Rating: 3.5/5
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Pages: 341
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
Synopsis:
Belle's still having a hard time transitioning to her new life. Things are becoming more confusing than ever as she finds herself uncertain about the beast's character. At the same time her heart is torn between the love for her father and her new found love of the enchanted objects of the castle, what Belle could really use is an escape, one which she finds in the same place she always has--in the pages of a book.
When she stumbles across a magical book within the beast's library that literally sucks her in, it seems better than anything she could have ever hoped for. But is the book more than it seems and is it possible that she will get lost in its pages, unable to ever return home?
My Reaction:
It has just occurred to me that I'm very stingy with my 4 and 5 star ratings. I guess I need a little more wow factor to get me to commit to something higher. A five is like "I love this so much that I believe everyone in the world should read it else they will miss out on one of the greatest things of life ever!"
That doesn't necessarily mean this isn't a book worth reading.
I think the hardest trial of this book is that it takes place in an already well known and well loved story. That's risky. As a reader and huge fan of Disney's storytelling, it can be hard to accept something new into a beloved story or to keep yourself from comparing it to the movie. Not to mention that sometimes books based off movies aren't always the best in my experience. So I was a little leery when I started this book, but curious too. Also, the cover is one of the most beautiful book covers I've ever seen. I should give the book an extra point just for that!
I feel that Jennifer Donnelly put a lot of work into making sure all the beloved characters we already know were true to what Disney as already portrayed them as. She also did very well crafting her own characters and blending the two together.
There were somethings I wasn't sure about at first as far as writing style. I found myself thinking, "Yeah, I already know this. This feels slightly repetitious." However, that was only towards the beginning of the book and didn't last very long. Also I'm pretty sure I thought at one point, "Don't be an idiot, Belle." It's probably a good thing characters can't hear my thoughts...
What really pulled me in was the building up to the climax and the climax itself. It was pretty exciting, and although obviously I knew things were going to turn out, I wasn't sure exactly how it would.
Overall, not a bad story. It was intriguing and also catered a bit to my nerdy side what with references to Shakespeare and Greek mythology. I also really enjoyed that the story is littered with "golden nuggets" as my tenth grade English teach called them.
Here is one such gem:
"Home is all the people, all the places, and all the things that you love. You carry it wherever you go."
I really liked those moments and how, even though this isn't in itself a love story in and of itself necessarily, it still has some good commentary on love. It talks about how love takes courage and how love gives us power to do things we wouldn't normally do.
Reader Guidance:
None that I can think of.
Similar Books:
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
This was the first book that came to mind, which I imagine some people might find strange since I'm not recommending another book based off a fairy tale. However, these stories actually have quite a lot in common--wishing to escape the current situation, finding another world that seems amazing, realizing that world actually kind of sucks, realizing how much you want your old situation back, and having to fight to fix everything. See, they're pretty much the same story!
Next Book:
Summerlost by Ally Condie. I learned about this book's existence through Good Reads. This is another one where I'm sucked in by the cover alone! So we'll give it a shot. But be warned! It sounds like it's meant to be a tear jerker about loss and friendship.
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