Cruel Beauty

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Last night I got a bee up my ass and decided to count and see how many unread physical books I have on my home library shelves...and let’s just say the number was pretty shameful. Rosamund Hodge is an author who grew up in Los Angeles where she was home schooled. She was a voracious reader and she spent all her free time reading any written material, and her most popular genre was mythology and fantasy. Her other interests include T.S. Eliot poetry and Hello Kitty. She attained a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Dallas and a Masters in Medieval English from Oxford. She now resides in Seattle where she works with computers. She is also your favorite fantasy novelist and some of the books that she’s written include Cruel Beauty and Gilded Ashes. AND then comes the strong last few chapters and the end.. and what an ending... ONE OF THE BEST ENDINGS I've ever read. 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. Balance Between Good and Evil: In the ending, the two pieces of Marcus Valerius Lux's soul reunite and the result is much kinder than either Shade or Ignifex.

Cruel Beauty – A Dark and Romantic Retelling of Beauty and Cruel Beauty – A Dark and Romantic Retelling of Beauty and

Big Bad: Ignifex is set up as one, since he is a prince of the demons and the tyrannical ruler of Arcadia. Subverted. Upon his creation, the Kindly Ones have told him the rules of his existence, use him to make bargains with mortals and unleash demons onto the Arcadians against his will. I wanted bad-assery. I wanted more plotting. I wanted an assassin. Instead, I got not a lot of plotting, I got a lot of illicit kissing, I got a lot of falling in love. As beautiful as this book was, it felt to me that the MAIN plot of mayhem and murder got tossed aside for a love triangle. It wasn't exactly Throne of Glass bad, but it bothered me a lot the way Nyx skirted her mission for romance and dreams. In terms of plotting, the second half of the book was a big mess of confusion for me.

I love the hell out of Nyx snarky attitude, she is great and doesn't take any lip from Ignifex, which he finds divine and doesn't seem to want to kill her. They have this wonderful banter together, he kisses her, she threatens his life, that kind of stuff :) this book is best categorized as a fantasy romance, but i was completely unmoved by the romance itself. which - yes, is a familiar feeling for me, since i'm not a fan of romances, so i'm an easy target for your accusations of not being the right audience. howevs, even when i read a romance that doesn't make me swoon or whatever, i can usually understand why it would work for other readers - i can see that the bones (heh) of the relationship are solid and why the two would fall for each other and why readers would cheer. but this one - this is such a perfunctory romance that exists only because we are told it exists. technically it's a love triangle, and it's at least an interesting version of a love triangle, but it's also the worst kind of instalove because it's unfounded, unearned, and circumstantially selfish.

Cruel Beauty – Rosamund Hodge

Not to mention, the insta-love, the love triangle, the my-determined-will-is-broken-by-a-single-kiss, the exhausting amount of lust, it’s all M E S S. This was a very enjoyable read, though not without its faults. It is supposed to be a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but I felt like it had hints of the fairy tales Rumpelstiltskin and Bluekbeard as well. I can go on for days about the plot, setting, grammatical structure blah blah blah, but let's be honest, what makes or breaks a book is its narrator. If you don't like the narrator, screw the rest of the book; I really liked this book's main character, Nyx. Maybe it's just me, but I've rarely encountered a Beauty and the Beast retelling that I haven't loved. Ok, except Beastly. That abomination was just horrible all the way around. And let's not even mention the movie. Some people just have the kind of face that just begs for an encounter with my fist, and pretty boy Pettyfer is one of them. But I digress. She’s confused, she’s rude as hell, she’s arrogant, she’s SO DUMB, and she has like ZERO will. I SWEAR, one minute she’s plotting his death and finding happiness in this pain and the next second she’s stroking his hair and watching him sleep. The Bluebeard: Ignifex has had eight wives prior to Nyx, all of whom lie dead in one of his castle's chambers akin to the traditional fairytale. This is subverted, as three of them had died due to the Kindly Ones, guessing the Gentle Lord's true name wrongly. The other five had been murdered by Shade, who had lured them into the Heart of Fire - a place which kills most mortals.

But of course, all is not wondrous, and some corners of the castle is filled with horror. My fingers found cloth, then something soft and cold. Both Nyx and Ignifex have been forced to live lives not of their own choosing and both have become bitter and resentful. Though they are enemies and their role is to destroy one another, their flawed, lonely lives are fulfilled by one another. They are not the lovely, perfect, and incredibly-kind-despite-it-all couple but they matched each other in anger and passion. The romance develops slowly and is lovely to watch, and it would have been perfect if not for the forced love triangle. I have a gripe with the character of Shade, the only other being that Nyx encounters in Ignifex's house. I recognized Shade's importance but I didn't like the way he was portrayed or how his relationship with Nyx progressed. I didn't like her near instant trust of Shade, and her interactions with him shifted focus away from what was far more interesting to me: the mythology, her task and Ignifex. I was suspicious of Shade from the beginning, which made Nyx's immediate assumptions and trust in him tough for me to understand. Maia’s family have now made her their loathed servant and to cope with the situation, she feigned happiness or else they will all be killed by her dying mother’s curse. Enter Anax, an heir to a duke who also does not believe in fairytale love-not since discovering his childhood lover only faked her love because she wanted to use his nobility for her own selfish reasons. 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.

