The Salamander Prince
-series: Refurbished Fairy Tales Book 1
-by S.R. Nulton

I liked the Salamander Prince. It had a calm and relaxed tone about the writing. It was almost passive in the story telling with very little overt action and a great deal more introspection. Which in the right mood is a joy to read. 

I liked the strong female enchantress that we follow as she is abruptly married to a cursed salamander and then forced to leave her home in the woods. Grace is a charming character, faulted, powerful and with a wicked sense of humor. She is great. 

As Grace travels from her cottage on the edge of the forest to a new kingdom, she passes through some different lands with some different kinds of people. I liked that each land was known for something, greed, military, family… There were some interesting locations visited in the story. 

What first struck me was a line from the prologue, “It’s a tale of broken souls and corruption that pitted brother against brother.” I kept waiting for things to go wrong. I kept waiting for some terrible betrayal. But the story ran smoothly. It never actually felt like the characters were playing for high stakes. The abundance of magic was always present to smooth over problems (or cause them when the plot needed a push). It was a very quiet feeling story. 

Also, I am still not clear on this twin soul thing going on in the family. Two brothers, sharing one soul? Other than feeling a connection to each other, what does it mean? I suppose it was only there to explain the dark magic of pitting the brothers against each other. 

To be clear, the Salamander Prince is a retelling of the Frog Prince. Which it supposedly combines with King Thrushbeard, but as I am not familiar with that story I cannot confirm. However, it is clear that this is part of a bigger world retelling many familiar fairy tales, some of which are set up as Grace walks her way through the plot. 

The book was sweet. Grace was charming. Her husband, the salamander, was fine – but far from memorable. Overall I would give this 3.5 stars out of 5. It might be interesting to see what else is happening in this world by reading some of the others in this series.

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.