Disney Manga: Beauty and the Beast - The Beast's Tale by Mallory Reaves

Disney Manga: Beauty and the Beast - The Beast's Tale

by Mallory Reaves

In Disney's live-action film "Beauty and the Beast," Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman, is taken prisoner by a beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle's enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast's hideous exterior and realize the kind heart and soul of the true Prince inside. This manga explores the Beast's struggle as he tries to move on from his past and learn what it is to love.

Reviewed by Quirky Cat on

4 of 5 stars

Share

Beauty and the Beast – The Beast's Tale is the second novel in a two-part set. As you might have guessed from the title, it's a graphic novel/manga retelling of the beloved Beauty and the Beast story, with one major twist. Both stories show the main character's thoughts and perspectives on the matter. This time we get to see what the Beast thinks of everything.

Once again, I'm not going to bother summing up Beauty and the Beast – I feel like it's a story that most readers already know all too well. Any summation I try to do will simply pale in comparison.

I'll admit that while I was really looking forward to both Belle's Tale and The Beast's Tale, I was more interested in seeing what the Beast had to say about things. After all, Belle's perspective is pretty much the dominant focus for most retellings.

Beast's story is naturally a bit darker than its counterpart, but not to the point where it'll alarm children. Though admittedly, it didn't have the level of insight I had been hoping for (though, if I'm being honest, I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting).

The issues I mentioned in Belle's Tale still exist here, though some things make more sense now. Having read both, I do wish that this was one collected story and not two separate editions. I think that would have made more sense in the long run.

Where Belle's half is brighter and happier, the Beast's artwork style tends to be darker – literally. There's less color and an overall more somber impression of the style. It's quite appropriate, all things considered, and I think I like this artwork better.

Thanks to Disney Manga and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks | Quirky Cat's Comics | The Book Review Crew | Monkeys Fighting Robots | Storygraph | Bookhype | Bookstagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Reedsy

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 4 November, 2022: Finished reading
  • 4 November, 2022: Reviewed