A Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty's Prince
by Serena Valentino Book Review by Miranda Fraser ISBN: 978-1423159124 Oh, man! What DON'T I have to say about this book? First of all, Beauty and the Beast is by FAR my favorite Fairy Tale of all time! And Disney's version is the BEST! When I saw this book the first thing I was drawn to was the beautiful drawing of the Beast on the cover! I LOVE the Beast and to see something with JUST him, much less a whole novel devoted to him, was breathtaking! I eagerly got a copy of this novel and proudly have it displayed on my bedroom bookshelf. So now that you have an idea of just how much I love Beauty and the Beast, let me actually address what this novel was like. To begin with, I loved every second of it! But I was filled with an immediate dread when I opened the novel, what would she make the Beast's story be like? In other versions of the Fairy Tale the Beast was one of the worst people on earth, sometimes it was a sex scandal [one version has him sleeping with an orphan] and sometimes it was a cold blooded murder that got him to where he was when the Beauty enters the picture. I was so scared of what would be in the back story of my favorite Prince/Beast. But Valentino did his story wonderful justice! She sold a back story I would honestly buy as a legitimate "prequel" movie to Disney's version. (Seriously, Disney let's make more animated B&B movies. Please?) Valentino spins a story of an orphaned prince who grows up becoming more and more conceited as the years go by. He lives in this delusional world of what he thinks he wants, or should want. Such as a supermodel princess, a woman who is seen but rarely heard and certainly not someone who thinks or argues back at him. He put his own wants above others needs and thus proved what a terrible prince he would be to his people. He was a boy easily bored with things around him, including people, but I doubt he really saw it that way, and easily insulted if things weren’t going the way he thought they ought to be. His back story was played out and tied up so beautifully I was completely surprised and even more so that I didn’t have any real complaints. Secondly, though the story takes place mainly before Belle’s arrival at the castle there are parts that tie in to her life as well. For instance the Beast saw her once, before being transformed, but Gaston kept him from her. [Oh yea, PLOT TWIST! Pick up a copy ASAP to understand that bomb I just dropped!] And then there are things that occurred during her arrival there, such as the moment he gave her the library. Now, as I stated earlier, he did not want an intelligent woman so this gift means more than people realize. This was a gift given during a time that women were scorned for reading. A gift he gave knowing it fueled her to be who she truly was but also went against his own foolishness. And he liked it! Of course he did, we all saw the movie, and we saw his smile when she opened her eyes in wonder at the GORGEOUS library! But it was a poignant moment for their relationship and his transgression as a cursed man. AND THE BEST PART OF IT BEING IN THIS BOOK?! She used the actual quotes! No lie! She had it all right! I was so impressed. During this book if anything took place during what we saw in the movie she kept the actual quotes! I appreciated that more than I can say! Now going back to his notion that a woman should be seen and not heard we all know that that's the exact opposite of what Belle is and as much as it infuriates the Beast it also attracts him to her. I LOVED that she had the background have him be so foolish as to believe that was the type of woman he wanted because it only added fire to what we saw from him on screen. Then there were the things she changed. The reason for his curse was slightly different than what we had always seen on screen. We had always had an understanding of when and how it happened, but never really knew everything about it. Well, this curse just got a lot more complicated, from the who, how, and the time frame of the curse. I highly suggest getting it, it was definitely worth it! And there was also how the curse affected him, in Valentino’s version he saw things of the curse different than Belle did. Belle saw the enchanted side of things while the Beast saw things as menacing, a bonus to his curse. That was a little hit and miss for me... I found the notion interesting at first, but it failed when you thought about how things played out on screen. However, I still really enjoyed the plot twist and how she played it all out! Finally, I have to say that Serena Valentino gets two BIG thumbs up from me! This story was excellent, so well done, and tied into the original movie that I was blown away by the flawless way she strung it all together. She gave an insight to things people have been questioning for years, such as why the people forgot about him and what of his parents, insight into his connections with his servants, and so much more. PLUS I happen to know that this ties into her next book Ursula and MIGHT have a connection to a previous book. One, which no doubt, I will be tracking down ASAP! My real gripe about this story was that it ended so soon! Links to Valentino's Facebook and website will be posted below.
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Fairy Tale Reviews!Fairy Tales are some of the GREATEST treasures we have as humans! I am so excited for these reviews! Archives
October 2022
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