Beauty
and the Beast…my personal favorite fairytale, at least among those well
known. So I was most thrilled to be able to read and review this second
of the fairytale collections from the excellent Rooglewood Press. Every
story was beautifully written and astonishingly unique. If you love
fairytales or need convincing that a retelling can still surprise you,
then this is an anthology you will not want to miss! :) The collection opens on the treacherous seas. I never would have thought of a Beauty and the Beast retelling in a Davy Jones-esque setting, but it was actually quite apt. Vivid description brought everything to life (even if the most of the characters were deadish). Though so unique a tale, one could sometime pause and see a scene very similar to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, which always brought a chuckle simply because it was in such a different setting.
Our Beast here is certainly a clever fellow, with a wit sharp enough to win any reader’s admiration. As to be expected with a pirate crew, the girl faces a number of violent threats, including rape, but there is no scene where this is close to being fulfilled. At first, I was a little concerned at how smoothly the love story was going (for whilst the captain is charming, he could hardly yet be considered a worthy husband), but the author did address this.
Although I enjoyed the story, I did feel it ended far too abruptly, leaving at least two glaring questions unanswered. But I understand the difficulty of writing an epic tale in a limited word count, so she wove her high seas romance well.
The second story is also an eerie tale in a land where ghouls and wraiths are spilling from the Netherworld, threatening the existence of humanity. However, despite the occasional creepiness, I wouldn’t call this a horror story, for it focused mainly on the uneasy friendship of our Beauty and the Beast and their mission to save the world.
To be sure, at the fourth chapter I mistakenly interpreted that our hero-to-be was sucking blood from our unconscious heroine, presumably from her neck. As it turned out, I should have read more carefully for he was only withdrawing poison from her arm. He had no blood-thirsty tendencies whatsoever and found that idea most disgusting.
The truth of our hero’s identity took me by surprise and interest. He was very likable, though I didn’t entirely agree with his reasoning on keeping secret the truth behind the Abby he lived at.
Though not a story I would have expected to like, it was very interesting, and the mysterious little side plot alluded to by the author is certainly meant for another book and one I shall probably go read.
I was quite delighted that in the third story our Belle is already part of the cursed kingdom, being a lady-in-waiting. I’d never thought of that twist, and it seemed very likely and endearing. The writing style was good, and the plot had more than a few surprises, but it didn’t develop to my hopes. For one, we had the climax from the perspective of a side character who I never felt the need for, even if he was fun. Another, I wasn’t convinced by the arc of our enchantress. But our heroine was very sweet, and the story was enjoyable.
The fourth undoubtedly has the most unexpected setting of all, an Amazon-esque jungle, with our Belle being a spirited young tribal woman in search of freedom from the threats of her brutal people. It was quite cool for our Beast to be such a different creature as is usually portrayed in retellings, and his attitude was awesome.
However, there was quite a bit of brutality in this story, the sort that makes my stomach turn. For one, our heroine is repeatedly threatened (and is beaten) by an evil man of the village who would force her to be his wife which is quite all right with the villages standards (though not all right with her family). Also, this man is said to beat his wives, and one of the wives is later found violently murdered (It was meant to look like an animal kill, but it was her husband).
I was rather irritated by some of the heroine’s decisions, which I found very foolish. Also, the supernatural system and the people’s response to it struck me as unhealthy. So yeah. I didn’t care for this one.
Happily, the collection ends with my very favorite of them all! :) This tale is very similar to the original Beauty and the Beast, but OH…with such a beautiful and heart-tugging twist that I never once considered for a retelling. And this time, our setting is Gaelic/Scotland 1750's, with a very authentic feel of accents and time period. I think this heroine might have been my favorite, with just the right balance of sweetness and pluck. And the dear, dear noble Beast! His plight is most moving. It was also wonderful to see the warmth and love of family here, and the small second Beauty and the Beast plot enchanted me!
Overall, it’s not a collection of fairytales for children. But then, the very original fairytales aren’t either. Any lover of fairytales of a mature teen age and up will no doubt be astounded by this excellent collection, full of such incredibly different retellings.
