Reviews with content warning for Death - The Beautiful

I would consider this story to be pretty middle-of-the-road as far as vampire novels go. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't finish it, but it also wasn't so enrapturing I couldn't put it down. I think my main issue is with how slow the pacing is, I feel like there were several chapters that could've been removed altogether and it wouldn't have altered any significant part of the story. No spoilers, but there was one good twist/reveal and two twists/reveals that I felt had absolutely no buildup to them whatsoever, so they didn't feel satisfying at all, unfortunately. I loved the dynamic between Celine and Bastien, and there were moments of the book that were genuinely funny, but overall I wanted to be pulled into the book more.

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ok7a's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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beyond_bookish's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Can I just say how atmospheric this book is! The setting is New Orleans in 1872 and you experience the vibes and culture that this city has to offer. Celine has arrived from Paris after fleeing for her life with the hope to start over in a convent of all places. However, this book turns into a very interesting murder mystery as people are being murdered and Celine becomes intertwined not too long after her arrival.

Let’s talk characters! Two female characters I adore are Pippa and Odette. Celine builds a cute friendship with Pippa throughout this book after they meet on the ship to New Orleans and we watch as they both try to protect and care for one another the best way they know how. Odette on the other hand, is similar to Celine in many ways. She hires Celine to make her a gown after noticing her impressive skills and Celine’s world is forever changed upon this interaction. They are very strong women who are ahead of their time when it comes to what society expects of them. Odette also brings a bit of LGBTQ+ representation which I hope is explored later in the series.

Then we have the love interest, Sébastien Saint Germain. Celine and Sébastien have a strong attraction and you can tell they really see each other for who they are and not what they present to the world. Celine hates him instantly upon their first encounter and for a good chunk of the story. Sébastien is charming, handsome, witty and highly privileged which Celine despises yet she is drawn to him. She has met her match - the male version of herself. Throughout this book she proves how strong, stubborn, witty and intelligent she is and I enjoyed the fact that she is morally grey. She’s torn between two duelling traits (good and evil) that are fighting within her and at the same time she also feels like there is something missing within; she is not wholly complete. There are hints throughout the book that leads me to believe that Celine is no mere mortal but alas that reveal was not uncovered in this book. Sébastien is highly intrigued with Celine but he sees her as distraction and tries to keep his distance because he has a lot of responsibility that he must focus on and nothing is more important than his found family and wealth. Love and family are a recurring theme in this book and Ahdieh explores this for all her characters.

Also we have a mysterious first person POV of the villain throughout the book. This entire book I could not guess who this person was and boy was I shocked at the reveal. I did not foresee the betrayal nor the reveal so kudos to Ahdieh! I do have so many questions about the villain and I can’t wait to get the full backstory.

Additionally, I enjoyed the writing and have a few favourite quotes from this book. However, I must note that there was some language that felt out of place given the time period. I do love how Ahdieh interwove French dialogue without direct translation constantly but through context and in a very realistic conversational tone which seems common for multilingual speakers. Also, I liked the social commentary on POC and women’s position in society during this time and I think Ahdieh handled this well.

In terms of pacing, I would describe it as slow in the beginning and medium throughout. There are so many things happening at once that I was not bored at all.

The paranormal or fantastical elements in this book is subtle. Ahdieh does not outrightly tell you for most of the book that these characters are vampires, werewolves etc but she gives you descriptions and scenarios where you can derive this for yourself. A bit of background of these fantastical beings is sprinkled throughout the book so it never felt info dumpy at all.

There is so much more I can say but I think it’s best for the reader to experience this book with the least amount of knowledge to get the most enjoyment. As the book wrapped up some questions are answered but you will be left with so many more

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starlessnights's review against another edition

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3.0

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stormywolf's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Audiobook Read by Lauren Ezzo
Unabridged Length: 13.2 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed

Read my full review at The Wolf's Den

Overall, I have no complaints. A stellar narration, nailing tons of accents and emotions, was enough to put this production in my recommendations, to say nothing of its value as a pronunciation guide. With the emoting, especially in horror and action scenes, the volume and speed of reading does go up a bit, so that's something to keep in mind if you're not reading along, or at an increased playback speed. But if you're looking for an audio that offers a solid voice performance, this one should definitely be on your short list.

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ana24gs's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

“A goddess did not concern herself with the triflings of men”

I really liked the book. Although I think that it could have been a little longer, that way it would be much better. It met some of my expectations, it did not meet others, but it remains in my mind as a good memory.

I really like the premise of the book, Celine is a girl with a dark secret that forces her to escape from Paris, to move to New Orleans and start a new life leaving the tragedy in her past, but tragedy follows her to New Orleans where she is immersed in a world of dark creatures.

As I already mentioned, I liked the book, from the premise to the characters it seemed very solid, but I did not believe the relationships between the characters, specifically any that involved my beloved Sébastien Saint Germain. And that's my biggest problem, the book should have been longer and I think there would have been more time to show Bastien's relationship with his “family” (La Cour des Lions).

Celine, the main character, seemed very interesting, I liked her very much. She is a girl who wants to live life to the fullest, she doesn't want to be limited. And in this book we see her moving toward accepting and understanding her past.

But we return with my last comments against this book, I did not like how the conflict was resolved in the end, neither of the two conflicts was resolved as I would have liked, but well. I guess that's the magic of reading a book, sometimes things don't work out the way we'd like.

⚠️SPOILERS⚠️

Sébastien Saint Germain: Aka, the reason why I got forty heart attacks while reading the book. He had me at his feet from the moment I read his name, and then I saw his attitude, and fcgvhbjnkml, what can I say, what a man really, what a man. As I said at the beginning, it is unfortunate that being a character with so much potential I felt that Renée did not take advantage of it, the relationship that I liked the most where he was involved, apart from the one he has with Celine, is the one he has with Odette, I felt that sibling relationship. The lack of depth in his other relationships made me care very little if another member of the order died and that Nigel's betrayal felt very neh. I must also say that I feel somewhat dumb because throughout the book I thought that Sébastien was a vampire, only to find out at the end that he was not, and I don't know if that's how it was supposed to be or I'm just very clueless when reading (what is most likely). I swear that when he almost dies, I die.

Celine: I think what I like the most about her is that I empathize with her discomfort, she killed a man, and obviously killing is not right, but that man was going to hurt her and she had every right to fight at any cost. Her internal monologue seems very interesting to me, not only because of her thoughts of whether it was okay to kill him or not, but also her desire to have power, to be able to generate a desire of respect for her in people just by standing in front of them and I think that I feel the same in that regard.

I proceed to complain about the final reveal:

I hope you know that I liked when Nigel capture Celine and Bastien came looking for her, a lot. But the reveal that came with that part was disappointing, I honestly thought Michael was the bad guy, and I guess maybe it was a very obvious choice and Renée wanted to do something unexpected, but I don't know, I feel like it was very out of nowhere. Perhaps in the second book I understand the sister's intentions better, because I still do not fully understand her motivations for doing everything she did.

The final deal:

I hate, I HATE, when one of the protagonists loses his memory, I hate it, I don't like it at all. And now, I will have to read the second book to see how Celine either recovers her memories in a mystical way, or falls in love again with Sébastien. I really refuse to read her relationship with Michael (he does not seem like a bad guy, but he is very insistent).

Although there are things that I did not love, I do not consider it a bad book, so I plan to continue reading those that follow, although I know what the third one is going to be about and it demotivates me a bit, but let's see how the second goes.

“We forget our dreams, but nightmares linger with us evermore”

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