Cruel Beauty (Cruel Beauty)

by Rosamund Hodge

[ladygrey]

I was hesitant to read this book because of the comparisons to Graceling (which I didn't like much and even less after book club). But then I read an interview with Hodge where she discussed how she handled the romance and I was intrigued.

I think this book has the potential to be a 4 star book after a reread because there's a lot of depth in it and a lot of allusions you don't catch the first time around.

But also the pacing was a bit difficult. In some places (where there's dialog and character interaction) it's very good. Ignifex is awesome because he's both cruel and charming but he's so blithe about it that you kinda have to love him. And Nyx keeps up with his banter so well. And I really liked how honest each of them are about themselves and their flaws. It kept seemingly unredeemable characters from being unlikable. But at the same time there were huge swaths of scenes of just Nyx wandering around the house or their entire being in love rolled over montage style. And there was a lot of information repeated over and over. So, better pacing could have sharpened what's already a good story.

It was also a little obvious but then not really predictable which was cool (and bad but true to this book. The thing is even though bad things happened they never felt awful or anything really at all. They were unique and almost lovely in their description but they weren't painful to read so the reader doesn't have to pay the price with the characters).

The whole section after she's at his house felt a lot like [b:Til We Have Faces|17343|Till We Have Faces|C.S. Lewis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1381692105l/17343._SY75_.jpg|2072983] in tone and Nyx's character was a lot like Orual. I was really struck by the similarity between the stories so it was gratifying for Hodge to recognize that in the acknowledgement and let me know I wasn't totally off base. Also because I kept thinking, this isn't Beauty and the Beast it's Eros and Psyche. And I've always though Beauty and the Beast is kind of a rip off of the Greek myth so it was fun and unexpected to see a YA novel take that approach. There's a lot of other mythic elements and Hodge is wrangling some serious folklore elements, very well I might add. Which is why I think I'd like it even more after reading it again.