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A review by smart_girls_love_trashy_books
Rebel Rose by Emma Theriault
3.0
~POTENTIAL SPOILERS~
I'm finally done with this! And to be honest, even though I liked it, I felt like there still could've been a lot more done with this premise.
But, I do think the premise itself is very nice. I like the idea of connecting all of these stories with an overarching theme of the Queens' Council, which was introduced in the book and made me excited to see all of the different forms it'll take moving forward. I also really enjoy the idea of grown-up Disney Princesses growing into their own right to rule. It's a cool idea because I love the Disney Princesses and want to see a take on the Disney versions after the movie ends. I've see this premise done a few times with the regular fairy-tale characters but Disney has their own unique spins on their adaptations so it's fun to see those versions be realized in more than just their movies. Plus I just like the idea of doing something else other than: 'what truly happened after happily ever after? it sucked'
Not to mention putting the real history and location into their stories? I'm drooling already. I will admit the French Revolution is not really of interest to me and I feel this one was only picked because of the whole 'Belle and the Beast are royals during the French Revolution oh no' meme but I really liked the movie characters in this! I liked seeing the servants go back to their old roles but having trouble coping with their trauma, even the Beast, named Lio in this, has trauma related to the curse and I enjoyed seeing that handled in such a realistic way! Belle was her usual headstrong self in this. I enjoyed seeing her dilemma between wanting to be there for her people when they see her only as a queen and also just wanting to be herself since she was just a regular peasant before everything happened to her. It endeared me to her very quickly since I could easily see Belle having such a struggle. I also really enjoyed seeing more of her intellectual side as she takes over ruling duties and tries to appease everyone to the best of her abilities.
The writing here is also great, evidently this is the author's first book! I didn't even know until I looked it up! It reads very easily, almost Disney-esque in a way, but still complex and beautiful way to keep your mid visualizing and not getting bored.
Aside from those things, however, I feel like this book was just okay purely because the remainder of the characters weren't very well-developed at all. I really wanted to like Marguerite but she wasn't in it too much and when she was she fell flat as a character. Same for her brother, he was mentioned once as not getting along with her, then he shows up once at the climax and suddenly they're close again. It's really a shame since I had interest in both of them as characters, Marguerite especially. You never actually learn what the villain's motives are despite spending basically the entire book with him. You also never fully get a sense of what Lio is like as a literal and figurative changed man because he's always off somewhere else. I get he's the king and all, but the book seemed to be banking on the fact you believed in their chemistry in the movie, and even if I did, there's none of that here which is a shame since I wanted to see that explored too.
Several aspects of this book seem to be taken from the live-action adaptation such as the Enchantress being involved in kingdom politics, Lio's relationship with his parents, and Gaston's backstory. I didn't mind that actually since I liked seeing the two mediums be combined together into a more fulfilling story. I also appreciated all of the callbacks to the original movie that were in here.
Speaking of Gaston though, one of the familiar faces we see here is LeFou but I also feel that was such a waste. There was a lot of great potential for his character, I could see what they were going for, he wasn't genuinely malicious, he just went along with Gaston's schemes because that's what one does, but since he was barely in the story his redemption along with Belle finally learning his name didn't really feel earned. If we spent more time with him, even just a little bit, it would've felt more natural.
I also feel like the whole climax and ending were rushed. At first the book progressed slowly and built up a lot of things, then all of a sudden everyone is running around, getting kidnapped and thrown into the dungeons, oh never mind everything is okay now, they're crowed now! Maybe it was just me but it really felt like it came out of nowhere with little progression, but given the context maybe it was on purpose?
Overall, this was a decent start to a series with a few things I really liked, but the bulk of it could've been a lot better. However this was also primarily an introduction to the remainder of the story so I hope the rest from here will only get better and better. Some ideas I want to see; Pocahontas as a super cool Chieftain of her tribe and ten years later John Smith comes back and the two try to make a new settlement together or something, or Jasmine as a badass Sultana with Aladdin by her side, I'm mainly thinking of the live-action version because she wanted to rule in that version but I could also see the animated one wanting to take over after her father, and how about Tiana and Naveen traveling the world and making the world a better place especially after the Great Depression, and don't forget about the older princesses, I'd love to see Aurora and Prince Phillip trying to catch up on their lost childhoods together, and Aurora getting some well-needed bonding time with her parents too, and Prince Phillip's parents too as they teach them how to rule, and maybe adding some other 'Disney Ladies' to the mix who aren't princesses but might still be interesting, like Megara or Esmeralda, especially considering they wanted to make a sequel for Hercules primarily focusing on Megara so the authors could reference that.
Also, I'd like to thank this book for giving a friend and I the 'Communist LeFou' joke we reference sometimes so the book is a masterpiece from that perspective.
