one of those that actually made me pause because I was afraid I was losing my grip on reality. Like I actually doubted if my life was more important than what was happening to Isla. I'm honestly so happy that I read it on my free day because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have left the house before I finished it and that would have been unfortunate if I
had you know classes or work or a life!
It was one of those book that actually made me stop and catch my breath because the suspense was just too much, It was killing me.
It had a thousand of those moments when you genuinely don't know how the hell the characters are going to survive. It had revelations that honestly took my breath away. It made me gasp, it made my breath catch and my heart ache and pound, It really physically affected me.
Even the side characters had such depth and complexity to them. They wouldn't stop surprising you, No matter how much you tried you couldn't put them in neat little boxes, and that's something the authors do so much that it actually seems acceptable in book, until you find a book that just doesn't. That not just its main characters but even the side ones feel real, they make mistakes, the have regrets, hopes, dreams, they have their own motives, past and lives. It's really something.
Speaking of the main characters, they are so wonderfully human, They make actual mistakes with consequences, big ones. They have insecurities and fears and they really don't know anything. They just do the best they can, and they don't know if they're right or wrong.
I don't know what else to tell, maybe there are some flaws I didn't see, I honestly expected to find all 5 stars reviews and I was shocked that I'd never heard of this book, unlike let's say Cruel beauty!
But to me at least.
This was perfect.
nicolemhewitt's review against another edition
5.0
This was the only book I ended up picking up from this year’s SYNC program for some reason. Probably because now that I have access to Axis360, I have plenty of great audiobooks to listen to. But I’m a sucker for fairy tale retellings, so I had to download this one!
I actually didn’t have super high expectations going into this book—I don’t know why. I was intrigued by the fairy tale aspect of the story, but I feel like there are a lot of Beauty and the Beast retellings, so I wasn’t expecting anything terribly unique. But I was pleasantly surprised! This version of the classic tale is set in a fantasy world—with a touch of sci-fi, since it technically takes place on another planet that humans have fled to. The worldbuilding was complex but not overly complicated—the planet is treacherous and the magic there (a sort of God-like presence) has attempted to help the humans by changing them so that they can survive. But the humans fear these monstrous changes and they turn to a darker sort of magic to survive. Society ends up divided between “monsters” who have been changed and those who have not.
I really enjoyed the precarious and yet tender relationship that develops between Isra and Gem. I also loved the exploration of the morally gray—often it was hard to tell who was the beast in the story and who was the beauty. Isra and Gem both face unpleasant choices, but they do their best in their circumstances, and I was emotionally attached to both of them and eager to find out how their stories would play out. I was much more moved by the story than I expected to be! I give the book 4.5/5 Stars!
The narration by Julia Whelan was delightful as well, so I highly recommend the audiobook!
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via SYNC summer audiobook program. No review was specifically requested and all opinions are my own.***
I actually didn’t have super high expectations going into this book—I don’t know why. I was intrigued by the fairy tale aspect of the story, but I feel like there are a lot of Beauty and the Beast retellings, so I wasn’t expecting anything terribly unique. But I was pleasantly surprised! This version of the classic tale is set in a fantasy world—with a touch of sci-fi, since it technically takes place on another planet that humans have fled to. The worldbuilding was complex but not overly complicated—the planet is treacherous and the magic there (a sort of God-like presence) has attempted to help the humans by changing them so that they can survive. But the humans fear these monstrous changes and they turn to a darker sort of magic to survive. Society ends up divided between “monsters” who have been changed and those who have not.
I really enjoyed the precarious and yet tender relationship that develops between Isra and Gem. I also loved the exploration of the morally gray—often it was hard to tell who was the beast in the story and who was the beauty. Isra and Gem both face unpleasant choices, but they do their best in their circumstances, and I was emotionally attached to both of them and eager to find out how their stories would play out. I was much more moved by the story than I expected to be! I give the book 4.5/5 Stars!
The narration by Julia Whelan was delightful as well, so I highly recommend the audiobook!
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via SYNC summer audiobook program. No review was specifically requested and all opinions are my own.***
eyreguide's review
4.0
Of Beast and Beauty is a very complex fantasy reworking of the fairy tale. The world-building has touches of science fiction, dystopian and traditional fairy tale feel that adds to the mysterious and elaborate world of Yuan. With such an intriguing backdrop, I thought this story of inner beauty and tolerance played out very well.
Isra and Gem are the main characters, and while they both have their own agendas, they get to know each other and reluctantly start to respect each other and fall in love. The story mostly switches back and forth between their points of view (with one additional POV sometimes inserted later in the book) and the gradual unfolding of their relationship created a lovely romance between two people who at first seem not to have anything in common. It's a very believable relationship - that is not easily achieved - and it becomes so romantic, the suspense of when they would acknowledge their feelings was delicious! I thought the characterization of Isra was stronger than of Gem - I didn't feel as if I knew him as well as Isra. Isra was a strong character - determined, despite her disability, and very brave to confront the things she had to face. Totally admirable.
I loved the role the roses had to play in this story - it's such a creepy and very vivid concept! The secondary character - Bo (possible villain or love interest - it kept me guessing!) worked so well in this story, I thought his character arc was so touching and almost redemptive. The history behind the creation of the domed cities and the Monstrous was well-explained but somehow it didn't feel as believable as the rest of the story. I think if more time was spent on the origin it might have felt more real, but it did seemed rushed over in the beginning.
The moral of this story, like any good fairy tale, is pretty clear, and very timely I think especially for young adults. This is a beautifully written story with such a unique take on Beauty and the Beast.
(I received this book from the publisher or author for a fair and honest review. I was not compensated for this review.)
Isra and Gem are the main characters, and while they both have their own agendas, they get to know each other and reluctantly start to respect each other and fall in love. The story mostly switches back and forth between their points of view (with one additional POV sometimes inserted later in the book) and the gradual unfolding of their relationship created a lovely romance between two people who at first seem not to have anything in common. It's a very believable relationship - that is not easily achieved - and it becomes so romantic, the suspense of when they would acknowledge their feelings was delicious! I thought the characterization of Isra was stronger than of Gem - I didn't feel as if I knew him as well as Isra. Isra was a strong character - determined, despite her disability, and very brave to confront the things she had to face. Totally admirable.
I loved the role the roses had to play in this story - it's such a creepy and very vivid concept! The secondary character - Bo (possible villain or love interest - it kept me guessing!) worked so well in this story, I thought his character arc was so touching and almost redemptive. The history behind the creation of the domed cities and the Monstrous was well-explained but somehow it didn't feel as believable as the rest of the story. I think if more time was spent on the origin it might have felt more real, but it did seemed rushed over in the beginning.
The moral of this story, like any good fairy tale, is pretty clear, and very timely I think especially for young adults. This is a beautifully written story with such a unique take on Beauty and the Beast.
(I received this book from the publisher or author for a fair and honest review. I was not compensated for this review.)