Thursday, November 7, 2013

ARC Review - Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Title: Cruel Beauty
Author: Rosamund Hodge
Release Date: January 28, 2014
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Pages: 352, Hardcover
Goodreads Rating: 4.05 stars
My Rating: 4/5 stars
My Content Rating: Adult or Mature YA (Lots of references to sex, though it is not directly shown)

Summary from Goodreads: 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.


Cruel Beauty is a really unique take on the Beauty and the Beast tale (one of my favorites), full of darkness, danger and mythology with a twist.

Nyx has known since an early age what was expected of her - she was destined to marry and defeat the demon lord, Ignifex - and to die in the process.  Her father had made a bargain with the beast before she was ever born and she was the sacrifice.  Because of this, she has grown up bitter and angry, feeling unloved and unwanted.  Duty is her only option.  But when Nyx gets to the castle and meets her new husband, she finds that the master plan may not be so successful after all and that everything she's been told about the demon lord and her world's history may not be entirely true.  But even as Nyx begins to fall in love with her captor, she realizes that she may still have to destroy him.

The negatives:
  • Slow start.  The first third of this book was a little bit slow for me.  It wasn't until the romance started between Nyx and Ignifex that I really felt completely engaged with the book.  This may have been because Nyx was very bitter and unlikeable at the beginning of the book.  This was completely purposeful and actually kind of central to the book (Nyx is not an innocent, blushing beauty), but it made it a little bit hard for me to connect to Nyx and to really enjoy the story at first.  I also wasn't a huge fan of Shade, and didn't quite get Nyx's attraction to him, so I was happier when that wasn't the main romance brewing.  It wasn't until Nyx really started to see the world a bit differently (and with less negativity) that I was able to truly relax and enjoy the story (but this is my own issue, since I just tend to not connect with characters I don't like).
  • Figured out the climactic twist.  I had figured out the central, climactic twist in this book pretty early on (almost from the very beginning) and was just kind of waiting for the characters to catch up.  Luckily, there were other twists in the book that I didn't see coming, so there were still plenty of surprises!
What I enjoyed:
  • Nyx.  While I mentioned that I wasn't a huge fan of Nyx's bitterness at the beginning of the book, I could definitely understand it and sympathize with her.  And the bitterness was necessary for Nyx's transformation.  That doesn't mean that Nyx transforms into a sweet, charming heroine who learns the true meaning of love and saves the world with her kiss, though.  No, Nyx is complicated - flawed, even in the end.  In fact, that is one of the major themes of the book - that we are flawed and that our flaws and our weaknesses are an important part of us too.  
  • Ignifex.  Ignifex was such a compelling leading man.  He is definitely a villain, but a complex villain.  Is he actually evil?  Is he truly to blame for who he has become?  The mystery of who Ignifex is and what motivates him makes him an incredibly intriguing character.  At first, you can't imagine why you would want Nyx to fall for this man.  But, as the book goes on, you start to see the attraction - and you find that you can't resist Ignifex either!
  • The dark tone.  I loved the dark tone of this book.  This was not a happy-go-lucky fairy tale.  Instead it is a story filled with brutality and dangerous mythology.  Nyx's story is never easy, which makes it all the more interesting!
Cruel Beauty is a fantastically dark and intriguing fairy tale retelling.  Highly recommended!   4/5 stars.




***Disclosure: This book was provided to me by Edelweiss and Balzer & Bray in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own***

Comments (20)

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Becky LeJeune's avatar

Becky LeJeune · 592 weeks ago

Nice review! I'm really looking forward to this one - haven't had a chance to get to the arc just yet but I hope to very soon!
My recent post The Lair by Emily McKay
1 reply · active 592 weeks ago
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Jessica@a GREAT read's avatar

Jessica@a GREAT read · 592 weeks ago

Ooooooohhhhhh!!! Very, very nice review! I am so excited for this book! Think I was already rejected for a review copy from Edelweiss--they don't seem to like me much! But Netgalley does for the most part!

I love Beauty and the Beast! One of my fave fairy tales, and yeah, gotta love the Disney movie! So excited for this one and cannot wait til its release! Once again, great review!
1 reply · active 592 weeks ago
I watched the Disney movie over and over and over when I was younger (is it sad that this was when I was in high school?). Loved it!! I just got rejected by NetGalley for something and I was so sad - but I know I need to get my rating up, though. I didn't even know that existed at first and I requested way too many books! :-)
Oh, I'm so excited for this one! That cover was really all I needed to convince me to read it, but I'm glad you enjoyed it too. I've always loved the story of the beauty and beast so I hope this does well as a retelling :)

-Mari @ <a href="http://thesireniccodex.blogspot.ca/
">The Sirenic Codex
1 reply · active 592 weeks ago
I know, that cover is absolutely gorgeous!!
Fab review Nicole! Cruel Beauty sounds like a great read... those dark, twisted books are fun to pick up occasionally, and the spin offs from fairy tales are usually very fun!!

Naomi @ Nomi’s Paranormal Palace
My recent post Review/Giveaway ~ Daughter of Isis by Kelsey Ketch
1 reply · active 592 weeks ago
Yes, I'm a big fan of fairy tale retellings (at least when they're done right!).
I'm super excited for this one. Hello, gorgeous cover! I also like that the characters seem complicated. Beauty and the Beast was my favourite fairy tale growing up and I haven't read enough good adaptions of it. This one definitely seems exciting. :) Great review!
My recent post Review: Just One Day
1 reply · active 592 weeks ago
Beauty and the Beast was definitely my favorite fairy tale as well. I love that, in this book, there's a bit of beast in the beauty and vice versa!
Those are quite the names. The twist on this fairy tale makes it worth the read for sure but I'm a little wary of the slowness. Nothing worst than being predictable.
My recent post Find Me [Find Me, #1] by Romily Bernard
1 reply · active 592 weeks ago
There were still quite a few twists, but the one that was discovered in the climactic scene of the book, I had already figured out pretty early on in the book. Honestly, though, there were so many other things going on and so many other surprises that this wasn't a huge drawback for me like it might have been in a less exciting book.

And other people have said that they thought it was gripping right from the start - I have an issue with reading from the POV of a character I don't particularly like and Nyx was just too unlikeable at the beginning for me to connect with! :0
LOVE your review, I got a copy of this from Edelweiss and it just sounds deliciously dark and fascinating. Love the enigmatic characters and the journey they take you on.
My recent post Giveaway &amp; Review: Spellbound by Sherry Soule – Ghosts, witches &amp; romance
1 reply · active 592 weeks ago
This is the first book I've requested from Edelweiss - I couldn't resist when some people were saying it was the best book they've read all year! I don't know that I could go that far, but I did love it!
Lately I haven't really been enthusiastic about YA novels with romance because, most of the time it seems like it's something I've read so many times before. But this story sounds so good! Eventhough it is about romance it doesn't sound like anything I've read so far and it also doesn't sound like insta-love.
My recent post 1984 by George Orwell
1 reply · active 590 weeks ago
Yes, this book was definitely different than the typical YA romance!
I'm reading this one right now. I agree that it started out slow. I was pretty bored at first, but now I'm more into it. I also feel like I've predicted the main climactic twist...but, I won't know for sure until I get there!
My recent post Review: Countdown
3 replies · active 588 weeks ago
Ha! You'll have to tell me when you finish if you did indeed figure it out! :-)
Yup! Called it! :)
Good to know I wasn't the only one! :-)

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