Suz @ Bookish Revelations
Written on Jan 9, 2014
Full review coming soon.
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?
- ISBN10 0062224735
- ISBN13 9780062224736
- Publish Date 28 January 2014
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers Inc
- Imprint Balzer and Bray
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 352
- Language English
- URL http://harpercollins.com.au/9780062224736
Reviews
Full review coming soon.
jnikkir
Written on Dec 29, 2013
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My feelings towards Cruel Beauty are extremely complicated -- or rather, extremely diverse. There were things I really enjoyed, which make me want to rate this one 4 stars; but on the other hand, there are things that really frustrated me, which make me want to rate it... well. Lower.
One unexpected thing, which I really enjoyed, was the Greek mythology that's woven into the story. I had assumed that this would be a straightforward retelling in a sort of newish world, and I totally didn't see the Greek stuff coming at all. Actually, I'm pretty sure there were also a few other fairy tales in there, too. But yeah, I really liked everything about the worldbuilding and mythology, and I found that really engaging even when the characters or story got kind of frustrating.
Another thing that surprised me was the love triangle -- yes, there is one. Wellll... kind of. And I appreciated that it wasn't actually your normal love triangle. I'm not sure if I've made up my mind yet, on whether it's a good-different or bad-different sort of situation, but if nothing else, I do think it makes for a pretty interesting part of the story.
My only real problem with any of the romance in Cruel Beauty is the insta-love (and I do mean insta-love). First there's Ignifex, the evil Lord Nyx is trying to overthrow, and whom Nyx is very much dead-set against falling for. Aaaaand... then there's Shade. Nyx's reaction to Shade was insta-love in the extreme -- it was jarring and felt really odd (honestly, her character didn't really make sense to me at all -- more on that later). Her relationship with Ignifex was miles better, for me. Actually, Ignifex was probably my favorite character in the whole book -- at first he's pretty much what you'd expect from the "beast" character, maybe a little more manipulative and cunning. But then as you learn more about him and his situation, he grew on me a lot. So I'm a fan of his for sure.
Nyx herself was extremely hair-pull-inducing. She seemed to be constantly changing her mind and feelings. I've heard some people say that this makes her more believable, which I can buy to an extent -- feelings are complicated. I get that. But to me, her wildly changeable feelings felt extremely jarring, and I just couldn't wrap my head around her. Also, her actions consistently contradicted what she'd been brought up and trained from birth to do. She's been preparing to overthrow Ignifex for years, and within the first few days of arriving at his palace, she turns into someone who loses sight of her goals in favor of being emotionally strung out about Ignifex and Shade. She still tries to do what she's been trained to do in order to overthrow Ignifex, but it never felt like a priority, or like there was any kind of tension behind it. Which was disappointing.
I'm also not a huge fan of Cruel Beauty's ending, like... at all. Having guessed how the "love triangle" would play out, that resolution was a little anti-climactic for me. I actually grew to love Ignifex by the end, and so... you know, at the end, how the beast has to change back into the wonderful prince? Yeah... I kind of didn't want him to. -_-
Also, the resolution to Nyx's town's/world's predicament was handled in a way that I never enjoy... I know that's just my own pet peeve, but still. (Vague spoilers ahead...) It really annoys me when the resolution to any plot is to use some kind of Big Red Reset Button to "fix" everything. I always feel like it ruins the story that preceded it, and this case was no different.
As a result of this mode of resolution, there are a bunch of weird character-"development" twists at the end, which I thought were a liiiitle too convenient. Maybe the conclusion was too rushed to really deal with these changes appropriately... I feel like probably not, though. It felt strange and disorienting, and that's not how I like books to be resolved.
In conclusion...
I've never felt so completely torn about a book before. Most of what I explained above is negative, yes, and I feel very strongly about those things: I did not enjoy those things. But... the things I did enjoy -- Ignifex himself, and the Greek mythology, OH!! and Ignifex's castle with its changing rooms and staircases (that was awesome) -- I really enjoyed those things. Like, 4-star-level enjoyed them -- they're what kept me interested in Cruel Beauty, to be honest. I still can't get over (what I see as) Nyx's inconsistencies of character, or the way the resolution was handled... But I can't get over Ignifex or the mythology either. So, though there were things that disappointed me overall, I think I'd still recommend this book if those sound like things you'd enjoy, as well.
