I don't really think this original story adds anything more to Beauty and the Beast. It's an interesting concept, but not much is done with it. Belle and Beast seem a little out of character, with Belle not being clever enough to see through Death's ruse and Beast being a little too light-hearted. 

I like the idea of Love and Death being players in this game, but I think I'm tired of Death being the obvious bad guy with little motivation. 

 When I heard that Rick Riordan was making an imprint to bring more diverse stories of mythology to the public, I was absolutely ecstatic. Among the ones that have already been announced, Mayan, Indian and Korean, I know very little about, making a handful of gods and one or two stories. I think this is an absolutely wonderful way to promote more diverse stories and showing kids of other cultures their own heroes, or, in this case, heroines.

Aru Shah is a wonderful first book for this imprint. It has everything you could want: adventure, mythology, humor, and a return to ridiculous chapter titles. I know very little about Indian mythology so I was very excited to read this. Naturally, I now want to learn as much about it as I can.

I found Aru to be a completely likable main character, flawed, but you can see where she's coming from. I love the snarky, sassy attitude and her big imagination. 

Really looking forward to the next installment. 

 Why didn't I listen to the reviews? Why oh why? Reading this book was simply unpleasant from start to finish. Basically, the majority of the book is the Prince being the jerk we all know he was before the curse. We get to see him be. self-absorbed, vain, arrogant, insulting, and hey, why not toss in out-right murderer while we're at it?  Yeah, he makes a hit on some painter who did an unflattering portrait of him and possibly led a girl to suicide? What a charmer. That really makes us hope he gets out all right in the end.

When the book isn't being cynical, it's rehashing the movie in book form. You though the 2017 live action movie was just line for line the animated movie? Hah, this book is just literally that when it comes up to the ending. 

Speaking of the ending, it ends up being rushed because it is simply the movie, which the book knows we are familiar with. And that is just horrendous storytelling. I know that it is meant to serve as a prequel to the movie, but really you could just drop this book before the last fifty pages and go watch the last third of the movie to spare you some reading.

In short, Beauty and the Beast fans: stay far away. There is really nothing to be gained here other than disappointment. 

 Like with the TV series, I have no idea who this book is for. Definitely not in the kids section where I found it, as there is a decent amount of swearing and the main character being totally okay with letting another kid touch his sister's boobs in order to get protection from bullies. That I could have done without.

Nor could I see a teenager reading it, as it's a bit too juvenile and deals with imaginary friends. It's kind of baffling.

Now there were some things I liked about it, mainly that Martin's imaginary friend is more of someone he can talk to rather than someone he can go on wacky adventures with. That was something a little more original.