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Cruel Beauty

Rosamund Hodge
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Cruel Beauty

Rosamund Hodge
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Overview

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Cruel Beauty
Cruel Beauty
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“[A] fast-paced romantic fantasy.” - Booklist
“A completely engrossing tale.” - Alex Flinn, New York Times bestselling author of BEASTLY and TOWERING
“A dazzling and clever retelling, CRUEL BEAUTY is delightfully dark, lushly romantic, and utterly spellbinding. I adored it, and can’t wait to read Hodge’s next novel!” - Sarah J. Maas, New York Times bestselling author of the Throne of Glass series
“The push and pull romance between Nyx and Ignifex is pure fairy tale, but the characters themselves are complex and genuinely human as they struggle with their own culpability in a situation that forces them to choose between selfishness and selflessness.” - Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“An entertaining read for teens who enjoy romantic fantasy.” - School Library Journal
“What a stunning debut. This is a book you will want to read as fast as you can for the intricate plot and as slowly as you can to savor the gorgeous world-building and the ravishing love story.” - Sherry Thomas, author of THE BURNING SKY
“Will have readers clutching the book and flying through the pages.” - Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
“An intricate and arresting tale well worth readers’ time ... Hodge succeeds in creating a refreshingly human and real protagonist and love interest. They are both strong and flawed, and they—even more strikingly—embrace those qualities in themselves and each other. Engrossing.” - Kirkus Reviews
“Debut novelist Hodge has created a rich, complete world in this twist on ‘Beauty and the Beast.’” - Publishers Weekly

Overall rating: 3.7142856 / 5 from 42 reviews.

AI Generated Review Summary

Cruel Beauty is a fantasy novel that combines the romance of Beauty and the Beast with the adventure of Graceling. It features a compelling retelling of the classic fairy tale with a feisty heroine and a captivating romance. Customers praise the complex characters and the interesting twist on the original story, though opinions vary on the retelling itself.

Summary topics

  • Beauty Retelling: 18%
  • Character Complexity: 18%
  • Read Enjoyment: 30%
  • Book Quality: 47%
  • Story Enjoyment: 13%

Review topics: ["beauty","book","read","characters","retelling","story","writing","twist","enjoyed","novel","entities","nyx","mythology","plot","romance","bitterness","tale"].

Review highlights

  • "It was a good retelling and a fast read." — Kaykay
  • "It's a nice, quick read for anyone into the YA genre or anyone who loves a spin on classic mythology/fairytales." — Ashley
  • "A really original mashup of Beauty and the Beast and Greco-Roman mythology" — Micaela

Reviews

GREAT BOOK 10/10 RECOMMENDATIONS

"Currently reading and it is great I love shade so much!!!"

— Hannah (5/5)

The Ending is Not Worth the Struggle

"Predictable, boring, and unlikable characters all around. I was deeply disappointed by this book and that was before I got to the awful ending. Do yourself a favour and find any other retelling of the Beauty and the Beast tale."

— Tammy (1/5)

i really enjoyed this book

"I read this book in one day. I was afraid i wasn't gonna like this book. But once i started reading this book i could not put it down. It was a good retelling and a fast read."

— Kaykay (4/5)

It was alright

"I am a sucker for fairytale retelling and I could see where beauty and the beast was incorporated, which was awesome. However, the plot felt rushed and I was often confused on what was happening with the ""curse. "" Although I got confused, I still liked it in the end, not one of my favourites, but still a great read."

— Guppie (3/5)

Interesting

"This book was really interesting to me, with a twist that was good (if not slightly predictable). #plumreviews"

— Bavi (3/5)

Missed the Mark

"I loved the first 100 pages of this book so much that i was 99% sure it'd be a 4 or 5 star book. I loved the writing and the main character's sass, and the ""Dark Lord"" or whatever his title is was REALLY interesting. But holy moly, this book does a 180. It starts out strong but turns into trash. HORRID insta-love, obnoxious and confusing love triangle (??????), and I was completely baffled by the world/magic system. I'm not sure if it's because I listened to it on audio, but i am SO confused by everything. It tries to incorporate both mythology and elemental magic, and it just did not work for me. I was so confused on who all the different magical entities were that controlled the world and none of it made sense to me whatsoever. I'm still roiling a bit on what just happened there at the end because it also starts to pull in time travel? I will not be continuing this series and I would not recommend this one."

— Jenn (2/5)

amazing

"The author has a way with words. I could not put this book down, it was so compelling that I was on the edge of my set the entire time. Highly recommend!"

— Jazz (5/5)

Pleasantly Surprised

"I was sure that I wouldn't like this book and that it would be typical supernatural type romance, but the few darker twists the story contained actually made me appreciate it!"

— Himya (4/5)

Pretty Good

"I'm actually surprised by how much I enjoyed reading this! I was definitely hesitant, because it seemed like the kind of cliché novel that I would burn after reading, but it's definitely better than expected! Now, there are some parts that did make me feel annoyed; at the beginning Nyx is pretty. . . insufferable- but she gets better! I mean, there many foolish actions that she does, but a character can't be perfect, right? There were some parts near the end that I felt like were a bit forced. . It was kind of out of the blue, but I'm not going to spoil that part for you. In addition, I feel like some parts were pretty predictable; I mean, I could pretty much see the setup of the entire story, but it was still a good read! I thought that Nyx and Ignifex were lovely in their relationship (for the most part); they just had this sort of chemistry. There were bits of mystery and riddles, which I did like. I'd say give it a try if you're debating whether you should read it or not, but if you aren't a fan of heavy romance, then maybe try something else."

— Elanor (4/5)

Good retelling

"No story will ever be as great as the original but for a retelling i think it was enjoyable. It was a light read and easy to follow but not the best for avid readers as there wasnt anything very unique about it. It felt very cliche, but who says cliche is a terrible thing?"

— ELLA (3/5)

Q&A

  • Published date: Apr 07, 2015
  • Language: English
  • No. of Pages: 368
  • Publisher: HarperCollins
  • ISBN: 9780062224743
  • Dimensions: 5.31" W x 0.83" L x 8.0" H

Rosamund Hodge grew up in Los Angeles, where she spent her time reading everything she could get her hands on but especially fantasy and mythology. She is also the author ofCruel Beauty. She received a BA in English from the University of Dallas and an MSt in medieval English from Oxford. She now lives in Seattle, Washington.

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