4.5 Stars

I’m a total sucker for a fairy-tale retelling. And this one is solid. I really enjoyed it. In a way, it’s a very straightforward Beauty and the Beast retelling, hitting most of the beats one might expect and doing it in a very satisfying way. In another, it takes some unique turns that broaden the world of the source material and enrich the story and its characters.

I loved this story and it’s characters. Yeva is a wonderful protagonist. She’s strong, stubborn, and loyal. I never would’ve thought to have Beauty be a hunter, but it’s a wonderful way to adapt this character.

I also liked getting a glimpse into the Beast’s mind. I thought his use of ‘we’ and ‘our’ when referring to the warring parts of himself was really intriguing, and I really liked what the author did with his character.

The side characters were all nice too. I liked her sisters and the would-be suitor (I listened to this on audiobook so I’m not sure how to spell all the names) and the fact that there wasn’t really any sort of love triangle and the suitor wasn’t an antagonist in the story.

I also thought the world building was wonderful. Along with the descriptions of the forest and the Beast’s castle, I loved the inclusion of folklore and fairy tales into the story. I don’t know if any of the stories Spooner used were actual Russian fairy tales, but I would read a book full of them.

The one thing I wish had been fleshed out a little more is the curse itself. Why couldn’t Beast tell Yeva about it? Why did the Firebird turn him into a beast in the first place. The story Yeva tells to him at the end of the book is beautiful and interesting, but even she says it isn’t the real story. At a couple different moments throughout the story, the narrator explains things away by saying something along the lines of, “This is just the way it is in fairy tales.” And in a way, I’m okay with that. At the same time, in a book that encompasses such an interesting world, I wish the curse, which was the catalyst of the entire relationship between Beauty and the Beast, was a little more developed.

All in all, I loved this book. I can’t wait to buy a physical copy. This is the first book I’ve read by Meagan Spooner and it won’t be the last.