Cruel Beauty

After reading Bright Smoke, Cold Fire I knew I HAD to find more Rosamund Hodge. She has a fantastic flair for taking fairy tales (or Shakespeare!) and twisting them into something darker but more realistic. Cruel Beauty is a twist on Beauty and the Beast, but this is no Stockholm Syndrome-suffering Beauty. She is resentful, and bitter, and angry at her father for subjecting her to this. She has trained her entire life to go to the Beast and destroy him, even if it means destroying herself too. What she find at the castle is nothing like what she expected, though, and neither is she what Hodge's Beast expects. Watching these two bitter, mocking characters dance around each other to get to the bottom of the curse and what actually happened to their world is engrossing and beautiful.

I couldn't put this book down once I started it, and I've already started Crimson Bound (Little Red Riding Hood), the next book in the same world. There's also a novella, Gilded Ashes (Cinderella), that I should snag a copy of.

The world is lovely and evocative, with gods and Forest Lords and Demons who actively participate in the world and grant wishes and make deals. It's a little bit Rumpelstiltskin, a little Fairy Godmother, a little Greek mythology, and all Rosamund Hodge. She's got talent, and writes my favorite micro-genre SO WELL.

If you like dark fairy tales, read this and then everything else Rosamund Hodge has written. It's excellent!

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

4.5/5 Stars

This book was exactly what I needed right now, a paranormal fairy tale. Cruel Beauty is a Beauty and the Beast retelling with demons. Basically two of my favorite things, I absolutely love the Beauty and the Beast story. It is a great love story about looking within. And this particular novel added demons. There is just something about demons that always get me. I'm not really sure what it is, and I'm sure Supernatural has something to do with my slight obsession.

The beginning of this book was a little bit confusing with respect to the curse and how it tied in with the fairy tale, but as we learned more about both Arcadia and the Gentle Lord/Ignifex, I understood the retelling aspect a lot better. And while this is a retelling, it goes beyond the source material and creates a universe that I utterly enjoyed.

Ignifex is a new favorite when it comes to characters. He was cunning, haunting, and obviously very good at getting what he wants. His characterization was great. The books starts out depicting him as this cruel, very black-and-white character, but as the story unfolds we see all the layers and complexities to his character. Plus there is his shadow, Shade. Shade was an interesting character for me, I really hated him at the beginning, since I was a strong proponent of Ignifex and Nyx. But understanding Shade's past helped. As for Nyx's character, she had always been groomed to marry Ignifex and destroy him, and as expected, learns there is more to the curse than originally thought.

I thought Hodge did a beautiful job creating the universe and retelling the classic Beauty and the Beast story with her own twists. After I started this book, I could not put it down and was dead set on finding out what happened to the characters I had just met. I'm sad that this is a standalone, even though Crimson Bound is in the same universe. I wish I got more Ignifex and Nyx. But I do feel like the book ended perfectly, without diving too far into the future after the plot of the story had played out.

Greek mythology, Celtic mythology, and a fairytale mashed together into a predictable YA story. I correctly guessed the third act plot twist in the first couple chapters and the only surprise was that it really was that predictable. The audiobook reader is pleasant enough that the flowery prose isn't painful. The writing does improve a bit over the course of the book so maybe the author's future efforts will be better.

Despite being labeled a “book 1” the story is self contained and comes to a solid conclusion.

“Why is he scared of the dark?"I meant the words for a joke, but Shade nodded seriously. "Like all monsters. Because it reminds him of what he truly is".”

This was lovely, overall. I didn't like some bits here and there, like the fact that the beginning was too slow, but I'm happy that I decided to pick this one up. I loved the junction between fairytale and mythology. I wasn't too keen on the romance at first, but the last part of the book was very touching. I savored its dark tones, but also the happy ending.

