"Cruel Beauty" by Rosamund Hodge
Published: January 28, 2014
Publisher: Balzar + Bray
Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Retelling
Pages: 342
Format: Hardcover
Source: MeLCat
Read January 24 to 30, 2015
Graceling
meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey
to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her
heart.
Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny. Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him. With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people. But Ignifex is not at all 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. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love. |
What I Thought This Book Would Be Like:
Amazing kick-ass girl who would kill the evil lord that has been controlling her country for hundreds of years.What the Book Was Actually Like:
Some puny, wimpy girl who has trained for years to kill the Gentle Lord, who is actually a dick face, decides that she loves him and instead of trying to kill him, which she's supposed to do, she has sex with him instead and also tries to bang his shadow-thing.
Like... what?!?! Really?!?! This book had so much potential, but... it just failed in so many ways.
Just another example of an amazing idea that was executed terribly.
I feel like the author wanted Nyx to be badass, but it just seemed like the she just tried too hard. Nyx was just too perfect. She could trace the symbol things with her eyes closed. However, she was a huge idiot. She couldn't figure out how to kill Ignifex, even though both he and Shade pretty much told her how to kill him. And she hardly uses the powers she spent years mastering, because she's amazing, in her efforts to kill Ignifex.
Another thing. What were the Hermetic Arts thing? They weren't explained very well. It was very vague with the description of it. All it seemed like there was with the description was that Nyx spent years mastering them and that she needed them to defeat the Gentle Lord.
And the last few chapters, those were really stupid. She remembers everything that had happened, but at the same time she doesn't. It seemed like she kept forgetting just to keep the story going.
Snape ain't havin' this shit.
So yes, this book was quite disappointing. However, the cover was quite beautiful. I am still a sucker for beautiful covers, and I am aware that I have a problem. At least I can admit it.
Nyx
I just wanted to slap her the entire time.
Ignifex
He wasn't too bad other than the fact that he's a major douche.
Shade
A sexii shadow. Okaaaayyyyyyy.
Overall, very disappointing. I had such high hopes, and they were crushed. So sad. Very sad.
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