Beastly Beauty is a reimagined take on the Beauty and the Beast fairytale. This retelling manages to be both a twist and traditional at the same time with some modern themes inspired by old-fashioned notions. From the traditionalist seat, although the time is vague, it is a European setting with 18th/19th century-feel complete with a castle in the woods; the heroine is constrained by the narrowly defined roles of women in society. From the twist seat, the roles are swapped (girl = beast and boy = beauty) and the author takes the opportunity to explore more modern themes like self-acceptance, self-understanding, and breaking role stereotypes. The male love interest is quite modern in his supportive role of women; it was sweet to see him cheering on and appreciating the unconventional (for the time period) interests, ambitions, and talents of Arabella. Beau and Arabella actually share a common struggle with their self-perception and self-image.
Fans of the original Beauty and the Beast or of fairytale retellings will enjoy this newest version which is both classic and fresh at the same time.
Review of a Digital Advance Reading Copy Provided by the Publisher
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 11 religious exclamations; 50 mild obscenities; 7 derogatory names; 4 scatological words; 13 anatomical terms; 2 offensive hand gestures.
Violence/Gore: Magic makes king in a deck of playing cards a plunge sword into his heart; verbal threats; man draws knife on another; beast claws character’s chest drawing blood; reference to town bullies; beast pursues men with intent to harm; destruction of a structure; character recalls being beaten and stabbed with a knife; beast chases man and tries to get through a door to reach him; character grips someone’s arm so tightly their nails draw blood; said that thieves are hanged; reference to a magistrate who abused his wife; reports of rebellion involving destruction of property and beating of officials and a character says they peasants should be killed; spider crawls out of a woman’s hair and across her face and then she lunges to attack a character, brief scene of pursuit with intent to attack; moat is filled with gruesome, animated dead that try to kill characters who fall in, several separate scenes, some description of decay and the fighting to get free; beast attacks a character and flings them across the room, then claws drawing blood; character attacked by wolves, brief scene and is injured, mention of blood; threat with dagger; character cruelly kicks a boy in the back; character whips horse; character whips person; character thrown from horse, mention of blood, death; recounting of how a parent died and their extreme pain, mention of blood; beast bites head off small animal and eats it; painful transformation; report of death of a parent; report of hearing a child beaten; character punches wall in anger; injury from fall/flight;
Sex/Nudity: Female traces line of a young man’s jaw with her finger; woman kisses man; a character’s job in a thieving gang is to get women to be attracted to him; character confesses to have cheated on their spouse; female is attracted to a male and desires to stroke his hair and touch his lips and kiss him; male finds a woman very beautiful/attractive; two men recount their love story and how they fell in love and kissed for the first time; man touches man’s cheek; man feels desire for a woman and vice versa; male and female kiss passionately, a few separate occasions; verbal expression of love between a man and woman; characters embrace.
Mature Subject Matter:
Discrimination, restricted female roles in society, arranged marriages, thievery, poverty, death.
Alcohol/Drug Use:
Drinking of wine with meals; group of men get drunk on wine; reference to drunken father; drinking of brandy.
