charlibirb's review against another edition
2.0
I've read all 4 Beauty books, and this was, by far, the worst. Too many characters, couldn't follow any "character arcs," (yes... I'm aware this is erotica, and it isn't really about plot,) but I felt like in the other books, I was at least following what was happening, and cared about characters to some extent. This was just a mishmash of people with no conclusion for several of the characters. Not even the erotica was erotic. :(
Read the first 3, then stop.
Read the first 3, then stop.
jesssika's review against another edition
2.0
I'm not sure what went wrong here. I am not prudish in the least, but this was terrible. I can see why Rice chose a pseudonym for it and why she didn't continue down this path for long. The plot is difficult from the start, and there is no real connection to the characters because they're all basically slaves who live for pleasure alone. It's as if that's their only capable emotion.
I will admit that after page 100 I just stopped and saved my brain cells. Maybe after that point it got better, but I just doubt it.
I will admit that after page 100 I just stopped and saved my brain cells. Maybe after that point it got better, but I just doubt it.
annick's review against another edition
slow-paced
1.0
meh. Boring. Almost derivative. Quite a disappointment.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Sexual violence
shereadsometimeshewrites's review against another edition
2.0
Oh, how I hate to do this to a woman I admire so much but I just couldn't get into the book. I loved the first three in the series as twisted and bold as they were I understood it, this one I could not. It was slow and confusing at the very beginning, I barely understood what was happening and who was who or with who that I found myself having to read paragraphs more than once.
I was so excited about the addition and I feel as though I might have set my expectations too high. As always I recommend you all check it out for yourselves.
I was so excited about the addition and I feel as though I might have set my expectations too high. As always I recommend you all check it out for yourselves.
chroniclesofabookreader's review against another edition
4.0
Another book in the much-loved Sleeping Beauty series is here. It was such a scandalized, different series that I remember all of the talk about how people were afraid that they liked it. It all started with Sleeping Beauty, the same fabled woman, set into a world that was so different than the stories. She is awoken by the Crown Prince and taken back to Bellevalten to become a sex slave. Bellevalten, run by Queen Eleanor, is the highly-talked about town known for their willing pleasure slaves.
We’re now twenty years later, in a time where Beauty has married Prince Laurent, a fellow slave, and they are now retired in their own kingdom. It is when they hear of the Queen’s death along with the request from the Queen to rule Bellavalten that the two of them find what they’ve been missing. Both Beauty and Laurent had been living a normal existence in their retirement, and both, without telling the other, had felt the loss of what the kingdom had once held for them. It is with renewed vigor that they head back to the kingdom to keep it from losing what everyone loves about it.
But with new leaders comes fresh breath, and they design to change the way of the pleasure slaves–they enact that all servitude be voluntary. Along with that came a new, erotic BDSM that really hadn’t been seen in the prior books. It’s more risque, more erotic, and we delve deeper into what BDSM involves. We get spankings, paddling, ponying, etc.. Because of the openness that has been enacted, people from all neighboring realms journey to Bellevalten to experience it.
I enjoyed that this book allowed us many opportunities into a lot of different characters’ heads. We see a well-rounded spectrum of both slaves, masters, Beauty, Laurent, and other Court holders. It’s like seeing your old friends along with meeting a few newbies. Ms. Rice’s writing, as ever, is still masterful and enveloping. It can be a little hard to get back into if you’re not used to it, but once you do it’s easy to follow. This book has a lot of eroticism in it, and anyone who cannot handle that shouldn’t read this book. What this series, and in turn the realm, has is something that is very different that what most books hold. It’s a different kind of romance that borders on the risque quite greatly. But it’s a journey into imagination in its finest, and something that sets the precedent for its genre.
**Received an ARC in exchange for an honest review**
We’re now twenty years later, in a time where Beauty has married Prince Laurent, a fellow slave, and they are now retired in their own kingdom. It is when they hear of the Queen’s death along with the request from the Queen to rule Bellavalten that the two of them find what they’ve been missing. Both Beauty and Laurent had been living a normal existence in their retirement, and both, without telling the other, had felt the loss of what the kingdom had once held for them. It is with renewed vigor that they head back to the kingdom to keep it from losing what everyone loves about it.
But with new leaders comes fresh breath, and they design to change the way of the pleasure slaves–they enact that all servitude be voluntary. Along with that came a new, erotic BDSM that really hadn’t been seen in the prior books. It’s more risque, more erotic, and we delve deeper into what BDSM involves. We get spankings, paddling, ponying, etc.. Because of the openness that has been enacted, people from all neighboring realms journey to Bellevalten to experience it.
I enjoyed that this book allowed us many opportunities into a lot of different characters’ heads. We see a well-rounded spectrum of both slaves, masters, Beauty, Laurent, and other Court holders. It’s like seeing your old friends along with meeting a few newbies. Ms. Rice’s writing, as ever, is still masterful and enveloping. It can be a little hard to get back into if you’re not used to it, but once you do it’s easy to follow. This book has a lot of eroticism in it, and anyone who cannot handle that shouldn’t read this book. What this series, and in turn the realm, has is something that is very different that what most books hold. It’s a different kind of romance that borders on the risque quite greatly. But it’s a journey into imagination in its finest, and something that sets the precedent for its genre.
**Received an ARC in exchange for an honest review**
bkish's review against another edition
4.0
Read few pages and I read her other books in this series. It is Very erotic and I adore Anne Rice as a writer. I do not like the subject of punishing women. I will continue reading this book.
I finished it. This is an amazing book. It is very deliberate I think by Anne Rice to create a world where the usual distinctions of male and female are gone. At some point in my reading I let go of evaluating the okayness of the punishments. I included it in the world she built here in Bellavalten or Beauty's Kingdom. Rather than evaluate the premise of slaves there to serve I just accepted that and continued to read and to enjoy. this is a very sexual book and I mean very.
If I accept this fantasy world there is nothing to criticize since it is as always with Anne Rice beautifully written.
The idea of men as men and as women is very provactive and almost shocking. A man cannot have that which is woman's feature.. A woman cannot have what belongs to me. She undoes all of that in so many ways.
After completing this book I was almost depleted and yet very at peace while also very stimulated. I wanted to return it to our Public Library in San Francisco so the next person on the waiting list could have this opportunity
I want to say tho that this book Beauty's Kingdom is not for everyone. It was for me though...
Judy
I finished it. This is an amazing book. It is very deliberate I think by Anne Rice to create a world where the usual distinctions of male and female are gone. At some point in my reading I let go of evaluating the okayness of the punishments. I included it in the world she built here in Bellavalten or Beauty's Kingdom. Rather than evaluate the premise of slaves there to serve I just accepted that and continued to read and to enjoy. this is a very sexual book and I mean very.
If I accept this fantasy world there is nothing to criticize since it is as always with Anne Rice beautifully written.
The idea of men as men and as women is very provactive and almost shocking. A man cannot have that which is woman's feature.. A woman cannot have what belongs to me. She undoes all of that in so many ways.
After completing this book I was almost depleted and yet very at peace while also very stimulated. I wanted to return it to our Public Library in San Francisco so the next person on the waiting list could have this opportunity
I want to say tho that this book Beauty's Kingdom is not for everyone. It was for me though...
Judy
shahrun's review
3.0
I read the original trilogy about 7 years ago, recently found out there was a 4th book, so decided to see what was new. If my memory serves me, this is quite different from the original set (which left some pretty random and bizarre images in my mind). This book takes the kingdom in a slightly different direction. There is less actual intercourse in this book, is more about rituals, humiliation and control. I'll probabbly rehome the whole series now as I doubt I'll read it again. I prefer her vampire and witches series.