Review: Beauty by Robin McKinley

Beauty by Robin McKinley

Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: Paperback
Series: Folktales #1
Pages: 271
Date Finished: 17.05.15
Rating: 2.5/5
Summary: Beauty has never liked her nickname. She is thin and awkward; it is her two sisters who are the beautiful ones. But what she lacks in looks, she can perhaps make up for in courage.

When her father comes home with the tale of an enchanted castle in the forest and the terrible promise he had to make to the Beast who lives there, Beauty knows she must go to the castle, a prisoner of her own free will. Her father protests that he will not let her go, but she answers, "Cannot a Beast be tamed?"

Robin McKinley's beloved telling illuminates the unusual love story of a most unlikely couple, Beauty and the Beast.

Beauty by Robin McKinely reads like a fairytale. It's quite alike The Hobbit in the sense that the narration doesn't feel immensely personal (though I'd say it is more so than The Hobbit), but I don't think it really needs to be. Beauty is a wonderful book, but the reason that I only gave it 2.5 stars is because that method of narration isn't my favourite. Whilst this wasn't the best book for me, I completely understand why a lot of people would choose to give it four or five stars.

If you're familiar with the tale of Beauty and the Beast, there won't be any unique surprises in this book. It follows the fairytale closely, right down to Beauty's merchant family. Although some details were changed to adapt it into book form, for me this just feels like 271 page fairytale rather than retelling. That doesn't bother me at all, but I guess that I was in the mood for a romance more like Cruel Beauty or A Court of Thorns and Roses, rather than the one that was prevalent in this.

“I found that the only way I could control this sorrow was not to think of [it] at all, which was almost as painful as the loss itself.”

Robin McKinley writes beautifully. Her prose was gorgeous to read, and I do think that I'll read more of her fairytale books because, if you didn't already guess, I completely adore fairytales. I own countless anthologies and a lot of my favourite books were retellings. Maybe the reason that this book didn't do it for me was because I was expecting so much, and Beauty is just a simple tale, no matter how wonderfully written it is.

I really liked that Beauty wasn't portrayed as beautiful in the start of the novel, though I'd have liked the Beast to be more beastly in nature, not just appearance (okay yeah, I basically want him to be like Tamlin or Rhysand from ACOTAR. Sue me).

“Cannot a Beast be tamed?”

I enjoyed the characterisation of all the secondary characters, especially Beauty's family. The characterisation in this novel isn't deep, but like I said before this is basically a long fairytale and I don't think that it's the kind of book that warrants it.

Personally, I wanted more of the novel to be set in the Beast's castle as over a hundred pages of it is just set up. Maybe I'm not the intended audience for this, but whilst the romance was lovely it wasn't really romantic. Again, I just wanted something that this book wasn't.

On the whole, I definitely would recommend this if you're in the mood for a captivating fairytale with wonderful prose and a really sweet ending (which, imo, felt a little rushed). If this is the kind of book you want to read, I think it may even warrant a five star rating.

"As I have said, you have no reason to trust me, and an excellent reason not to."

Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Format: Paperback
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #1
Pages: 416
Date Finished: 11/04/15
Rating: 5/5
Summary: Feyre’s survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price.

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre’s presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.

This book was magnificent. For some reason my copy was delivered to me from Waterstones ahead of the release date, but there is no way that I'm going to complain about that.  I think I've began to believe in magic. Not the fantasy kind, but that there is something innate and beautiful about the world that we live in. I'm going to sound like a crazy lady, but yesterday I was feeling pretty crappy, and not even chocolate could cheer me up (I know. It's mad). The next morning I awoke to a book at my doorstep, one that shouldn't have arrived for another twenty something days. It made me smile and made me feel better, something which only books have the power to do. A book which hasn't even been released yet.

I have to admit that I was kind of nervous going into this. I've been calling Sarah J Maas my favourite author for some time now, but it would be genuinely heartbreaking to find out that I only liked the Throne of Glass series and not her other published works. Sarah, I think you've earned that title. I was swept up into the world faeries and huntresses and could not put this glorious book down.

I don't normally like faerie books. I read The Iron King (I think that's what it's called...) and found it completely meh. But this... this was divine. The world building is rich and intriguing, and from page one I instantly wanted to know more--more about the different courts and more about the characters in them. Maas has a ridiculous gift for making me care about not just her characters but the story that unfolds around them.

The character progression that Feyre went through was beautiful. She started out as bitter and cold, but as the story progressed I think she became as epic a hero as Celaena (and that's not something that I throw around lightly). And as for Tamlin...

*swoons for eternity*

I think I may be a little in love with him AND Lucien AND Rhys and just about every male that Sarah J Maas threw at me in this wonder of a book.

On the whole, I don't think this was as strong as the wonder that is Heir of Fire, but ACOTAR is definitely a better start than Throne of Glass (which I still gave 5/5 stars to, so y' know...) Whilst I think that this book could have been a standalone, I'm thrilled that I get to have TWO more books with Feyre and ma boys.

The only thing that scares me is that the last book in the ACOTAR trilogy and the Throne of Glass series is going to be released in 2017 and I don't think I'll be able to survive that year. I've also worked out that it's the year when I do my A Levels/start Uni so I'm basically screwed...

Dear god/fate/Buddha/Waterstones/Royal Mail/Sarah J Maas, THANK YOU for making a mistake and sending me this book early. I love you.