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Of Thorns and Beauty
Of Thorns and Beauty
Elle Madison, Robin Mahle | 2020 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Never has a retelling been so close but so unimaginabley far away from the original fairytale. Of Thorns and Beauty is a New Adult masterpiece which will reel you in from its first pages and not let you go until its cruel cliffhanger.

A quick note that this is definitely a New Adult novel. Although not written about in detail this take includes the subjects of abuse, murder and rape as well as a bucket load of sexual tension.

This retelling of Beauty and the Beast is written solely from the perspective of our protagonist-the beauty Zaina. Forced into an arranged marriage with the renowned beast King Einar and denied any companions to accompany her, Zaina enters the "Beast's" castle entirely on her guard and unaware as to what sort of a life lays before her.

It quickly becomes apparent that Zaina's beauty has only ever caused pain and hardship for her in the past. As a result of this, she is a far cry from the bookish village girl seeking an adventure in the great wide somewhere. Zaina is fiery, sarcastic, dangerous and her prickly, defensive demeanour makes her few friends in her new home.

The use of a first person perspective with a protagonist such as Zaina really brings this novel to life. Zaina is such a damaged character and the reader is drip fed memories so partially and so slowly that we still don't know the extent of her suffering once the book has ended.

The style of writing also allows us to share Zaina's frustration at attempting to read her husband Einar's emotions: quite ironic for someone so closed off herself. The reader does not always feel empathy though: Zaina's defences are so high that she shuns any attempt at friendship; sometimes you just want to shake her!

Elements of the original beauty and the beast tale remain: there is indeed a curse, a rose and a forbidden west wing. However, these are so cleverly twisted that the reader will finish this book with an entirely different concept of who the Beast really is.

The fact that the authors themselves apologise for the cliffhanger, explaining that the characters and storyline just required more pages and more time, shows the sheer commitment to world building and character development.

Madison and Mahle introduce us to a whole new world of scenery and creatures; they pull us into the painful past of both main characters; place slimy villains in the shadows and raise our hopes of romance before throwing them off a cliff. This book is impossible to put down and I cannot wait to see what happens next.

Thank you to Booksirens for the opportunity to read a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
  
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Mark Arm recommended Tales Of Terror by Tales Of Terror in Music (curated)

 
Tales Of Terror by Tales Of Terror
Tales Of Terror by Tales Of Terror
1984 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Tales Of Terror were this band from Sacramento. Unfortunately this record hasn't physically been reissued yet. They came through Seattle and played a show. It was random, nobody had heard of them, they hadn't got a record out. It was at an all-ages venue where you'd just go for something to do and this band came on and destroyed the place. And this was probably around '84 so at that point I was kind of looking for other things besides hardcore, which I was much more into a year or two previously. Green River had started at this point and I was trying to do something a bit differently, and this band came out and among the covers they played they did 'Search and Destroy' and 'Spanish Castle Magic' and everyone in the band was just an awesome, crazed musician. The singer would do backflips and land on his feet and by the end of the set all of them except for the drummer were wrapped up in cords. Somehow they all got tangled up and it didn't seem like something pre-planned, it was the natural course of events for that particular show. They were just wild, wild dudes and unfortunately a couple of them are dead now, and one of them is severely debilitated due to too much drugs, which is kind of a bummer. They were the kind of people who were just up for everything and they'd push whatever boundaries and envelopes there were. Supposedly they would carry a blender with them and they'd just put whatever in the blender. They'd go to someone's house, find the alcohol and weird shit from the fridge and put it in and then they'd drink it. I even heard they would put dirt in it. I don't know if that's true, it seems a little over the top. They were a great band that unfortunately only lasted for one record. The only flaw of that record is that it starts off with a cover of 'Hound Dog' but once they kick into their own songs after that it's a fantastic fucking record. It's really super loose. The record seems like you can almost hear them getting drunker and drunker as everything continues. Green River covered one of their songs from that record - a song called 'Ozzie' - we didn't do it nearly as good but... we did it. They were a big influence in our approach to live performance. Unfortunately I don't have the limberness and the wherewithal to do that now. There was one crazy Mudhoney show at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London where everybody tried to fit up on stage."

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