Cruel Beauty - Rosamund Hodge - Google Books

She spends SO MUCH time flip-flopping between Ignifex and Shade, ONLY TO HAVE US BE TOLD THEY'RE (KIND OF) THE SAME PERSON. Like what in the world??? Sibling Yin-Yang: Nyx is regal, resentful and sardonically sarcastic. Astraia is described as pretty, naive and very sociable. I'm going to start this review doing a thing I usually find useless and infuriating, but which I am nonetheless sure every reader does, at least from time to time: a comparison. And a random enough comparison at that. But it was only adorned with Greek mythology every now and then that made me feel better.. some real myths like Pandora's Box myth, and some strange as Nanny-Anna and Tom-Alone..Really Royalty Reveal: Shade and Ignifex are two parts of the soul of prince Marcus, the last rightful heir to the throne of Arcadia. So..the story after the strong introduction and good setting, turned fast to feminine dull slow rant...with Love Triangle.., It was as boring as Uprooted, and bit of A Thousand Nights's dryness.. I know it's terribly CRUEL of me (see what I did there?) to tell you all these lovely things about this book when it doesn't release until January. I'm very sorry. But go ahead and add it to your Goodreads TBR list now, because YOU NEED THIS BOOK IN YOUR LIFE! It's dark and twisted and original and wonderful. There's fabulous worldbuilding, seriously messed up characters that Rosamund Hodge makes you love, and some really vivid imagery that I didn't talk about before but is also really great. While I understand why many might not like it, I'd still recommend it if you're looking for an enjoyable retelling loosely based on the Beauty and the Beast. But then again, I'm no expert in this genre since I'm a newbie and all yet, I know that I loved it.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge | Goodreads

I knew it was insane to be happy, to feel this desperate exultation at his words. But I felt like I had been waiting all my life to hear them. I had been waiting, all my life, for someone undeceived to love me. And now he did, and it felt like walking into the dazzling sunlight of the Heart of Earth. When I first started the book I was disappointed and thought I would not like it because it seemed to drag for me. It took a few chapters for me to get interested, pretty much when Nyx got to her wonderful husband's home, the evil Ignifex. There's a lot of Roman mythology in here, but it also borrows heavily from European fairy tales and folklore, notably Bluebeard's Castle (one of my favorites), Faust, Rumpelstiltskin, and, of course, Beauty and the Beast. It should have felt clunky, but I felt that the author blended everything seamlessly. I liked the alchemic magic system and how it fit into the world. The descriptions of Ignifex's magic house were amazing - I could easily picture the Heart of Water and the Heart of Air, but I'd like to see it on the big-screen. Maybe not even by actors...maybe animated, by Studio Ghibli, like they did with HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE. That would be appropriate, I think. Especially since there's more than just a dash of HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE in here, too. So, this girl, Nxy, is supposed to save her kingdom by being wedded to the Gentle Lord. She and her father devised a plan to kill him to free their land yada yada. Now when this kid gets there, she’s all defiant but it takes less than four dinners for her to realize she’s actually in love with the beast The reason why Shade and Ignifex share the same height and appearance is because they are two pieces of the same person - Prince Marcus.The Characterization: I really liked Nyx. She was frustrating to me at times, but overall, I felt she was a really good, flawed character. Nyx is so, so very angry at the beginning of the novel, and I seethed with anger along with her. She has been dealt a crappy blow by the fates, and who can blame her for her bitterness? Nyx has been doomed since she was born, thanks to her parents' selfishness. I hate you [Mother], I prayed silently. Father only bargained for your sake. If you had not been so weak, so desperate, I would not be doomed. I hate you, Mother, forever and ever.I love a good depiction of sisterly relationships, and Nyx's relationship with her twin sister, Astraia, was so well done. There is absolutely no doubt that Nyx adores her sister while simultaneously hating her as well. Astraia has been adored by everyone since she was born, while her twin sister, Nyx, has been groomed to die. Nyx has lived her life in resentment, and who can blame her for that? Even so, she never, ever shows her bright, innocent sister any hate until she is overwhelmed by her emotions on the day of her wedding...which might as well have been a funeral. I had thought the words so often, they felt like nothing in my mouth, like no more than a breath of air, and as easily as breathing I went on: