I got an advanced reading copy of this book to review through the Amazon Vine program. I love fairy tale retellings and this retelling of Beauty and the Beast was described as a mix of Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast. It ended up being a decent book, there were some things I really loved about it but also some things that could have been done better.
Nyxs father made a deal with the Gentle Lord and as a result Nys will pay for his bargain. Nyx has been destined to marry the Gentle Lord since her birth, the Gentle Lord is basically a Prince of demons and shadows and is greatly feared by all. Nyxs father has been training her since birth to kill the Gentle Lord and bring down his nine hundred year old kingdom which has kept their kingdom of Arcadia trapped in an isolated world. However when Nyx finally meets the Gentle Lord, Ignifex, she finds out that things are not quite how she has been lead to believe.
Nyx is an interesting character, she is obviously scared to meet her new husband. She is also a bit bitter against her sister, Astraia, who is allowed to live peacefully with the family because she takes more after her mother than her father. Nyx is determined to complete her mission of assassinating the Gentle Lord, but also strangely drawn to Ignifexs strange mix of tenderness, dark humor, and cruelty. Nyx is a character that is very flawed and hard to like, but her cruelty paired with her compassion make her fascinating.
Ignifex is also a fascinating character. You dont really know what to expect from him. He is more indifferent and playful than cruel in the beginning of the story. As the story continues we start to see more aspects of his personality, he is cruel, he is powerful, yet he can be kind and he is somewhat vulnerable. Of course he is handsome and dashing.
This book is mostly about the relationship between Nyx and Ignifex, and I have to say they are pretty excellent together. They each have a blend of cruelty and tenderness that compliments the other. They both are very flawed and they both do good and evil things.
The world is an interesting one. It seems to be based on Greco-Roman culture. There are a lot of mythology references throughout. In some ways this book is not only a retelling of Beauty and the Beast but also a retelling of Pandoras Box and Cupid and Psyche.
There are a lot of elements from Beauty and the Beast in here as well. Although it is a bit twisted. Initially you think Nyx is Beauty and Ignifex is the Beast, but the roles could be reversed...Nyx does some truly beastly things as well and Ignifex is supposed to be a creature of sublime beauty. Nyx does get permission to leave to visit her family at one point (just like in Beauty and the Beast) and this triggers some momentous events (just like in the original Beauty and the Beast story).
There were a few things I didnt like about this novel. It was very predictable, there is a bit of a love triangle at the beginning of the book but you can quickly figure out what is going on here and it is very predictable. I found the characters a bit hard to engage with at times and especially in the beginning of the book they werent very likable. I also felt like they were a bit 2D and could have been filled out a bit more, maybe it is just that the writing style isnt as descriptive or flowing as it could have been.
The last thing I didnt like was the fact that Nyx can do magic called Hermetic workings but they are never all that well explained and not used a ton throughout the book. The magic system between the Hermetic workings sounds fascinating and I really wish it had been expanded upon. Additionally Nyx doesnt use this skill a ton throughout the book, it seems like a skill Nyx really values and I didnt understand why she didnt make more use of it.
The writing was a bit stark and simple for me, this made the book feel a little dull and lackluster at points. The story didnt come alive and it was hard to picture some scenes in the book.
Overall this was a decent fairy tale retelling and a quick read. I liked the premise behind the book and throught the world was interesting. Although I liked the idea behind Nyx and Ignifex I really had some trouble engaging with them. I did enough the mythological elements throughout and thought this book did a decent job of retelling Beauty and the Beast in a unique way. There was just something about the writing style that made the book feel a bit dull for me, maybe it was that the writing style was a bit stark for this type of story. When I finished this book I kind of felt like, Huh, well that was okay but it could have been better.
Nyxs father made a deal with the Gentle Lord and as a result Nys will pay for his bargain. Nyx has been destined to marry the Gentle Lord since her birth, the Gentle Lord is basically a Prince of demons and shadows and is greatly feared by all. Nyxs father has been training her since birth to kill the Gentle Lord and bring down his nine hundred year old kingdom which has kept their kingdom of Arcadia trapped in an isolated world. However when Nyx finally meets the Gentle Lord, Ignifex, she finds out that things are not quite how she has been lead to believe.
Nyx is an interesting character, she is obviously scared to meet her new husband. She is also a bit bitter against her sister, Astraia, who is allowed to live peacefully with the family because she takes more after her mother than her father. Nyx is determined to complete her mission of assassinating the Gentle Lord, but also strangely drawn to Ignifexs strange mix of tenderness, dark humor, and cruelty. Nyx is a character that is very flawed and hard to like, but her cruelty paired with her compassion make her fascinating.
Ignifex is also a fascinating character. You dont really know what to expect from him. He is more indifferent and playful than cruel in the beginning of the story. As the story continues we start to see more aspects of his personality, he is cruel, he is powerful, yet he can be kind and he is somewhat vulnerable. Of course he is handsome and dashing.
This book is mostly about the relationship between Nyx and Ignifex, and I have to say they are pretty excellent together. They each have a blend of cruelty and tenderness that compliments the other. They both are very flawed and they both do good and evil things.