--
There were books involved...
Amber
Written on Dec 29, 2013
I went into Cruel Beauty expecting great things. It’s been talked about all over the blogosphere. Every time I go onto Twitter people are fangirling over it, and recommending it to others. I was expecting a wonderfully dark story with Beauty and the Beast connections. Instead, all I got was a confusing novel that almost seemed nonsensical at times.
The beginning of the novel was very intriguing. I quickly became invested in the world that Hodge created, with the mythological tie-ins and the deals that had been struck with demons. The first fifty or so pages were fantastic, and I cannot fault them. Unfortunately, after those fifty pages, the book takes a nosedive.
Once Nyx goes to the ‘Beast’s’ castle and meets Ignifex is when everything essentially goes to shit. A love triangle is introduced, there is instalove concerning all parties (although mostly when it comes to Nyx), the story becomes confusing and weird, and very little of it makes sense.
One moment Nyx is trying to kill Ignifex, the next they’re shagging and wanting to marry. I don’t know about you, but I think it was a bit farfetched. Maybe if the book had been longer, we could have had a lot more build up over the months that Nyx was in the castle. Instead it felt very rushed, and I didn’t feel any chemistry between the characters at all.
I didn’t find Ignifex hot, either, which surprised me. Normally I like the dark, broken, sarcastic characters, but Ignifex and I just didn’t hit it off. I found him boring, and also a bit of an arsehole. I don’t understand why Nyx was attracted to him in the first place. I was actually kind of hoping that she would end up killing him like she set out to do.
I did, however, enjoy the mythology that was entwined with the story. I wasn’t expecting it, and it came as a nice surprise. I love me some Greek mythology! It worked very well with the world building, and it gave the story a nice edge.
Cruel Beauty was an unexpectedly disappointing read, and I wish I could have loved it like everyone else did so I could join in with the fangirling. There was a lot of potential there, but I think the stupid instalove and the somewhat confusing backstory are what ruined it for me.
KitsuneBae
Written on Dec 27, 2013
Before I start my rant and exaltations for Cruel Beauty, let it be known that it has nothing to do with Graceling. I really don’t know what’s gotten into the mind of the marketers of this book to say that it’s a sweeping fantasy where Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast. Seriously? Now that we’re clear about that, my second advice is to take this book with zero expectations. Don’t overanalyse it or somewhat because if you do, you might end up hating it.
Cruel Beauty might have gotten a 4-star rating from me, but it doesn’t mean that it’s one my greatest reads for 2013. It has flaws that might very well push some readers to despise it, but thank goodness, my patience got the best of me and thus, it surprisingly entertained me. Cruel Beauty is a story about Nyx Triskelion, a 17 year old girl who had been affianced to the Evil Prince of their village since her birth. Almost all her life, she harbored bitter feelings towards her family for her doomed future and at the same time, schemed morbid thoughts on how to kill her would-be husband and eventually, free the people of Arcadia. Will she succeed or not?
One of the most remarkable things about Cruel Beauty is that the main character is not your typical martyr “Belle” whose goodness of heart is beyond compare whatever. Nix is a bitter, malicious, vengeful and a scheming young lady who dances between the fine line of goodness and meanness. She hates her family, including her long dead mother, but at the same time, she loves them. It is when her feelings are so conflicted that I truly admire her. There were even times that I was almost convinced that she maybe the beast in the guise of a pretty maiden. Her personality greatly depicts that humans are innately bad, but ultimately, it is your choice whether you let darkness control you or you rise from your baser nature.
Nyx’s significant half, Ignifex, is also an enigma. Is he really the beast or the beauty trapped in his own prison? As much as I want to dissect his character, I couldn’t lest I risk you getting spoiled, my dears. I can, however, assure you that he will make you dizzy… he will make you frown… he will make you pause… he will make you curse… xD
The relationship between the characters was also praise worthy considering that Nyx is a vortex of conflicting emotions. You could never guess how she would exactly react when she’s interacting with her family, particularly her sister and with her husband, Ignifex.
