Friday, October 11, 2013

Book Review: Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

Of Beast and Beauty
Author:  Stacey Jay
Publisher:  Delacorte Press, 391 pages
Publication Date:  July 23, 2013

From Goodreads:
In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...

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.


Review:
What an incredible sci-fi retelling of a fairy tale.  It's a beautiful and haunting story of love, prejudices, inequality, brutality, and dark magic.  Isra and Gem are both such incredible characters and I loved that the story was told from both of their POVs.  Isra is a strong, caring, and selfless person who has lived her entire life locked up in a tower because even though she is a Smooth Skin, she also has Monstrous traits and those with too many Monstrous traits are treated like second-class citizens or worse.  Although she has been told the Monstrous that live outside the domed city are evil animal-like creatures, she has never met one until she meets Gem and instantly discovers that he's not at all like what she's always been told.  Gem is courageous, brave, and kind.  He's doing everything that he can to save his people, even if that means he has to deceive Isra.

Isra and Gem's slow-building relationship is one of the best and believable I've ever read.  Both of them have grown up hating the other (Smooth Skin vs. Monstrous).  The Monstrous live in brutal conditions (extreme cold and extreme heat) with very little food while the Smooth Skins have abundant food, green grass and trees, etc. due to a magic covenant.  They slowly get to know each other and form a bond, realizing that they have much more in common than anyone would ever think.  Even though this is a retelling it's completely unique and original and I love how they both are beautiful and beastly.  

This is a richly layered and detailed story with amazing world-building.  I felt so connected to the characters that I found myself tearing up quite a few times.  Definitely has all the feels.  I fell in love with the romance, which was flawless.  I have to say, it's one of the best books I've read in awhile, I cannot recommend it highly enough.  Just read it.  And it's a stand-alone.  


Posted by:  Pam

16 comments:

  1. I'm glad you posted this, because I've been trying to decide if it is one I want to buy, and now I'm going to!

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    1. I really did love this book, I hope you enjoy it! ~Pam

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  2. Love stand-alones! I've been eying up this cover for forever, but I just can't seem to get to it. I'm so glad you enjoyed this one. I may have to bump it up my TBR. Great review!

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    1. It's so hard to find a stand-alone these days that's not contemporary so I was happy to find this one. So good! ~Pam

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  3. I'm glad you enjoyed this one! I've been DYING to read it and now I'm even more excited :D

    Great review!

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    1. I bought it the day it came out but I kept putting it off for some reason and then when I read it...amazing. Really loved this one, I hope you do too! ~Pam

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  4. Reading this was a struggle for me. I only reached about 40 pages before I abandoned it. But I'm glad for the positive reviews (strangely, I began seeing a lot of positive reviews for this after I dropped it) because I'm already considering giving this another chance. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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    1. Sometimes that happens for whatever reason, you just can't get into a book. Definitely give this one another try. ~Pam

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  5. Of Beast and Beauty definitely has all of the feels! Such a unique retelling. Really glad you loved this one so much, Pam!!

    Sara at The Page Sage

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    1. I agree. I really became emotionally invested in these characters for some reason. Loved it, glad you enjoyed it too! ~Pam

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  6. I hadn't heard of this but now I really want to read it. I love slow building relationships, they seem more real to me! I recently read Alienated and that has the same thing which was part of the reasonn I adored it so much!
    I absolutely love books that have different point of views! Great review, will definitely be adding this to my TBR list.

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    1. I agree, insta-love is in so many books, but the slow building relationships are the best and apparently difficult to write since there seems to be so few of them. I really want to read Alienated, I've heard so many great things about that book. ~Pam

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  7. Now I am even more excited to read it after you recommended it to me on my blog! It sounds amazing! I will definitely be picking this one up! Sounds like it's a very unique retelling. Great review!

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    1. I did love this book so hopefully you will too! ~Pam

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  8. Ashley really enjoyed this one too so I will definitely be reading this one at some point! Great review!

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    1. I can't recommend this highly enough. Loved it! ~Pam

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