Of Beast And Beauty by Stacey Jay

beastOf Beast And Beauty
Author: Stacey Jay
Category: Young Adult
Publisher: Delacorte
Release Date: 7-23-13
In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.  Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.  As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love. – Goodreads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“She’s a queen; I’m her prisoner. I resent her and she fears me, and there are times when I fear her, too. I am her monster, and she is mine.” – ARC pg. 156

Of Beast And Beauty is probably one of the most interesting retellings I have read in a long time.    Beauty and the Beast is a very old folk tale and its themes are well known; in some cases the sins of the father are visited upon the children, as a daughter must remain prisoner to repay a debt.  In others, it is simply a tale of moral corruption and the way that true love can cleanse and redeem the soul.  This particular interpretation takes on both of those ideas.  In Yuan, a great environmental disaster took place long ago and those lucky enough to flee to the dome are protected, while those on the outside were left to fend for themselves until the curse could be broken by the two people who must fall in love.  As I read it, I felt like the beast was not one person, but those  in the dome, with Isra as their blind queen.  She is blind both literally and figuratively until she starts to listen not only to the enchanted roses on the palace grounds, but the mysterious dreams that haunt her.  In contrast, Gem is called a Monstrous because of the scaly skin that is an adaptation of the harsh desert environment, but it was soon obvious that any ugliness in this book existed within people.  In many ways, Isra’s inability to see her prisoner allows her to know him better, and their relationship progresses into something deeper.

The twists in this story really made it for me.  Yuan is filed with many, many secrets and as they are revealed, Isra must make some very painful decisions.  When she discovers the conditions of the people outside, Isra becomes determined to make things right.   One very interesting perspective is that of Bo, the son of a powerful adviser and Isra’s betrothed.  I found him to be interesting because of his internal conflict.  He has been raised to obey and he is ambitious, but there is something in him that sees the injustice that Isra sees.  It brought a very interesting perspective to the story and I am so glad that Stacey Jay included his point of view in the book. This story has some very dark elements to it, and it was unflinching in its descriptions of the Monstrous in the desert region and the harsh conditions of their lives.  The writing is beautiful and the different points of view brought depth to a story that has been written and studied many times before. Of Beast and Beauty is a retelling that keeps the core of the original but puts an amazing new spin on some very old themes and makes them seem new again.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Find Stacey Jay online:
Website
Twitter
Facebook

Kate

Share:

149 responses to “Of Beast And Beauty by Stacey Jay

  1. Yep, I liked this too — loved the way it took the themes of the original story — beauty/ugliness, sacrifice, imprisonment, hatred — and turned them all around in new and original ways!

  2. So jelly you read this already. I love re-taling and super excited to read it. And I love that truel love can redeem a soul. Thanks for sharing.

  3. So jelly you read this already. I love re-taling and super excited to read it. And I love that true love can redeem a soul. Thanks for sharing.

  4. I’m so curious to read this one now, I keep seeing such wonderful reviews for it and it truly does sound like a unique take on this tale (which I wouldn’t think would be possible, there are SO many of them). This is definitely on my wish list. Lovely review!

  5. Title…

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a handful of unrelated information, nevertheless definitely really worth taking a look, whoa did 1 find out about Mid East has got far more problerms at the same time […]…

  6. ??

    Title…

    […]Every once in a although we opt for blogs that we read. Listed beneath would be the newest websites that we decide on […]…

  7. Title…

    […]we prefer to honor lots of other net web-sites around the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Beneath are some webpages worth checking out[…]…

  8. Title…

    […]very few internet websites that occur to become detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[…]…

  9. Title…

    […]we like to honor numerous other internet web sites around the internet, even though they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Beneath are some webpages really worth checking out[…]…

  10. Title…

    […]we like to honor many other web web-sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Underneath are some webpages really worth checking out[…]…

  11. Title…

    […]we like to honor a lot of other online web sites around the internet, even though they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Underneath are some webpages really worth checking out[…]…

  12. Title…

    […]very handful of internet sites that occur to become in depth beneath, from our point of view are undoubtedly very well really worth checking out[…]…

  13. Title…

    […]just beneath, are many completely not connected web sites to ours, nonetheless, they may be certainly really worth going over[…]…

  14. Title…

    […]although web-sites we backlink to beneath are considerably not associated to ours, we feel they’re essentially really worth a go through, so have a look[…]…

  15. Title…

    […]we like to honor a lot of other world wide web websites on the web, even when they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Beneath are some webpages really worth checking out[…]…

  16. Title…

    […]we prefer to honor lots of other net websites around the net, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Underneath are some webpages worth checking out[…]…

  17. Title…

    […]we prefer to honor lots of other internet web-sites around the web, even though they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]…

  18. Title…

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine some unrelated data, nevertheless definitely really worth taking a appear, whoa did one find out about Mid East has got additional problerms also […]…

  19. Title…

    […]we prefer to honor quite a few other internet web sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Underneath are some webpages really worth checking out[…]…

  20. Title…

    […]please check out the internet sites we follow, like this one, because it represents our picks from the web[…]…

  21. Title…

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a couple of unrelated information, nevertheless seriously really worth taking a search, whoa did one study about Mid East has got extra problerms too […]…

  22. Title…

    […]very handful of web-sites that take place to become detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly nicely really worth checking out[…]…

  23. Title…

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a number of unrelated data, nevertheless really really worth taking a appear, whoa did 1 understand about Mid East has got additional problerms also […]…

  24. Title…

    […]that may be the end of this article. Here you’ll come across some internet sites that we feel you’ll enjoy, just click the links over[…]…

  25. Title…

    […]Every once in a whilst we choose blogs that we study. Listed below would be the latest web sites that we pick out […]…

  26. Title…

    […]Every the moment inside a even though we decide on blogs that we read. Listed below would be the most current web-sites that we choose […]…

  27. Title…

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a handful of unrelated data, nevertheless definitely worth taking a search, whoa did one learn about Mid East has got additional problerms at the same time […]…

Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.