Overall, a decent start, but not super developed on its own terms.
I'm finally done with this! And to be honest, even though I liked it, I felt like there still could've been a lot more done with this premise.
But, I do think the premise itself is very nice. I like the idea of connecting all of these stories with an overarching theme of the Queens' Council, which was introduced in the book and made me excited to see all of the different forms it'll take moving forward. I also really enjoy the idea of grown-up Disney Princesses growing into their own right to rule. It's a cool idea because I love the Disney Princesses and want to see a take on the Disney versions after the movie ends. I've see this premise done a few times with the regular fairy-tale characters but Disney has their own unique spins on their adaptations so it's fun to see those versions be realized in more than just their movies. Plus I just like the idea of doing something else other than: 'what truly happened after happily ever after? it sucked'
Not to mention putting the real history and location into their stories? I'm drooling already. I will admit the French Revolution is not really of interest to me and I feel this one was only picked because of the whole 'Belle and the Beast are royals during the French Revolution oh no' meme but I really liked the movie characters in this! I liked seeing the servants go back to their old roles but having trouble coping with their trauma, even the Beast, named Lio in this, has trauma related to the curse and I enjoyed seeing that handled in such a realistic way! Belle was her usual headstrong self in this. I enjoyed seeing her dilemma between wanting to be there for her people when they see her only as a queen and also just wanting to be herself since she was just a regular peasant before everything happened to her. It endeared me to her very quickly since I could easily see Belle having such a struggle. I also really enjoyed seeing more of her intellectual side as she takes over ruling duties and tries to appease everyone to the best of her abilities.
The writing here is also great, evidently this is the author's first book! I didn't even know until I looked it up! It reads very easily, almost Disney-esque in a way, but still complex and beautiful way to keep your mid visualizing and not getting bored.
Aside from those things, however, I feel like this book was just okay purely because the remainder of the characters weren't very well-developed at all. I really wanted to like Marguerite but she wasn't in it too much and when she was she fell flat as a character. Same for her brother, he was mentioned once as not getting along with her, then he shows up once at the climax and suddenly they're close again. It's really a shame since I had interest in both of them as characters, Marguerite especially. You never actually learn what the villain's motives are despite spending basically the entire book with him. You also never fully get a sense of what Lio is like as a literal and figurative changed man because he's always off somewhere else. I get he's the king and all, but the book seemed to be banking on the fact you believed in their chemistry in the movie, and even if I did, there's none of that here which is a shame since I wanted to see that explored too.
Several aspects of this book seem to be taken from the live-action adaptation such as the Enchantress being involved in kingdom politics, Lio's relationship with his parents, and Gaston's backstory. I didn't mind that actually since I liked seeing the two mediums be combined together into a more fulfilling story. I also appreciated all of the callbacks to the original movie that were in here.
Speaking of Gaston though, one of the familiar faces we see here is LeFou but I also feel that was such a waste. There was a lot of great potential for his character, I could see what they were going for, he wasn't genuinely malicious, he just went along with Gaston's schemes because that's what one does, but since he was barely in the story his redemption along with Belle finally learning his name didn't really feel earned. If we spent more time with him, even just a little bit, it would've felt more natural.
I also feel like the whole climax and ending were rushed. At first the book progressed slowly and built up a lot of things, then all of a sudden everyone is running around, getting kidnapped and thrown into the dungeons, oh never mind everything is okay now, they're crowed now! Maybe it was just me but it really felt like it came out of nowhere with little progression, but given the context maybe it was on purpose?
Overall, this was a decent start to a series with a few things I really liked, but the bulk of it could've been a lot better. However this was also primarily an introduction to the remainder of the story so I hope the rest from here will only get better and better. Some ideas I want to see; Pocahontas as a super cool Chieftain of her tribe and ten years later John Smith comes back and the two try to make a new settlement together or something, or Jasmine as a badass Sultana with Aladdin by her side, I'm mainly thinking of the live-action version because she wanted to rule in that version but I could also see the animated one wanting to take over after her father, and how about Tiana and Naveen traveling the world and making the world a better place especially after the Great Depression, and don't forget about the older princesses, I'd love to see Aurora and Prince Phillip trying to catch up on their lost childhoods together, and Aurora getting some well-needed bonding time with her parents too, and Prince Phillip's parents too as they teach them how to rule, and maybe adding some other 'Disney Ladies' to the mix who aren't princesses but might still be interesting, like Megara or Esmeralda, especially considering they wanted to make a sequel for Hercules primarily focusing on Megara so the authors could reference that.
Also, I'd like to thank this book for giving a friend and I the 'Communist LeFou' joke we reference sometimes so the book is a masterpiece from that perspective.
Overall, a decent start, but not super developed on its own terms.