A review by lumos_libros
Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay
5.0
From my own scientific research with extensive Excel spreadsheets (ok not really, but from my equally impressive informal observations), I have come to the conclusion that behind Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast is the most retold fairy tale. And it’s for a good reason. There is something so alluring about breaking a curse with true love.
This retelling takes some liberties from the original tale. While there is the curse, captivity, and a beauty and beast (kind of), this is set, from what I can gather, in another planet humans inhabit. There are complications when humans come to this planet though. Some humans mutate to become Monstrous to survive this new land and the others remain Smooth skins, but there is a price for this. A price paid in blood. Isra is a princess of one of the Domed Cities, Yuan. The tradition is the Queen must sacrifice her life to the roses so the city can continue to enjoy their bounty. Isra knows that someday this will be her fate. She lives a quiet and sheltered existence since she became blind the same night her mother died. On one of the nights she sneaks out to visit the roses, she stumbles upon a Monstrous named Gem. Gem’s mission is to get the roses and go back to his people but can’t seem to kill Isra like he knows he should. Against everyone’s insistence on killing the beast, Isra decides to hold him prisoner instead. Hence, our story begins!
I loved almost everything about this story. The tone, pacing, world, plot, beautiful writing, characters, romance so yeah practically everything. One of the aspects I loved the most was how the line between the beauty and the beast is blurred. Is Gem really the beast here? Or is Isra? And what does being a beauty or beast really mean? And why do I always ask so many questions!?!?! But I digress. Isra and Gem kind of hate each other from the beginning. They each carry many years of hate that their people have for each other. The prejudices are strong on both sides, so it seems it won’t be possible for these two to see each other anything other than enemies. These two, goodness they really tugged at my heartstrings. They were perfect for each other. I also appreciated the exploration of why people on each side felt they were justified in their views and how the nuggets of truth, which prejudices are often based on, grow into something incomprehensible when hate is involved.
From the summary I gave it sounds like a simple plot but there is a lot to the story I won’t go into, but the author wrote all facets of the story like an expert. Political nonsense makes an appearance in the story. Nothing too complicated but we do have the court that is trying their best to keep Isra from doing anything resembling knowing or doing something useful, and it’s difficult for Isra to overcome her feelings of inadequacy to do what she needs to do. This inner struggle is a big part of the story and could be frustrating, but I felt Isra’s growth was done beautifully.
During the last 3/4ths of the book I was literally hunching over the book. My eyes scanning the pages ahead. To say I was utterly engrossed would be an understatement.
All this is coming from a person who almost cannot not like a retelling, so I know this book won’t be for everyone. But if you are looking for an epic love story done right, I believe you can stop your search.
Read for POPSUGAR CHALLENGE 2015: A book by an author you've never read before
This retelling takes some liberties from the original tale. While there is the curse, captivity, and a beauty and beast (kind of), this is set, from what I can gather, in another planet humans inhabit. There are complications when humans come to this planet though. Some humans mutate to become Monstrous to survive this new land and the others remain Smooth skins, but there is a price for this. A price paid in blood. Isra is a princess of one of the Domed Cities, Yuan. The tradition is the Queen must sacrifice her life to the roses so the city can continue to enjoy their bounty. Isra knows that someday this will be her fate. She lives a quiet and sheltered existence since she became blind the same night her mother died. On one of the nights she sneaks out to visit the roses, she stumbles upon a Monstrous named Gem. Gem’s mission is to get the roses and go back to his people but can’t seem to kill Isra like he knows he should. Against everyone’s insistence on killing the beast, Isra decides to hold him prisoner instead. Hence, our story begins!
I loved almost everything about this story. The tone, pacing, world, plot, beautiful writing, characters, romance so yeah practically everything. One of the aspects I loved the most was how the line between the beauty and the beast is blurred. Is Gem really the beast here? Or is Isra? And what does being a beauty or beast really mean? And why do I always ask so many questions!?!?! But I digress. Isra and Gem kind of hate each other from the beginning. They each carry many years of hate that their people have for each other. The prejudices are strong on both sides, so it seems it won’t be possible for these two to see each other anything other than enemies. These two, goodness they really tugged at my heartstrings. They were perfect for each other. I also appreciated the exploration of why people on each side felt they were justified in their views and how the nuggets of truth, which prejudices are often based on, grow into something incomprehensible when hate is involved.
From the summary I gave it sounds like a simple plot but there is a lot to the story I won’t go into, but the author wrote all facets of the story like an expert. Political nonsense makes an appearance in the story. Nothing too complicated but we do have the court that is trying their best to keep Isra from doing anything resembling knowing or doing something useful, and it’s difficult for Isra to overcome her feelings of inadequacy to do what she needs to do. This inner struggle is a big part of the story and could be frustrating, but I felt Isra’s growth was done beautifully.
During the last 3/4ths of the book I was literally hunching over the book. My eyes scanning the pages ahead. To say I was utterly engrossed would be an understatement.
All this is coming from a person who almost cannot not like a retelling, so I know this book won’t be for everyone. But if you are looking for an epic love story done right, I believe you can stop your search.
Read for POPSUGAR CHALLENGE 2015: A book by an author you've never read before