Cruel Beauty (Cruel Beauty)

by Rosamund Hodge

[Katie King]

There are a lot of people who compare this book to Beauty and the Beast. Don't get me wrong, I don't disagree with them - it's totally a Beauty and the Beast retelling. But I love Beauty and the Beast. It's easily one of my favorite movies, and while I love all the Disney princesses...come on. Belle loves books, I love books. She has brown hair, I have brown hair. Clearly we're the same person. Beauty and the Beast is basically a biography of my life except for the magic, enchanted castle, beast, France, and sacrificing your life/happiness for other people stuff. That's why I knew I would love Cruel Beauty when I bought it, and why I'm so conflicted now because I didn't.

Cruel Beauty is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but with a twist. Long ago, a man made a deal with the devil, as many of the villagers do, exchanging the ability to procreate with one of his unborn daughters - Nyx. She would be wed to this devil - ironically called the "Gentle Lord" - sent to live in his castle from where he keeps a watchful eye on the village, and attempt to kill him in their bed. Even though, as the villagers know, without the Gentle Lord their village would fall to ruins. With him, they are safe, they are protected, and they are trapped and mistreated. I guess the villagers would like to take their chances. This is Nyx's destiny; she was born and raised to kill the cruel Gentle Lord. So imagine her surprise when he isn't anything like what she imagined.

The story was good for a while. Well, talking with her sister/dad/aunt before the ceremony was boring. Going back to them to plot with her sister was boring. When she was just walking around and exploring alone it was a little slow too. I didn't like her family at all nor any of the scenes that took place in the village she came from. But then she and Ignifex (the Gentle Lord) fell in love and everything was great! I was loving what was going on minus the village scenes. I was too caught up in what was going down with her and Ignifex to care about all of that other stuff going on. I skimmed, okay?! But then the ending happened and it all exploded out of nowhere and really ruined my enjoyment of the book.

Let's back up to the characters. Nyx was weirdly violent, like constantly throwing things and shouting and overreacting at everything. Maybe this was a tactic to make her seem like a tough bitch? It really just turned me off of her. Ignifex was much better and HE was the one that was supposed to be violent and such! I actually love Ignifex a lot. I thought he had amazing depth to him, and not something that was built up just for the purposes of giving him depth either. He seemed like just another smarmy asshole at first, but you get to know the pain and struggle he feels inside. Getting onto Shade, I liked him fine enough at first, but after he pulled the you-know-what I was absolutely NOT ABOUT IT. While Nyx and Ignifex's romance felt really natural to me, Nyx and Shade's romance (yep, triangle) seemed forced. I felt nothing between them, so I wasn't bothered when (show spoiler)[he turned out to be evil] (hide spoiler) , but that's just another point on why the ending was that much worse to me.

Everything about the ending will be tagged as a spoiler for maximum ranting.

(show spoiler)[The ending bothered me so much. First of all, I was very confused by what was even happening. Like Ignifex and Shade recombine into one soul, he looks into the box, and the bargain is undone...but they only go back like 17 years in time? Shouldn't they have gone back like 900 years or however long it's been since the bargain? But I guess then that's a long time for Prince Marcus (Ignifex + Shade) to have been alone in the box. So the Kindly Ones brought back Prince Marcus right when she just happened to be sitting there, which is pretty convenient, so that she can sacrifice herself to be in the box with him a.k.a. the selfless act to get him released. But didn't the prince have to be the one to do the selfless act? Apparently if some random sparrow (who even knows what that had to do with anything) says "keep your deal", you have to I guess. The Kindly Ones got all mad like they've been defeated but they STILL had to put her in the box, just to release them? Why did they even have to put her in the box if they she had done the selfless act?

The other problem is that when he was brought back it seemed like he didn't know her at all. If he didn't know her then the stuff never happened, but she remembers it, so it still did happen somehow? And somehow he also remembers it even though he should either not remember at all because it technically didn't happen OR he would have a weird fractured memory of everything since he experienced it via two different people. But they just act like they're super in love even thought Nyx acknowledges that it's not quite Shade or Ignifex, it's someone new who has pieces of both. How does she know she loves him? To me it seemed like his mannerisms were weirding her out because he seemed more like a stranger, but I guess love conquers all in this story.

The worst part is that near the end Hodge was clearly trying to turn the tide against Shade and make him unlikable. He was all creepy and controlling and scary and FORCED HER INTO A FIRE. So I'm reading and thinking about how much I definitely don't like him and I want her and Ignifex to have babies and be together forever. THEN, Nyx decides to still help Shade out and destroy Ignifex...because why?!? She released gross Shade from his prison even though she seemed very reluctant and uncomfortable the whole time, just so that he could ruin her love's life! You think it's right that the skeevy guy wins?!? Let's just forget all of the stuff he JUST did that landed him in his little prison in the first place!! So pretending it is okay, which it's not, then when Shade joins with Ignifex to create Marcus again, she knows she loves him. She knows this new guy is part creepy guy but she's fine with it. I'd be like "yeah, I know you're part Ignifex but you're also part Shade....I don't know man...." Like NO I could NOT just forgive the way you acted ESPECIALLY since Ignifex was supposed to be the evil part of the prince!] (hide spoiler)

Another thing that bothered me was the integration of Greek mythology. I felt like it was somewhat awkwardly done, so it came off forced and tarnished the story for me. I couldn't even follow the random mentions of Pandora's Box or what that had to do with Beauty and the Beast. Then Prometheus and the gods and Kronos came in and I was pretty much over it. Sometimes simpler is better!

Which speaking of simpler is better, the whole way that the prince not being pure of heart and how that led to the exact scenario Nyx found herself in was so convoluted. Fate would have really had to pull a few doubles to keep that crazy plot on track for 900 YEARS. I mean, why didn't the prince just be like "okay, I'm not pure of heart but I'll try anyways"? The whole situation for 900 years was his fault and everyone just brushed it aside like it's fine. (show spoiler)[When did the Kindly Ones know it was time for his wives to die? How did they know when they were close to guessing his name? Were they like a few vowels off so they figured they should probably kill her soon? How did they force Ignifex to kill anyone? Why did they let Nyx survive for so long? Why could Nyx remember everything that happened when it actually didn't happen? Aren't the villagers going to be interested in this mysterious handsome stranger that she's married to somehow? I love how her dad and aunt only end up legitimately together in the scenario where an evil demon doesn't rule over them for 900 years. Classic.] (hide spoiler)

Clearly I have a lot of feelings about Cruel Beauty. I really, really wanted to love it. And for a while, I did. But the ending just so completely threw me for a loop that I found it had detracted from everything I enjoyed. It could've been amazing. It WAS amazing for a little bit. Then it all fell apart.