I was really unimpressed with this book, which was sad as I had been informed that it was one of the best Beauty and the Beast versions that deals with the Beast out there.
I had two main problems. The first was that Napoli did not seem to understand that she was writing a novel rather than a textbook about the Ottoman empire. For example, if you've done the research and know all the Arabic words for the things in the story, either use ONLY the Arabic and deploy context, description and the occasional explanation to keep the reader aware or just use the English words for the foods and spices and animals. Good fantasy novelists do this all the time; they invent whole languages and subtly manage to introduce the new words and meanings into the story without making it feel overloaded and irrelevant. Napoli could use some of their skill so that especially the first third of the book feels more like a fairy tale and less like a history.
Of course, that still wouldn't fix my biggest problem with the story, which is that the main character, Prince Orasmyn, was one of the most boring main characters I had ever read. He felt as though he was saying or thinking the words the page in the kind of monotone that 6 year olds use in first grade performances. There was no life to his character, no sense of person, no soul! I was inside his head and couldn't believe he was interesting. I could not bring myself to care one whit what happened to him.
Napoli answers why the Beast's story is never told--because even after telling it, "Beauty and the Beast" is no better off.