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citrus_seasalt 's review for:
The Belles
by Dhonielle Clayton
Solid 4 stars!! Dhionelle Clayton had me hooked from the first page, and Camille was an interesting protagonist! Clayton’s descriptions were super interesting, although some might not like the flowery imagery described for most of the book (again, depends on your taste, but I think it worked well with Camille’s views and how they shifted throughout the plot). Thematically, it had a lot of parallels to Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, which I appreciated because I have a lot of nostalgia linked to that series, and it seemed to also have a healthy dosage of Hunger Games inspiration(that “may you always see beauty” or something like that motto def had “may the odds ever be in your favor” vibes). (It felt like the dystopia I would’ve ate up in middle school and doodled the characters all over my math homework!)
Plot twists weren’t too surprising though, and I was extremely disappointed they technically went with the Bury Your Gays route(as a queer reader it was very upsetting to me). (I do think this was just misguided and not malicious on the author’s part though, as Dhionelle Clayton included a snippet of trans-positive worldbuilding, and not outing the killed off character was presented as the morally correct choice for Camille?) (makes me wonder how beauty standards affect the transgender population of The Belles’ world, as a transmasc reader. Huh. Good idea for a fanfic premise?) Also, first half is more introductory stuff, second half is where most of the events of the story happen(the first half did kind of feel like it dragged on after a while).
When stuff REALLY got bad though and we had the stakes in place in the second half, phew! I was nauseous from stress, I was literally counting down the pages until the end haha but at least the last 30 or so were lighter. Anyhow. Despite its flaws, I want to see where Camille’s story goes next in the second and third book, and to see how Clayton’s writing has improved because this series has been written over the course of several years (the initial idea being something the author thought of in the 90’s? dedication), with the newest and presumably last installment being released this year (2023, at the time of this review).
Plot twists weren’t too surprising though, and I was extremely disappointed they technically went with the Bury Your Gays route(as a queer reader it was very upsetting to me). (I do think this was just misguided and not malicious on the author’s part though, as Dhionelle Clayton included a snippet of trans-positive worldbuilding, and not outing the killed off character was presented as the morally correct choice for Camille?) (makes me wonder how beauty standards affect the transgender population of The Belles’ world, as a transmasc reader. Huh. Good idea for a fanfic premise?) Also, first half is more introductory stuff, second half is where most of the events of the story happen(the first half did kind of feel like it dragged on after a while).
When stuff REALLY got bad though and we had the stakes in place in the second half, phew! I was nauseous from stress, I was literally counting down the pages until the end haha but at least the last 30 or so were lighter. Anyhow. Despite its flaws, I want to see where Camille’s story goes next in the second and third book, and to see how Clayton’s writing has improved because this series has been written over the course of several years (the initial idea being something the author thought of in the 90’s? dedication), with the newest and presumably last installment being released this year (2023, at the time of this review).