{REVIEW} Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

CRUEL BEAUTY
by Rosamund Hodge

 

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy- Retelling
Pub Date: Jan 28, 2014
Publisher: Balzer + Bay
Length: Audiobook
Spoilers: N/A
Goodreads ♦ Amazon($9.39)

 

 

 

---

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom—all because of a reckless bargain her father struck. And since birth, she has been training to kill him.

Betrayed by her family yet bound to obey, Nyx rails against her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, she abandons everything she’s ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, disarm him, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not 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. But even if she can bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him?

---

Promised & Failed
I really liked the spin this book took on the original Beauty & The Beast fairytale. Instead of the woman being an innocent, virginal flower (like too many female MCs are >.>), Nyx had a bit of a dark side. And I loved it! I loved her dark side. I wanted her to embrace her dark side, but she struggled with it because (as society teaches us) the darkness is wrong. Cruelty is wrong. Aaaaand it honestly kind of bothered me how much that got in the way and altered how things occurred in the story.

Indecisive MC
Good God, Nyx. She may have been an interesting character and a diversion from the stereotypical ‘good girl,’ but all of that was overshadowed by her inability to pick which side she wanted to be on. One moment she is doing this thing. The next she is contradicting herself. It’s so infuriating, especially because I didn’t understand half of the reasons why she switched between the two sides.

Lacking Clarity
There were some parts of this book that I did not understand. Things would change abruptly or the characters would suddenly interact differently and it was like I’d completely missed the transition period that led them to that point. It left me baffled, lost, and confused. More clarity and continuity of the characters actions would have seriously improved this story.

---

---

---

Advertisement