The world is an interesting one. It seems to be based on Greco-Roman culture. There are a lot of mythology references throughout. In some ways this book is not only a retelling of Beauty and the Beast but also a retelling of Pandoras Box and Cupid and Psyche.
There are a lot of elements from Beauty and the Beast in here as well. Although it is a bit twisted. Initially you think Nyx is Beauty and Ignifex is the Beast, but the roles could be reversed...Nyx does some truly beastly things as well and Ignifex is supposed to be a creature of sublime beauty. Nyx does get permission to leave to visit her family at one point (just like in Beauty and the Beast) and this triggers some momentous events (just like in the original Beauty and the Beast story).
There were a few things I didnt like about this novel. It was very predictable, there is a bit of a love triangle at the beginning of the book but you can quickly figure out what is going on here and it is very predictable. I found the characters a bit hard to engage with at times and especially in the beginning of the book they werent very likable. I also felt like they were a bit 2D and could have been filled out a bit more, maybe it is just that the writing style isnt as descriptive or flowing as it could have been.
The last thing I didnt like was the fact that Nyx can do magic called Hermetic workings but they are never all that well explained and not used a ton throughout the book. The magic system between the Hermetic workings sounds fascinating and I really wish it had been expanded upon. Additionally Nyx doesnt use this skill a ton throughout the book, it seems like a skill Nyx really values and I didnt understand why she didnt make more use of it.
The writing was a bit stark and simple for me, this made the book feel a little dull and lackluster at points. The story didnt come alive and it was hard to picture some scenes in the book.
Overall this was a decent fairy tale retelling and a quick read. I liked the premise behind the book and throught the world was interesting. Although I liked the idea behind Nyx and Ignifex I really had some trouble engaging with them. I did enough the mythological elements throughout and thought this book did a decent job of retelling Beauty and the Beast in a unique way. There was just something about the writing style that made the book feel a bit dull for me, maybe it was that the writing style was a bit stark for this type of story. When I finished this book I kind of felt like, Huh, well that was okay but it could have been better.
I went into reading this book with fairly high expectations. The blurb proudly claims "Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast", so I thought, "Hell yes, this is going to be amazing!" I loved Graceling and I adore faerie tale retellings or retellings of classics. Unfortunately, there were some aspects of this book that just didn't work for me.
The main plot line is fantastic. It is well thought out, plays off of the original story well, and is full of surprises the reader never sees coming. I particularly enjoyed the mythological elements that were included and how they tie back into the plot. I am always a sucker for any Greek or Roman mythology references.
I was really disappointed in the fact that we did not get to see more of Nyx's training. Comparing this book to Graceling seems like a bit of a stretch, considering there is almost no combat at all and the only training we really hear about is through Nyx's references to it in her past after she has already been moved into the castle.
One of the main things that fell flat for me was the romance. Neither Ignifex nor Shade seem to have any believable connection to Nyx at all--there is simply no chemistry. I also found Nyx's disloyalty to Ignifex and Shade and the creation of the love triangle particularly frustrating. The fact that the triangle is resolved later in a rather clever way makes up for it a bit, but this fact does not make it any less frustrating to read.
Overall, I really appreciated what this book was trying to do, and I think there were some elements of it that worked particularly well. I always love to see Greek and Roman mythology included in books in creative ways, and the twists on the classic "Beauty and the Beast" tale were amazingly clever. Unfortunately, the romance between Nyx and the male leads was too flat to go unnoticed and kind of ruined the story for me. I would recommend this book to fans of faerie tale retellings, romance, and mythology.
The main plot line is fantastic. It is well thought out, plays off of the original story well, and is full of surprises the reader never sees coming. I particularly enjoyed the mythological elements that were included and how they tie back into the plot. I am always a sucker for any Greek or Roman mythology references.
I was really disappointed in the fact that we did not get to see more of Nyx's training. Comparing this book to Graceling seems like a bit of a stretch, considering there is almost no combat at all and the only training we really hear about is through Nyx's references to it in her past after she has already been moved into the castle.
One of the main things that fell flat for me was the romance. Neither Ignifex nor Shade seem to have any believable connection to Nyx at all--there is simply no chemistry. I also found Nyx's disloyalty to Ignifex and Shade and the creation of the love triangle particularly frustrating. The fact that the triangle is resolved later in a rather clever way makes up for it a bit, but this fact does not make it any less frustrating to read.
Overall, I really appreciated what this book was trying to do, and I think there were some elements of it that worked particularly well. I always love to see Greek and Roman mythology included in books in creative ways, and the twists on the classic "Beauty and the Beast" tale were amazingly clever. Unfortunately, the romance between Nyx and the male leads was too flat to go unnoticed and kind of ruined the story for me. I would recommend this book to fans of faerie tale retellings, romance, and mythology.
Summary:
Nyx has been trained all of her life for vengeance. Her father made a deal before she was born for her to marry the Gentle Lord, Ignifex, the man who has brought tyranny down upon Nyx's people. Nyx is slated to marry and then kill him so that her people wil find relief. Training her entire life, she finds herself in an odd position once she finds that she kind of likes Ignifex. In spite of her attraction to him, she still attempts to kill him. Will she succeed or will something else come of their marriage?
