Kingdom of Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast
-series: The Kingdom tales Book 1
-by Deborah Grace White
Apparently I am in a fairy tale reading phase! A Kingdom of Beauty is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It is a well done version without any major surprises. It follows more of the Disney movie version with Felicity and her family expelled from the capital city to some forgotten village. Naturally there is a Gaston-like boorish male in the village who believes Felicity will marry him. And will eventually cause problems for her later on.
The beast, the Prince Justin, is a self-centered, arrogant male transformed into a hideous beast and locked away in the summer palace, which vanished from the land when the curse took hold. He is cold and very slow to change. He is suspicious of everyone. Which is his fault, because he is now an adult. Although I will say that his upbringing was pretty poor with a horrendous father to instill horrendous ideals. However, I will also point out that the father has been dead for ten years, and Justin’s Uncle could have been a model for being a better kind of human being.
The play on visible / invisible castle and servants is sort of interesting. The inclusion of dragons seems largely superfluous. But I guess this might weave into a larger narrative that the author is clearly building in this world. In addition to the dragons, other fairy tales have been alluded to, so you know more are coming in this series. It is good the author is setting things up early so the stories will all feel connected.
It is also passingly interesting that the sorceress that curses Prince Justin is then surprised at how strong her curse is. And is lasting much longer than she planned. This leads the woman to actively try to help break the curse, ultimately placing Felicity on the path to meet Justin. But also hints at bigger problems on a global scale in this world.
The character progression for Felicity and Justin is solidly done. I cannot fault how things grow and develop between them. Their path is very true to the Beauty and the Beast route. It was all competently done. I suppose my only hesitation with the series (outside of the random dragons) is the predictability. Which is perhaps unfair as I am choosing to read a story that says clearly in the title it is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. For me, I would give this 3.5 stars out of 5. I liked Kingdom of Beauty quite well. It is another solid retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I might even pick up the next in the series.