Als een boek gepromoot wordt als een hervertelling van “De schone en het beest“, dan kan je er je hoofd om verwedden dat ik dat ga willen lezen.Cruel Beauty stond al een tijdje op mijn lijst, maar ik was er nooit toe gekomen. Toen Kathleen van Verbeelding.org haar exemplaar aanbood voor een ruil, sprong ik er op, ook al was ze zelf niet erg enthousiast over dit boek.In Cruel Beauty maken we kennis met Nyx, die sinds haar geboorte – door toedoen van een deal die haar vader maakte – verloofd is met de kwaadaardige heerser van haar land. Hierdoor is ze ook sinds haar geboorte aan het trainen om haar aanstaande te kunnen doden, zodat haar land eindelijk vrij kan zijn van zijn tirannie. Als de dag eindelijk aanbreekt blijkt er meer aan de hand te zijn dan Nyx had verwacht.Sinds [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://images.gr-assets.com/books/1480113012s/16096824.jpg 21905102] zijn mijn verwachtingen voor hervertellingen van De schone en het beest toch van een gans ander kaliber dan voorheen. Helaas kan dit boek niet aan deze torenhoge verwachtingen voldoen.Ik weet niet of ik zo streng voor dit boek zou zijn geweest als ik het voor ACoTaR had gelezen, maar ik had toch wel een aantal problemen met het boek. Niet dat ik het niet graag heb gelezen, of dat het niet vlot las, maar het blijft gewoon niet nazinderen of plakken.Nyx, het hoofdpersonage, is nogal een zaag met heel veel zelfmedelijden. Man, wat een puberaal geklaag! Ze is ook een enorme plooier die haar eigen gedacht niet kan maken. Ze slikt klakkeloos alles wat de eerste de beste, sterkere persoonlijkheid haar serveert, en bijna iedereen in dit boek heeft een sterkere persoonlijkheid dan Nyx. Dit heeft als gevolg dat ze iedere tien pagina's van een andere mening is overtuigt, zo ook op wie ze nu wel of niet verliefd is. Jaja, aan instant liefde ook geen gebrek.De auteur probeerde om verschillende ideeën uit verschillende sprookjes en mythen tot één samenhangend verhaal te weven, maar het was nogal slordig gedaan, waardoor het op sommige momenten nogal verwaand overkwam om dit te proberen verkopen als een eigen origineel idee.Kortom, Cruel Beauty leest vlot genoeg, maar doet meer denken aan fanfiction dat nog serieus gebeta'ed moet worden dan een serieuze roman. Eentje om te lezen en direct weer te vergeten.

Bitching On Wednesday (#BoW) es un meme creado por El Extraño Gato del Cuento, inspirado en Waiting on Wednesday (#WOW). Consiste en reseñar esos libros que nos decepcionaron. El meme puede aplicar para cualquier cosa que nos haya hecho renegar. Más información aquí.

1.5

Con esa preciosa, hermosa, fantástica portada, era casi imposible no haberse enamorado del libro mucho antes de siquiera leer de qué iba. Uno piensa, al menos yo: “Si se toman el trabajo de hacer ESE tipo de portada, es porque la historia que contiene ha de estar a la altura”, puede que yo sea una de esos pocos con tan ilusa idea, soy culpable. Luego viene la primera línea de la sinopsis “Basado en La Bella y la Bestia”, soy amante de los retelling y no había leído ninguno basado en este cuento que si bien no es mi favorito, tiene mucho potencial.

Sumándole puntos a todo esto está la gran cantidad de reseñas (antes de la publicación) que dejan al libro por los cielos, diciendo que es uno de los mejores que leyeron en años, que es un excelente debut, que... Que el libro estaba a la altura de su portada y sinopsis, si lo pongo en mi idioma.

E incluso después de su publicación ha sido un poco complicado encontrar reseñas un poco más que estén de acuerdo conmigo (No digo aterrizadas o más imparciales, cada quién tiene su opinión y no creo que porque a mí no me gusta cierta cosa, yo tenga la razón y los demás están mal, eso no), creo que dos de seis de las reseñadores que más confío, son los únicos que se han sentido de la misma forma que yo.

Estando en los primeros capítulos pensé que quizá Cruel Beauty sería una especie de Once Upon a Time mitológico, por la cantidad de crossover que había. Amo OUAT, amo los crossover, amo los cuentos de hadas... ¿POR QUÉ NO ME GUSTÓ EL LIBRO? No estoy del todo segura, si les soy sincera.

No aguanté a la hermana, no aguanté tampoco a la protagonista, una protagonista con la que al empezar el libro me sentía conectada por toda la rabia que se empeña en ocultar, una protagonista que cuando decidió ser cruel, lo aplaudí, porque no siempre puedes ser bueno. Ese tipo de acciones en una protagonista casi no hay, estaba contenta hasta ese punto. La cosa se cayó como castillo de naipes una vez que Nyx tiene que abrazar su destino.

No solo es que hay triángulo amoroso, oh, no, sino que prácticamente a los cinco minutos de conocerlos ya siente que los AMA. Miren, hay instaloves y triángulos amorosos que funcionan, te hacen sufrir, te dan esa angustia, esa sensación de que quizá el amor a primera vista no solo esté en la historias, pero Cruel Beauty ciertamente no lo hace.

Además Nyx, eres bien bitch.

O sea, para alguien que “ama” a otra persona, no vas por ahí besando a todos, o sea no. Y la historia del demonio se me hizo bastante enredada, no sé si fue mucho para mi cerebro o qué, pero terminé toda confundida.

Bitching on Wednesday, fue creado para esto, renegar un rato. Tenía unas expectativas altísimas por Cruel Beauty, no odié todo el libro, lo leí considerablemente rápido, pero vamos, no es el nuevo descubrimiento que esperaba, con personajes bastante antipáticos y una historia de “amor” irreal. Para mí, solo quedó en una portada demasiado bonita.

El libro se publica en Mayo en español por Kiwi Editorial, esperaré sus opiniones. Espero disfruten más de esta lectura de lo que yo lo hice.

