Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Genre: YA Fantasy
Published: January 28, 2014 by Balzer + Bray
Length: 352 pages
Source: Balzer + Bray (ARC)

“Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she’s ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex’s secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.”

Finally! A book that is as amazing and as beautiful as the cover! Cruel Beauty was mind blowing and all the awesome feels combined. It is a re-telling of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, but the author, Hodge, put in a lot of plot twist that left me at the edge of my seat! I read this book all in one day, and I loved everything about it (except the ending, I’ll get on that later…and a few minor things). Let’s talk about that writing style. WOW. I love the way Hodge writes. I felt like I was with the characters the entire book. The world building of Arcadia was just fantastic. She was very descriptive, but not too much that it will bore the readers. I also like how she intertwined Greek mythology, Beauty and the Beast, and her own ideas.

To the characters… I really like the protagonist, Nyx. All her life, she felt unwanted because her father chose her instead of her twin to defeat the Lord of Bargain, Ignifex (which is not his true name). The only thing I didn’t like about Nyx is that she is convinced too quickly. She says “oh I promise to do this”, but she quickly changes her mind when someone talks her out of it. Out of all the characters, my favorite is definitely Ignifex. Ugh. I just love that demonic, bastard beast! He’s just charming and mysterious.

The only thing that made me upset a bit was the ending (I’m talking about you, Chapters 24-26). I was like “what the heck is going on” most of the time. It was confusing and I just didn’t buy what was happening. I was upset because those scenes were supposed to be magical and leaving me in ‘awe’ but instead I found my eyebrows furrowed. Still, I really love Cruel Beauty. It was a very unpredictable story with engaging characters. It was well done and I highly recommend it especially if you love re-tellings.