Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge (Cruel Beauty Universe)

Title: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Published: January 28^th, 2014 by Balzer and Bray

Source: ARC from ALA

Format: Paperback

Genre: Fantasy | Paranormal | Romance

Age group: Young adult

Grade rate: C+

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.

Liza’s Review

Well, that was not what I expected.  Cruel Beauty was pitched at a Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast and that it was not. Instead, the book is a mix of a Greek mythology fantasy, romance, and magic. 

I love Beauty and the Beast and retellings based on the story and thus I was eager to read this book.  Cruel Beauty was confusing, which is not something I like to feel when reading.  At first, the world that was introduced to is very strange.  It is based on Hermetic principles – four elements that create or destroy everything – that are studied by the people of the island of Arcadia.  It is believed that the island has been isolated from the rest of the world by magic created by the Gentle Lord.  Nyx, our protagonist, was raised to destroy the Gentle Lord upon marriage (more about that later), and trained on Hermetic principles and other useful things, since birth.  Are you with me so far? 

Let me try to explain something really quickly: the book can be divided in two parts that I will call Before and After. When Nyx marries the Gentle Lord, which is called Ignifex, is when my confusion starts.  What ensues next is a series of encounters with the very handsome demon and his shadow.  Nyx spends a lot of time searching the castle for clues and trying to steal keys to said rooms from Ignifex.  At the end the ‘Before’ part Nyx does the unthinkable, bound by a promise that she made to her sister.  I didn’t like this ending at all.  I think it was precipitous and disjointed. 

Also, I didn’t particularly liked Nyx.  Before she was cruel, hateful, and insecure.  She did have some redeeming qualities though, she was smart, fearless, and learned to love.  On the other hand, Ignifex was more straightforward.  He didn’t remember how he ended up the way he did, but he was unapologetically good and bad at the same time and more importantly, he was happy that way.  I like them both better when they were together. 

After the ‘first ending’ (confused yet?), we get to meet the same characters, but they are different.  Not only is the world itself altered, but the story takes a different turn.  This second part (the After) is much shorter, the last three chapters, and that might be why I was taken aback.  This Nyx is easier to like and much braver.  Ignifex is weaker and we don’t get to spend any time with him to even get to know him. 

Astraia is Nyx’s twin sister and it seems like the only purpose for her being in the story is for Nyx to have someone to hate.  Nyx’s father and aunt were horrible as well (at least Before) and expected Nyx to figure out how to defeat the Gentle Lord and fix everything, even though it was an impossible task. These are very minor characters because

The setting is weird.  Most of the story takes place while Nyx is inside the castle.  True to the B&B story, it is enchanted and changes all the time.  Another similarity is the mirror that Nyx uses to look to the outside. The world building is good and heavily based on Green mythology. The writing is straightforward and easy to read.

Overall, I enjoyed Cruel Beauty, but unfortunately I didn’t love it.  I’ll still read the next book settled in this universe and hope that they improve with time. 

Some quotes for you:

“If you start wondering how this house works, you'll likely go mad. That could be amusing, I suppose. Especially if it's the kind of madness that causes you to run naked through the hallways. Do feel free to indulge in that anytime.”

“You deserve all that and more. It made me happy to see you suffer. I would do it all over again if I could." I realized I was shaking as the words tumbled out of me. "I would do it again and again. Every night I would torment you and laugh. Do you understand? You are never safe with me." I drew a shuddering breath, trying to will away the sting of tears.

He opened his eyes and stared up at me as if I were the door out of Arcadia and back to the true sky. "That's what makes you my favorite." He reached up and wiped a tear off my cheek with his thumb. "Every wicked bit of you.”

“Why is he scared of the dark?"

I meant the words for a joke, but Shade nodded seriously. "Like all monsters. Because it reminds him of what he truly is".”

About the cover:  It’s gorgeous, and one of the things that had me reading the book in the first place. The roses have a very deep meaning in the Beauty and the Beast story, but not so here.  Also, the spiral stairs emphasize the confusion of the ever-changing castle. 

Arianne's Review: When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle

Title: When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle

Published: Published May 1st 2012 by Simon Pulse

Source: Library

Format: Paperback

Group age: Young adult

Genre: Contemporary retelling

Reviewer: Arianne

Grade rate: C-

Rosaline knows that she and Rob are destined to be together. She’s been waiting for years for Rob to kiss her - and when he finally does, it’s perfect. Then Juliet arrives on the scene.
 This is not how the story was supposed to go. When rumours start swirling about Juliet’s instability - her neediness, a her threats of suicide - Rose starts to fear not only for Rob’s heart, but also for his life.

Arianne's Review

I really wanted to love this book. I adore Shakespeare retellings (and of course the originals themselves) and I know a lot of people who fell for When You Were Mine hook, line and sinker, but it just didn’t work out for me. I enjoyed some parts of the book, but there were just too many major errors to ignore.

Initially, I was positively electrified by the idea of the famous story being retold from Rosaline's point of view. Poor Rose doesn't get much mention in the original, but my oh my, this version is all hers. Her voice is totally unique - at least at first. As times goes on and events unfold, however, the once captivating and feisty Rose becomes a veritable waterfall of complaints about how miserable she is, how much she hates characters she used to love (for no real reason at all), and what a pain it is to be beautiful, popular and basically perfect.

Of course, it's understandable that Rose is devastated over losing Rob to Juliet, who used to be her best friend but has become vindictive and hateful in the years since they last saw each other. There's plenty of backstory to justify this, but sometimes I just didn't buy it.

Rebecca Serle's Rob is no Leonardo DiCaprio, and she just doesn't manage to get away with this convoluted (if mildly entertaining) take on the classic. 'Rob' stops being a loveable male lead to a deranged lunatic in a matter of chapters, but Serle insists on describing him as the utter hero until the very last agonising pages. (Unlike Shakespeare's Romeo - we all knew he was crazy from the start!) Maybe if Serle spent less time focusing on how catty Rose thought Juliet was, she might have been able to create a deep, complex and interesting set of characters instead.

The plot isn't exactly stellar, either. Romeo and Juliet is an emotional rollercoaster, and yes, we've probably all said it's unrealistic at one point or another, but this book takes things to a whole other level. The standard of modern YA is so high and this book completely fell below par. The writing was fine, but that in itself speaks volumes – no one should have to put up with an ‘average’ YA book these days. Writers need to push themselves to write with depth and originality, but Serle lacks enthusiasm in this respect. She only portrays the sides of characters she wants to see; there’s no consideration for a reader who wants a romantic but well-balanced story. I kept hoping for something really memorable to happen, but even the climax was a let-down. It's hard to explain because there were some bits I genuinely liked, but the overall direction the story took just wasn't to my taste.

Rosaline is made into a victim, lacking impulse and decisiveness; Juliet is stigmatised, leaving her character barely fleshed out; and in an unsurprising fashion, Rob is treated is alternately as a god and then as some kind of precious but led-astray boy who just needs saving. In all honesty, I wasn't surprised to learn the author wrote this book to get back at a cheating ex.

I wish I could give this book a better review, but in truth it's a story that forgets there's a difference between original material and original ideas, and it let me down.