artsy musings of a bibliophile

retelling

Review: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

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KATBATN

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
adult fantasy retelling published by Del Rey on January 10th, 2017
first book in The Bear and the Nightingale trilogy

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa’s mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa’s new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa’s stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse’s most frightening tales.

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Review: A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas

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RTAWT

ABOUT THE BOOK

A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas
young adult fantasy retelling published by HarperTeen on February 24th, 2015
first book in A Wicked Thing series

One hundred years after falling asleep, Princess Aurora wakes up to the kiss of a handsome prince and a broken kingdom that has been dreaming of her return. All the books say that she should be living happily ever after. But as Aurora understands all too well, the truth is nothing like the fairy tale.

Her family is long dead. Her “true love” is a kind stranger. And her whole life has been planned out by political foes while she slept.

As Aurora struggles to make sense of her new world, she begins to fear that the curse has left its mark on her, a fiery and dangerous thing that might be as wicked as the witch who once ensnared her. With her wedding day drawing near, Aurora must make the ultimate decision on how to save her kingdom: marry the prince or run.

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Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge 
young adult fantasy published by Balzer + Bray on 28 January 2014
first book in the Cruel Beauty Universe series

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom—all because of a reckless bargain her father struck. And since birth, she has been training to kill him.
Betrayed by her family yet bound to obey, Nyx rails against her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, she abandons everything she’s ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, disarm him, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.
But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her. As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex’s secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. But even if she can bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him?
Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

THE RATING


THE REVIEW

I was almost fully taken with Cruel Beauty. Almost. Despite having been thoroughly intrigued by the enchanting prose, I found something to be amiss from the story. A dark, intricate tale with a gorgeous cover, and raving responses; Cruel Beauty managed to deliver, but not all the way. 
Once, the kingdom of Arcadia was fairly ruled by the heirs of Claudius. But then one night, the Gentle Lord descended upon Arcadia. The Sundering confined Arcadia to exist under a parchment dome for all of eternity. Adorned with a sun that doesn’t come close to the real one and demons that lurking in every shadow to keep the fear instilled, the only hope of Arcadia is Nyx Triskelion.
Leonidas Triskelion struck a bargain with the Gentle Lord and it turned out to be Nyx’s undoing. The bargain left him without a wife and two daughters; out of which one’s fate was sealed from birth. Brought up with a mindset to marry the Gentle Lord, Nyx has been taught the unusual Hermetic arts to nullify the hearts of four elements hidden in the castle, in order to collapse the castle.
But Nyx is indecisive and that indecisiveness goes a long way in overshadowing everything else about her. She resents her father for never loving her, loathes Aunt Telomache for involving herself in their lives, and envies her clueless sister, Astraia. So in her yearning for love, the barest of attention that Shade bestows on her is enough for her to get taken with him. 
Trapped into living a life she didn’t ask for, Nyx spends her days exploring the castle looking for the hearts. However, the haunting castle never stops magically changing its inner layout which I found quite enthralling. Her failed attempts to kill Ignifex has only intrigued him to the point of respecting her efforts. He sees the malice in her heart which weakens Nyx. Haunted by his own demons with no memory of how he got there, Ignifex is enchanting but only to a limit.
Cruel Beauty promised to be dark and vicious with a blend of Greek mythology with a fairy tale retelling. I enjoyed reading the intricate details despite a very complex plot. But I found Nyx to be more clingy and repetitive than wicked and the romance to be off putting. Between an overwhelming world-building and an underwhelming ending, Cruel Beauty turned out to be a majorly bland read with some truly exceptional parts.

THE QUOTES

‘And you. Leonidas’s sweet and gentle daughter, with a world of poison in your heart. You fought and fought to keep all the cruelty locked up in your head, and for what? None of them ever loved you, because none of them ever knew you.’
‘They said that love was terrifying and tender, wild and sweet, and none of it made any sense. But now I knew that every mad word was true.’

Review: Beastly by Alex Flinn

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Title: Beastly (Kendra Chronicles, #1)

Author: Alex Flinn
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: 1 January 2007
Pages: 300 (eBook)

Synopsis
I am a beast. A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog, but a horrible new creature who walks upright – a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.
You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever – ruined – unless I can break the spell.
Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and a perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly beastly.
My Rating
* * *
The Review

Beastly is truly one of a kind novel. It is funny yet sarcastic and sad. The witty, snarky dialog, the whole curse situation, the inclusion of classic literature from Shakespeare’s Sonnets to Jane Eyre to Frankenstein; it was a hell of an enjoyable read! I didn’t know what to expect from the book besides the fact that I wanted to read it before watching the movie adaptation.
I got everything out of it. Though, I’d say, it was true to its teenage target audience by being somewhat teenage-ish yet it had its moments. I loved the characters of Will, Magda and even mean Kyle. As Adrian, he gave a completely different feel to the character. Moreover, the focus was more on the beast-like features than the ugliness of it.

It didn’t take me much time to finish the book, I was well engrossed in it anyway. From one extreme of beauty to another extreme of ugliness, this tale is about finding the value of beauty and not only using it as a tool. Yeah, the theme’s similar to Beauty and the Beast, but every book has something different to offer to the reader so I am not that keen on the similarities between them.
The character of Lindy could have very well been sidetracked by the number of clichés Alex Flinn managed to divert her from. Even then, the mellowness and the childlike ‘jumping up and down’ only added to the liveliness of her character.
My only problem with the book was that the 16 year olds protagonists were a bit too young for such a book. But I liked the story a lot; it was refreshing, hilarious and taught stuff about morality. I had fun reading about the theme of the darkness in his life and the touch of reality to all of it. I never really thought I’d like this book; I did and I am glad.
Best Quote(s):

“Now that all the beauty of my old life is gone, I crave it like good. A beautiful thing like this rose: I almost want to eat it, to swallow it whole to replace the beauty I’ve lost.”

“Retribution. Poetic justice. Just deserts. Comeuppance.”