OF BEAST AND BEAUTY
In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...
In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.
Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.
As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.
In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.
Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.
As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.
This book is absolutely beautiful. It didn't start out that way...during the first few chapters I struggled to find my groove and it really wasn't until the middle of the book that things started to speed up for me. By the end though I was completely captivated and found myself tearing up during the epilogue.
The idea behind the story is a classic, Beauty and the Beast, but it's totally transformed into something original and set in a world that is described in amazing detail. I had no trouble envisioning the society and world that the characters found themselves in. There are these humans that have been corrupted and deformed and have become nothing more than beasts in the eyes of high society. I could almost see where the nobles are coming from because the monstrous are truly terrifying.
The narration is mostly split between Gem and Isra which was fine but every once in a while we get a chapter from Bo. This makes sense in a way because it helps readers connect with him but I don't know that it was necessary.
Overall I enjoyed this twisted version of Beauty and the Beast and I feel it will stick with me for a while.
I've only read one by her, Juliet Immortal which I did really like, Was a fun take on it anyway- especially with Romeo being the bad guy (you have no Idea how I appreciated that, haha). Sounds like she done a great job with this remake too. Really looking forward to Princess of Thorns but I so need to catch up with her books! :) Glad you enjoyed it even if it was a little slow in the beginning
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