Beast

Synopsis
"Beauty and the Beast" from the Beast's point of view, set in Persia.

My take
I'm a sucker for fairy tale retellings, but I was disappointed in this one. I was intrigued by the promise of seeing the Beast's point of view; unfortunately, it wasn't very interesting. Beast—or Prince Orasmyn, in his human form—is actually a good, decent guy who gets turned into a lion on a technicality. Because of this, there's obviously no need for a journey from bad guy to good guy, and the story is the worse for it.

I did like that it was set in Persia and discussed the friction between traditional Persian culture and Islam. That wasn't the main point of the book, but I did appreciate that it played even a small role.

Bottom line
Just watch Beauty and the Beast again.

Fine print
Beast, by Donna Jo Napoli
Genre: YA fiction
Photo from Goodreads
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