Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge.
Rating : 5 / 5
Released Date : 28 January
2014
Pages :342
Genre :High Fantasy, Beauty-and-the-Beast,
Romance, YA
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: I
own a Copy
“A virgin knife in a virgin’s hand
Can kill the beast that rules the
land.”
This book
nearly brought me to tears several times. (I swear it was kind of bad and
frustrating.) It’s a classic retelling of the Beauty and the Beast in a Greek
Mythology kind of way. (Two of my favorite things!)
The
Writing Style. (5 / 5)
The story
is told in FP there are no POV’s and it was a breeze to read. What more can you
ask for? Oh, and the Humor of course.
The World.
(5 / 5)
I loved
this world especially the castle with its many doors, constantly changing. Arcadia
is a city captured in a dome by one prince’s mistake regarding the box of
Pandora. (I will not say what, it’s part of the twist, sorryL) The sunlight is artificial. Ships
can’t go far or the fall into oblivion. (Well you get the point. It reminds of
Under the Dome by Stephan King.) It’s said that demons live in the shadows and
if you look to long into the shadows you’ll go mad. I loved this small bubble
of theirs.
The Plot.
(5 / 5)
Nyx has to
pay for her father’s mistake and marry the Gentle Lord, a Beast, but she soon learns
under his care that not all is as it seems. The faith of Arcadia lies in her
hands and she doesn’t even know it.
The
Characters. (5 / 5)
Nyx.
“I was
raised to marry a Monster.”
Nyx
resents her father who happens to be the famous (but weird addition.) Leonidas.
He and his wife desperately wanted to have children so he made a deal with the
Gentle Lord at a dearly cost. Nyx has a chance and that is to kill the Gentle
Lord because it so happens to be she is still a virgin and if she can find the
seals (Elemental stuff.) she can break the spell to which Arcadia is bound to.
She falls in love with the Gentle Lord’s right-hand man, Shade. (Almost a
Ghostly Figure) and it nearly cost her her life.
There is a
love triangle. (This provoked mixed emotions.)
Ignifex.
“I’m the
evil demon lord. I know it’s not a compliment, but I do like a wife with a
little malice in her heart.”
Ignifex
has a unique story and it’s a sad one. He had eight wives before Nyx but he’s not
really evil just lonely. He is the demon all the puny men go to and make deals but
at what cost? He tricks and deceives them. (It’s his job.) But even the Demon
like man is afraid of the dark.Ignifex makes a bargain with Nyx, that if she
could guess his real name, she will be free if not, he will kill her.
In the end
she becomes his salvation.
The
smaller things.
The twist
was amazing and it had me on the edge of my seat and tears threatened to spill
over the brinks of my eyelids. This book had me screaming at the blank walls of
my bedroom because Nyx nearly destroyed everything.
I do
recommend this read to anyone and everyone who likes a beauty meets the beast
kind of story and who also likes Greek Mythology. This book was its money’s
worth.
Miss
Rosamund Hodge is scheduled to release another compelling retelling of Romeo
and Juliet named Bright Smoke, Cold Fire. I truly hope this will be as amazing
as Cruel Beauty.
The Blurb.
“I was
seduced into a world where the Greeks had a Beauty and a Beast. Truly a
captivating read that will have you hooked until the very last page.”
Get the
Book Here ↓
Visit the Author Here ↓