Publicado originalmenteEl Extraño Gato del Cuento

Lots of similarities to Beauty and the Beast. Which is fine with me as it was always a favorite of mine. However, the world is completely original and fantastic!

Nyx has been trained since the age of nine to kill the “Gentle Lord” who holds the land captive. They are under constant threat of his demons and there is no way to escape. The Lord is known for his unfair bargains and one of these bargains left Nyx betrothed to him. So she is to wed and bed him, then destroy him!

Nyx holds a lot of anger and I do not blame her. She has never been shown love by her family. She has always been known to them as a sacrifice while her twin sister is lavished with attention. I'd be pissed too! She is stuck paying the price for her father's selfishness and foolish bargain.

The Gentle Lord tells her to call him Ignifex and there is more to him than meets the eye. Part kind, part wicked and full of secrets! Then there is Shade. A shadow-like image of him that takes form at night. He too is kind but has secrets. To top it all off is the castle itself. I want to visit it! It sounds amazing. Some rooms wonderful, others horrifying (I'll just skip those, thank you so much).

There is a sort of romance triangle as both men care for Nyx and she is attracted to both. It surely can't help that, besides the eyes, they look the same.

I was hoping for a bit more on the “destroying the Lord” bit but the romance and mysterious secrets heavily trump that part of the book. Otherwise, I deeply enjoyed this.

The writing is very well done and very rich in characters and everything that surrounds them. I adored the characters. Very unique. Each have crucial flaws and each great strength. I couldn't help but like them. Except the father and aunt. While they are well written, their characters are less than scum.

I will assuredly be reading more by Rosamund Hodge in the future!

Loved the first part, I thought it was setting the stage for something really fun. It got such good reviews I pushed through, but after the first handful of chapters I had no idea what was going on, why the characters were acting the way they were, and kept thinking I missed something. I'm a bit jealous of those that loved it, I wanted to!

2.5 stars

This is a very difficult book to rate for me.

I love the concept and the characters. Nyx and Ignifex are awesome, both as individuals and as a couple. I like their developments. The castle is amazing. The book has beautiful, creepy, and beautifully creepy moments.

On the other hand, the world-building can be rather vague. The way the Greek gods blend with the hedge-gods isn't exactly smooth, so it feels surreal—though it's definitely a matter of preference. As much as I love the writing, I feel that it kind of fell apart towards the end.

I especially didn't like the twist with Astraia. I love how said character turned out to be in the end though, so probably I'm just not fond of how they handled that situation.

It's still a great book though, and I enjoyed it for the most part.

I'm a huge fan of fairy tales and fairy tale retellings. Especially the ones that are clever, and make you curious and make you think. This is both. I've read many versions of Beauty and the Beast over the years, but I think this may be my favorite. Rosamund Hodge takes this story and makes it her own. The characters are exactly what you would expect, and yet so very different as well. The mystery of how the curse came to be is fascinating, and makes me want so much more.

The ending was not at all what I was expecting to happen, but a perfect end to her version of this story. If you haven't read this, but enjoy fairy tale retellings, I highly recommend it. Especially if you are a fan of the Lunar Chronicles.

I've always loved the tale of Beauty and the Beast. That was actually my favorite of the Disney fairytale movies. I loved Belle because she was so intelligent. Beast was...well, I honestly always thought he was such a sweetheart.

This book actually makes me feel the way I did when I first saw Beauty and the Beast. This isn't one of those pure, good fairytales where everyone is so shiny and perfect - except for the villain, of course (who is always vile).

Nyx is a girl that hates her destiny. She's fiery, she is willing to rebel when she can. And she's no good at biting her tongue. She's not perfect. Her heart is cold. And yet, she's still such a seventeen year old girl. She wants to be loved. She wants to be able to love someone without the poison in her heart effecting that love. This book is told entirely from Nyx's first person narration, and I adored it. Me. And I usually cannot stand first person view points. But Nyx made the book such a joy to read thanks to her problems and the fact that she's got a wicked sense of humor.

Ignifex - the ‘beast' - is not at all what I expected. First of all, he's not described as being beastly in the slightest. The only thing about him that would set him apart from a human man, albeit a very gorgeous human man, is his red, slit-pupil eyes. (Which, to some of us, just made him all the hotter sounding.) Ignifex is a strange mix of arrogance and vulnerability - sometimes at the same moment. I was really happy how he wasn't one of those grade A jerkass types that are so popular in young adult fiction.

I also loved the world that was created. In short, I'll just say that this was a fantasy type setting that had a strong mythological basis and I loved the way it worked.

This book did something that I had been searching for for a long time. It gave me an emotional connection to the people. I felt for them, sympathized with what they were going through. Sometimes I was grinning like crazy - other times, I felt like someone was trying to rip my heart out through my throat.

I also loved the way the relationship built between the characters. Romance has always impressed me the most when there's a verbal aspect to it. And these two characters had a very push-pull dynamic and were always having some of the wittiest conversations. (And arguments.)

(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)