Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
Genre: Young adult fantasy
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release date: January 28 2014
Source: e-ARC from publisher via Edelweiss
Pages: 352
The nitty-gritty: A strange, lovely, odd, scary, violent, magical, romantic and bizarre re-imaging of Beauty and the Beast.
Day and night, I was free to explore the house—and I went everywhere that I could, for my key opened almost half the doors. I found a rose garden under a glass dome; the roses formed a labyrinth in which I always got lost, and yet—according to the cuckoo clock at the door—I would always stumble out again in exactly twenty-three minutes. I found a greenhouse full of potted ferns and orange trees. The air was thick with the warm, wet smell of earth. Bees hummed through the air; the glass walls were frosted with condensation. I found a round room whose walls were covered in mosaics of naiads and tossing waves, and the air always smelled of salt, and no matter which way I turned, the door was always directly behind me.
Sorry for such a long quote, but I wanted to give you an idea of what this surreal and beautiful story is like. So, I adored this book! Yes, it was weird indeed, and I’m sure some readers will have trouble getting into the story for that reason. But since “weird” is my middle name, I had no problem at all. Cruel Beauty is a re-telling of Beauty and the Beast, and I was delighted to see many references to the original story. (If you aren’t up on those details, check out this Wikipedia page.) But Rosamund Hodge’s version delves into mind-f*ck territory, as you will discover for yourself when several mysteries are revealed near the end. The writing is gorgeous, the characters are unexpectedly complex and yes, sometimes unlikable, and the world building is unique, to say the least. If I haven’t convinced you yet to read this book, well, let me keep trying:-)
The story goes like this: Nyx has been told her entire life that she will someday be sent to marry and live with the Gentle Lord, a demon who lives in the castle on the hill overlooking the village of Arcadia. Nyx’s life has been bargained away by her father, who made a deal with the demon to save the life of his wife. But her father has also planned and schemed that Nyx will find a way to destroy the Gentle Lord once she gets there and free Arcadia from his terrible rule.
Nyx fulfills her duty and arrives at the castle as planned, only to discover that the Gentle Lord, or Ignifex as he calls himself, is not the demon she imagined him to be. Nor did she expect the castle itself, an enchanted maze of rooms, gardens and nooks that endlessly move around, to be so bewildering. Armed only with the knife her sister gave her before she left, and a silver key from Ignifex that opens only some of the doors in the castle, Nyx must find a way to complete the task her father expects her to do. But can she kill Ignifex? As time goes on, that question becomes more and more difficult to answer.
Hodge uses Greek mythology in her story, and she’s created a magical system called Hermetic magic (based on the God Hermes) that I absolutely loved, which reminded me of alchemy. The Greek myth of Pandora’s box also plays an important part in the story. But my favorite part of Cruel Beauty was Ignifex’s fantastical castle. There are endless doors leading to endless rooms, but they move around and change. This manipulation of space lent a dream-like quality to the story and really made it feel like a fairy tale.
And wow, the characters. I loved Ignifex the most, and he definitely reminded me of the Beast in Disney’s animated Beauty and the Beast. He seems scary on the outside, but once you get a peek behind his hard exterior, you find a complex and vulnerable man. Everyone fears Ignifex because of the terrible bargains that he makes with the townspeople. But Nyx soon learns that although he can be harsh, he is kind and has flaws just like humans do.
Nyx, however, is even more complex than Ignifex. At times I despised her. She says exactly what’s on her mind, and the things that come out of her mouth are often downright mean. But even as she’s spouting hateful words, she realizes what she’s doing. She’s a very self-aware character, which you don’t see much of these days. And when Nyx and Ignifex are together, get ready for sparks to fly, and I don’t necessarily mean romantic ones! I loved their interactions with each other, and I never felt as if I could predict what was happening with their relationship. One of the running jokes between them is that she is always trying to steal keys from him. Ignifex wears dozens of keys around his neck, keys that can open every door in the castle. But because Nyx is only allowed to open certain doors, she must use her wiles and ingenuity to take the keys away from him. These playful moments made me love their characters even more.
The third main character in the story is an odd one: Ignifex’s shadow. Shade can move independently from Ignifex, but only at night does he manifest as a real person. There’s clearly magic at work when it comes to Shade, and Hodge surprises us yet again when she finally reveals the nature and relationship between Shade and Ignifex. Several other characters are important to the story, in particular Nyx’s cruel father and her sister Astraia.