Cruel Beauty is heavily entwined with Greek Mythology which I think would be a hit or miss for the readers. As for me, I was okay with it to the point that I was just taking a lot of things at face value. I didn’t overanalyse whether Hodge did her Greek assignment well or not because I didn’t pick this book because I want to read a greek mythos. I picked it up because it’s a retelling of one of my beloved fairy tales and I want to see if Hodge accomplished what she’s expected to deliver. And she did, folks. She did.
The world building was also commendable. Arcadia and the Prince’s castle are beautifully crafted and quite unique considering that fairy tale world building typically means that you have this castle in a far far away land whatever. But Hodge did something more to the setting that will leave you unsettled.
Though the plot was unique in its own way, I was not entirely happy with it. There were moments that it moved sluggishly and some events were getting repetitive. But for the most part of the journey, I was undeniably entertained. And friends, I think this is the only book where the instalove was slightly mindblowing. It seems like an instalove but it wasn’t really. I wish I could explain it without spoiling you. Please be happy though that Cruel Beauty didn’t rely on its romance to move forward. Its plot is dark, so please don’t expect that you’re going to read about tea pots animated to life and all that nonsense. It seamlessly combined a Greek Mythology and a levelled-up Beauty and the Beast story to tell a haunting tale that is Cruel Beauty.
Overall, this book did a great justice to our beloved Beauty and the Beast even with its faults. Rosamund Hodge certainly made an unforgettable debut out of Cruel Beauty.
***An ARC was freely provided by the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Harper Collins and Balzer and Bray!***
Ashley
Written on Jul 13, 2013
Nose Graze — Young Adult book reviews
SIGH.
That's how I feel about Cruel Beauty.
For starters, I think that Cruel Beauty was just nothing like I expected. Almost right away it becomes clear that there's a huge connection to Greek mythology, and while I normally love Greek mythology, I just didn't click with it at all in Cruel Beauty. Maybe it's because I didn't expect it so I wasn't prepared, or maybe it actually didn't work within the book; I'm not sure. But I honestly thought it was a little weird.
And the romance in Cruel Beauty is also kind of strange. For starters, there's sort of a love triangle. I say "sort of" because there's actually more to it than that. the two guys are actually different sides of one person, but they're physically split apart so they seem like two people even though they're not O_O Nyx's relationship with one of the guys—Shade—was very insta-lovey. The first time they meet they just randomly kiss. What the hell? Then basically a few days later:
Last night I had kissed Shade. Last night he had as good as said that he loved me, and I thought I loved him in return.
Already they're talking about love? This is after they'd had maybe two conversations EVER.
And simultaneously, Nyx is pursuing a relationship with the other guy, Ignifex. She's also kissing him and actually married to the guy. Ignifex is supposed to be the "beast" in this story, but while Nyx would talk about how she's "falling for the monster", I just couldn't see it. I wasn't connected to their relationship at all. I didn't sense any chemistry, and as a reader I wasn't falling for Ignifex. If I don't fall for the guy, then I have a hard time appreciating the main character's relationship with him. And in Cruel Beauty I just didn't see the relationship working at all. There was nothing special about Ignifex. He wasn't even that nice! (Unlike the original beast, who's kind of a monster but slowly comes out of his shell and turns out to be a nice guy.)
I didn't hate the first half of the book, but once I got to the second half I was just ready to be done. I pretty much skimmed the entire last quarter of the book because I just wasn't that interested.
To wrap it all up: Cruel Beauty has a really weird magic/paranormal element that I didn't expect, and when you combine that with a meh romance you get a book that I wasn't too crazy about. I thought that parts of the paranormal elements were just downright confusing. I had a hard time visualizing them and that part of the story just didn't click with me. Overall I'm massively disappointed because I was so psyched for a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but Cruel Beauty just didn't resonate with me.
I wanted a great love story, but I didn't get that out of Cruel Beauty, which was the biggest bummer. If anything, the mythology and paranormal aspects were the strongest element.