My thoughts:
This mixes several fairy tales and myths together, but for the most part, I enjoyed myself. While I don't believe it is as close to the Beauty and the Beast tale that the title comes from, I do see aspects of that story. I feel that this is more securely based off of roman mythology. Either way, Hodge definitely blends a lot of legend into her fantasy tale. Ignifex became my favorite character. He is intriguing and manipulative. Overall, he's easy to enjoy figuring out motivations and learning about. I found him to be more enjoyable than Nyx, but she is also well drawn out. Far from Belle, from Beauty and the Beast, Nyx is not the pure hearted female. She is a tougher shell to crack and responds to love in a different manner than what we see in the fairy tale. I would say that she definitely has a stronger character base as a beast than as a beauty. I was able to guess where most of the story was going, but still found myself chuckling at things that were happening. The only problem is that it was a bit slow at times, which made parts tedious to get through.
Nyx has been trained all of her life for vengeance. Her father made a deal before she was born for her to marry the Gentle Lord, Ignifex, the man who has brought tyranny down upon Nyx's people. Nyx is slated to marry and then kill him so that her people wil find relief. Training her entire life, she finds herself in an odd position once she finds that she kind of likes Ignifex. In spite of her attraction to him, she still attempts to kill him. Will she succeed or will something else come of their marriage?
My thoughts:
This mixes several fairy tales and myths together, but for the most part, I enjoyed myself. While I don't believe it is as close to the Beauty and the Beast tale that the title comes from, I do see aspects of that story. I feel that this is more securely based off of roman mythology. Either way, Hodge definitely blends a lot of legend into her fantasy tale. Ignifex became my favorite character. He is intriguing and manipulative. Overall, he's easy to enjoy figuring out motivations and learning about. I found him to be more enjoyable than Nyx, but she is also well drawn out. Far from Belle, from Beauty and the Beast, Nyx is not the pure hearted female. She is a tougher shell to crack and responds to love in a different manner than what we see in the fairy tale. I would say that she definitely has a stronger character base as a beast than as a beauty. I was able to guess where most of the story was going, but still found myself chuckling at things that were happening. The only problem is that it was a bit slow at times, which made parts tedious to get through.
This was a different twist to "Beauty and the Beast". Sometimes it was a struggle to follow, but it would evnetually sort out as I kept reading. All was written well, till the last few chapters. The book could have ended differently, but *shrug* it was alright in the end.
This book didn't thrill me. It didn't start out that way. It started out fabulously, actually. I'm a sucker for Beauty and the Beast retellings and I loved the angry, revenge-filled heroine and her prickly interactions with the man she was forced to marry. He was actually pretty humorous. She punches him in the face, tries to stab him with a fork and all he can do is slyly smile and say, "I do like a wife with a little malice in her heart." I saw at least a 4 ½ star rating in this books future but then, as many a book does, it frustrated and eventually lost me.
The narration was wonderful. Elizabeth Knowelden gave it everything she had and breathed life into the characters but somewhere, I'm guessing it was about the midway point but who really knows, after the introduction of a unique love triangle (but still . . . love triangle, ugh), much dithering back and forth and kissing of both men (who can blame a girl, right? ugh), and much less of the fun dialogue that I so enjoyed in the beginning, my attention started to wane.
So like any good Beauty & the Beast tale, there's a big curse. There's also a justifiably angry heroine and a plot filled with mythology and mysteries and many twists and turns. Those weren't my problems. The biggest problem for me was Nyx's dithering between her lover boys and her loyalties and the fact that all of her relatives were just selfish and awful and basically ruined her future happiness for their own gain. She should've let them all suck it. But, alas, instead of stabbing them with a fork as they so well deserved, she acquiesces to their wishes time and again and it made me very growly. They were completely deserving of her hatred, if you ask me. I know you didn't but there it is. On a final note, the ending was decent but the frustration to get there nearly did me in.
The first half (or so) gets a 4 ½ the rest a 2. I guess I'll have to settle on a three.
The narration was wonderful. Elizabeth Knowelden gave it everything she had and breathed life into the characters but somewhere, I'm guessing it was about the midway point but who really knows, after the introduction of a unique love triangle (but still . . . love triangle, ugh), much dithering back and forth and kissing of both men (who can blame a girl, right? ugh), and much less of the fun dialogue that I so enjoyed in the beginning, my attention started to wane.
So like any good Beauty & the Beast tale, there's a big curse. There's also a justifiably angry heroine and a plot filled with mythology and mysteries and many twists and turns. Those weren't my problems. The biggest problem for me was Nyx's dithering between her lover boys and her loyalties and the fact that all of her relatives were just selfish and awful and basically ruined her future happiness for their own gain. She should've let them all suck it. But, alas, instead of stabbing them with a fork as they so well deserved, she acquiesces to their wishes time and again and it made me very growly. They were completely deserving of her hatred, if you ask me. I know you didn't but there it is. On a final note, the ending was decent but the frustration to get there nearly did me in.
The first half (or so) gets a 4 ½ the rest a 2. I guess I'll have to settle on a three.