Reading Cruel Beauty was like being in a dream where you aren’t certain whether you’re dreaming or not. Honestly, I’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s hidden behind this book’s beautiful cover. There is a lot going on here, but Hodge brings all the elements together flawlessly. Cruel Beauty is a treat for readers who love well-done imagery, mysteries, and the delicate craft of storytelling. Highly recommended!
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
And coming in April, Hodge has written a novella that takes place in the world of Cruel Beauty called Gilded Ashes. I’m pretty damn excited about that!
Cruel Beauty is available today and you can find it here:
I adored CRUEL BEAUTY. It was so wonderful and dark! Definitely a top read this year – I’ll have to earmark that novella to buy as well.
Yay, glad you loved it too, Becky! I’m dying to read the novella:)
I have read a couple reviews of the book, and it looks interesting. But I still see Nyx and think ‘God’s War,’ then fight to concentrate through the rest of the review.
There was another Nyx I ran across too, in another book, is it a Greek name maybe?
Nyx is the Greek goddess of night.
I did have a little trouble getting into this book, not so much because it was strange, but because I couldn’t connect to Nyx at first (this is my own issue – I have trouble connecting to a character I don’t like and Nyx is purposely kind of unlikable at the beginning of the book). Still, once I DID connect with Nyx, I really enjoyed the book! I didn’t know that there was a novella coming – I’ll have to check it out!!
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Yep, Nyx is a little tough to love, but I think Ignifex makes up for that.
So excited to read this one, especially because of the Greek myth influence. The characters sound multi-diimensional and complex and the story, layered. This seems like it’s one of those books where you’ll take away something new every time you read it and I just love that! Can’t wait to crack this one open!
You’ll love it, it’s crazy but beautiful:)
Oo I love the sound of the enchanted maze of rooms. I like the different naming convention it looks like she used. I think I’ll enjoy this dream now for time to freaking read it!!
Yes, go read it now girl!
You sold me with your nitty-gritty headline. Will have to sneak this book in soon! Love how the cover matches your blog design 🙂
I hadn’t noticed that it matched, but thanks Lucy:) Oh wait, I mean it was TOTALLY planned;-)
I think Nyx was one of my favorite parts of CRUEL BEAUTY because she’s unlike most YA heroines. Which is a big plus for me.
Good review!
Yes, me too. And thanks for clearing up the mystery of her name. I guess I could have googled it – duh!
Lovely review, Tammy. I did enjoy this but I struggled with the unlikable characters. I think too that I had too many expectations knowing this was a Beauty in the Beast retelling. I wish that I had gone in without any expectations and I would have appreciated it so much more as I would have been surprised.
Well Tammy I was all set to not read this based on some cold reviews and disappointments but between the passage you shared and your infinite enjoyment of this ..i am adding it back to my list!
I did really like this one I did. I thought it was a beautiful story and the way you put it, like a dream was a nice comparison!
I just read your review. I’m happy to see so many bloggers enjoying this story!
I’ve been wanting to read this book. I enjoy when authors put a spin on old fairy tales. Thanks for in depth review because I now know its going on my TBR stack 🙂
Before Cruel Beauty came out I saw a lot of posts about it, between them and the description I was hooked and put it on my TBR list hoping to get my hands on a copy when it came out. I didn’t think my interest could get any higher until I caved and read a review about it (this one). It has more magical elements than I thought and combining that with greek mythology… I just can’t wait to read it. I loved Disney’s Beauty and the Beast when I was a kid and this sounds like a perfect adaptation of it!
It does have similarities to the Disney version for sure, but it is much darker. But wonderful!
Sounds awesome and weird. Gotta love it!
Awesome review! This at the top of my TBR.
So I had already been pretty interested in this book but after your review, I knew I had to have it lol I just ordered a hardcover copy of this from Amazon a few days ago 🙂 I can’t wait for it to get here so I can read it!!
This book looks so good!
[…] Link: Weird & Wonderful: CRUEL BEAUTY by Rosamund Hodge – Review […]
This is so exciting! I have had this on my list for a while but I somehow didn’t realize it involved Greek mythology, which is my absolute favorite thing to read about! So glad you enjoyed it!
This book had me at retelling a fairy tail. When I read the review and discovered it’s a much darker retelling I was in love.