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simplyalexandra 's review for:
Beautiful
by Juliet Marillier
Full Review:
3.5 Stars - I might recommend if you enjoy audiobooks and YA fantasy novels.
This re-imagining of East of the Sun, West of the Moon makes the troll queen the main character of the tale. This is the story of a young girl who grew up with a controlling mother, sheltered and locked away from the world. A young girl who wants to be brave, learn, and have adventures. When her story ends as we know it to in the original tale, she must go out into the world to learn what she needs to know for her future.
This is an interesting book, as it is only available on audio in it's full form. You can access the short story version in an anthology. I am a big fan of Juliet Marillier, her writing style is still gorgeous in audio. Her love of learning and exploring is so evident in her writing, which I love. This would be a great book for younger readers and YA audiences as well. Hulde was a great character from the beginning, she was so sweet and wanted to learn. She was brave despite living in a bad environment, and followed after her dreams. Even when the inevitable happens (if you know East of the Sun, West of the Moon), she doesn't let it break her. I loved how she grew up on the page, and how Roon taught her so many things especially with her life so limited. While the story itself was a bit predictable, I enjoyed the change to read a fantasy novel about trolls, and commentary on what it means to be "beautiful". I was interested in the troll clans, and would have liked to know more about their world. The narration wasn't my favorite on this book, and I admit I found it distracting from time to time. However, I still enjoyed the story overall. While parts of it were simple and a little bit cheesy, it still had the signature Marillier depth. One quote that really stuck out to me was: "take hold of your story, shape it the way that you want, don't be afraid." I loved that Hulde made this her mantra. I also enjoyed the particular truth of, "Stories help folk make sense of things, don't you think?"
Right After Reading:
Hmm not sure on my rating yet.
3.5 Stars - I might recommend if you enjoy audiobooks and YA fantasy novels.
This re-imagining of East of the Sun, West of the Moon makes the troll queen the main character of the tale. This is the story of a young girl who grew up with a controlling mother, sheltered and locked away from the world. A young girl who wants to be brave, learn, and have adventures. When her story ends as we know it to in the original tale, she must go out into the world to learn what she needs to know for her future.
This is an interesting book, as it is only available on audio in it's full form. You can access the short story version in an anthology. I am a big fan of Juliet Marillier, her writing style is still gorgeous in audio. Her love of learning and exploring is so evident in her writing, which I love. This would be a great book for younger readers and YA audiences as well. Hulde was a great character from the beginning, she was so sweet and wanted to learn. She was brave despite living in a bad environment, and followed after her dreams. Even when the inevitable happens (if you know East of the Sun, West of the Moon), she doesn't let it break her. I loved how she grew up on the page, and how Roon taught her so many things especially with her life so limited. While the story itself was a bit predictable, I enjoyed the change to read a fantasy novel about trolls, and commentary on what it means to be "beautiful". I was interested in the troll clans, and would have liked to know more about their world. The narration wasn't my favorite on this book, and I admit I found it distracting from time to time. However, I still enjoyed the story overall. While parts of it were simple and a little bit cheesy, it still had the signature Marillier depth. One quote that really stuck out to me was: "take hold of your story, shape it the way that you want, don't be afraid." I loved that Hulde made this her mantra. I also enjoyed the particular truth of, "Stories help folk make sense of things, don't you think?"
Right After Reading:
Hmm not sure on my rating yet.