Series: Standalone (also has a novella called Gilded Ashes)
Genera(s): Fantasy/Paranormal
Romance
Subjects: retellings,
demons, supernatural, magic, mythology, gods and goddesses
Setting: Arcadia
(an Island that has been cut off from the world)
POV/Tense: 1st
person past tense: Nyx
Age/Grade
Level: Teen
Length: 342 pgs.
HC/PB: Hardcover
List Price: $17.99
Publisher: HarperTeen:
Balzer + Bray
Summary/
product description:
“Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's
journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing
her heart.
Based
on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love
story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.
Since
birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a
foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training
to kill him.
With
no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to
save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her
seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the
all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted
castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.
But
Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles
her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.
As
Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets,
she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to
love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time
running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom,
or the man she was never supposed to love.
My Review: Cruel Beauty is a romantic retelling of
Beauty and the Beast intertwined with Greek mythology. The beauty is a girl
named Nyx who has to marry a demon king, Ignifex. Nyx is very angry inside and
not happy with her situation. She’s nothing like Belle at all. Ignifex is not
an ugly beast either. He’s handsome, but has red cat eyes and black wings (when
he makes them appear). He makes bargain with people, and these bargains always
have disastrous consequences.
I loved the
interaction and dialogue between Nyx and Ignifex. Nyx hated him because of what
he does; yet fell in love with him. It sounds like a case of Stockholm
syndrome. I loved some of the thing she said to him and his replies. She was
always saying that she could kill him, and she never did. He never harmed her
either. They both had darkness in them, but they found light within each other.
The world
building was pretty interesting. Arcadia is a island that has been sundered
(cut off from the world). We have no idea with year it is. I’m not even sure
where Arcadia is supposed to be. The Mediterranean? I’m not clear on whether
this is a fantasy world, or just a place cut off from the rest of the world. It
could be set in 1000 AD, possibly. They said they were sundered 900 years ago,
but some of the stuff in the book seemed Medieval or Renaissance age. I also
liked the whole paradox of Arcadia that we find out about.
The plot wasn’t
the most exciting this I’ve read. It’s a pretty good retelling. I like the
changed made from what I remember of the Disney version. I felt like it was
also a retelling of Hades and Persephone. Cruel Beauty wasn’t exactly what I
expected. It wasn’t boring Hist Fic like all the Victorian Era books I tried to
read. I recommend Cruel Beauty if you like the Abandoned series by Meg Cabot,
Falling Under by Gwen Hayes, or the Everneath series by Brodi Ashton.
Cover Art
Review: I love the rose combined with the spiral steel staircase. It’s so well
intertwined. I also love the velvet texture.
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