Book Review: Beauty and the Werewolf
by: Mercedes Lackey
3/5
Well, I read this book in under 24 hours, which is the main point in its favor. It is diverting. However, that's about all I can say about it that is unequivocally in its favor. I gave it 3 stars because it did keep me mildly entertained. As long as I didn't think about it too much.
First of all, the main character, Isabella (or, as she prefers Bella). Bella. Who falls in love with a werewolf. Am I reading Team Jacob Twilight fanfic?! Really, 6 years after Twilight came out, is this the best she can do?! Ok, I get it. Bella. Belle. Beauty. Ha ha. But still.
Isabella is the rich and wonderful daughter of a well-off merchant, who lives with her father, a stepmother who is not evil, and two step-sisters who are neither ugly nor cruel. And thus, the story begins. The problem is that Isabella is a fully *modern* character. This is no Belle, dreaming of princes in disguise as she reads. Even Disney did a better job getting a character to fit the story. Isabella has fully modern sensibilities and is the perfect insert-yourself-here pretty, smart, enjoys dancing and flirting but is not boy-crazy heroine. She is not in any way a product of the world in which she lives. Which is... weird. But, it is somewhat acceptable in a fairytale, as those are set in a timeless pseudo-fantasy neverland. But this book takes itself a bit to seriously for that and does a bit of world-building, which is a characteristic of fantasy, but not a fairytale, where the world is generally unimportant window-dressing. So, is this a fairytale or not?
(and that's where it all goes wrong...)
[Spoiler (click to open)]the thing is, about 2/3 of the way through, we are told about THE TRADITION. A supernatural-ish force that forces, or at least persuades, characters to act in stereotypical, archetypal forms. The stepmother is *persuaded* to be vain, or cruel, because that's what these stories typically imply. Huh? Way to go meta, Mercedes Lackey. Really. The problem is, this takes this story firmly out of the realm of "fairytale" and into fantasy, where the author is tasked with creating an internally consistent world. In the original Beauty and the Beast, no one really cares about how it is that everyone sort of forgets about/ignores this castle and prince about a day's ride away from the village. And that's fine. Here, it wouldn't be. And the author struggles with it. There are plot holes wide enough to fit that castle into, especially when it comes to the ending and the explanation of all the weird shit that was going on. WHY didn't the servants write Sebastian a note with the truth on it? They could write, even in disembodied form. Eric (the bad guy) could not have spelled them to be unable to communicate this, because he didn't realize they survived his obliterating them. Yet, none of them can talk around some flimsy evidence (but no concrete explanation of) a geis, and... ugh. So many plot holes....
All in all, the book was mildly entertaining, but presented no mystery (it was kind of clear who the bad guy would be, from the beginning), no characters that were more than 1 dimensional, and no real emotion. It was cute. But that's about it.
3/5
Well, I read this book in under 24 hours, which is the main point in its favor. It is diverting. However, that's about all I can say about it that is unequivocally in its favor. I gave it 3 stars because it did keep me mildly entertained. As long as I didn't think about it too much.
First of all, the main character, Isabella (or, as she prefers Bella). Bella. Who falls in love with a werewolf. Am I reading Team Jacob Twilight fanfic?! Really, 6 years after Twilight came out, is this the best she can do?! Ok, I get it. Bella. Belle. Beauty. Ha ha. But still.
Isabella is the rich and wonderful daughter of a well-off merchant, who lives with her father, a stepmother who is not evil, and two step-sisters who are neither ugly nor cruel. And thus, the story begins. The problem is that Isabella is a fully *modern* character. This is no Belle, dreaming of princes in disguise as she reads. Even Disney did a better job getting a character to fit the story. Isabella has fully modern sensibilities and is the perfect insert-yourself-here pretty, smart, enjoys dancing and flirting but is not boy-crazy heroine. She is not in any way a product of the world in which she lives. Which is... weird. But, it is somewhat acceptable in a fairytale, as those are set in a timeless pseudo-fantasy neverland. But this book takes itself a bit to seriously for that and does a bit of world-building, which is a characteristic of fantasy, but not a fairytale, where the world is generally unimportant window-dressing. So, is this a fairytale or not?
(and that's where it all goes wrong...)
[Spoiler (click to open)]the thing is, about 2/3 of the way through, we are told about THE TRADITION. A supernatural-ish force that forces, or at least persuades, characters to act in stereotypical, archetypal forms. The stepmother is *persuaded* to be vain, or cruel, because that's what these stories typically imply. Huh? Way to go meta, Mercedes Lackey. Really. The problem is, this takes this story firmly out of the realm of "fairytale" and into fantasy, where the author is tasked with creating an internally consistent world. In the original Beauty and the Beast, no one really cares about how it is that everyone sort of forgets about/ignores this castle and prince about a day's ride away from the village. And that's fine. Here, it wouldn't be. And the author struggles with it. There are plot holes wide enough to fit that castle into, especially when it comes to the ending and the explanation of all the weird shit that was going on. WHY didn't the servants write Sebastian a note with the truth on it? They could write, even in disembodied form. Eric (the bad guy) could not have spelled them to be unable to communicate this, because he didn't realize they survived his obliterating them. Yet, none of them can talk around some flimsy evidence (but no concrete explanation of) a geis, and... ugh. So many plot holes....
All in all, the book was mildly entertaining, but presented no mystery (it was kind of clear who the bad guy would be, from the beginning), no characters that were more than 1 dimensional, and no real emotion. It was cute. But that's about it.