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paisleypetty's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
achristiannerd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Tldr: the changes they made added so much to the story, so much fluff and further insight into Belle, The Enchantress, Beast, Mrs. Potts, and Maurice!! Definitely a creepier spin on it!
~Spoilers after~
-Belle and Beast baking together and reading Jack and the Bean stalk!!
- Them both thinking, "What would the other do?" When presented with a situation
- the library being used for the census, we got to actually spend time in there!
-Her tying Beast up to get answers was so right
- So much foreshadowing!!
- Beast strugging with having an animal mind like the servants being paralyzed
- Them being stuck IN the castle!
- Them going into the village!!
- Mrs. Potts going off at Beast! U tell him!
If you can't tell, I love this retelling! The audiobook narrator did a phenomenal job!!
Graphic: Confinement and Death
Moderate: Torture and Violence
newsiesforever2tonone's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent
savage_book_review's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Firstly, I do love the premise that Belle's mother is the Enchantress. It adds a whole other layer to the canon version of the story, but the retelling goes into far more depth, giving you a proper backstory for Maurice and Rosalind. Though it's not hugely detailed, the worldbuilding really enhances the experience, giving explanations and justification for the Enchantress' actions. This makes it so much better than the brief retelling of a Christian parable that the original tale includes with no real context. I enjoyed the focus this whole portion of the story relieved, and the dual tineline shifts between Rosalind and Belle's stories really worked for me.
Unfortunately, I didn't find a lot else to rave about. Apart from the ending, Belle's story broadly follows the canon version of events, so there is very little that jumps out at you. Even the 'big' changes don't feel like they have much if an impact to the overall tale. I think the sweetest bit is Belle trying to teach the Beast to cook, but yeah, there aren't a great number of meaningful revisions, which makes the whole thing fall a bit flat.
Likewise, basically everyone you recognise feels totally out of character. The Beast is just a petulant teenager rather than an ugly soul turned good by the power of love. Gaston is a soft, bumbling idiot more often than not (although he does have an inkling of the mean streak). Even Belle just doesn't chime with her movie counterpart - somehow she's harder, and perhaps more modern feeling. The lack of familiarity made it so much harder sink in and enjoy. I also wasn't hugely impressed with the replacement villain of the piece. It felt a bit pointless when you already have such a good villain in Gaston that you could use, and while it wasn't hard to follow why things turned out the way they did, it doesn't make for the most thrilling villain arc.
Generally speaking, the writing and layout us quite patchy in places - there are certain a few typos in my copy, and several instruments where a character is experiencing a flashback or memory, but there is nothing to separate it from the main text - you only realise you're looking into their mind when you're half way down the page and it suddenly dawns on you why you're suddenly reading about a different setting!
This is my third Twisted Tales, and so far they've been average at best. However, the ones I've read have all been by this author. I have two more on my TBR shelf, both by different authors, so I will.give those a go at some point to see if it's a series problem, or an author problem for me.
Graphic: Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Vomit, Medical content, and Medical trauma
lauraewest's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body horror and Death
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Gore, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Murder
skyegbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Alcoholism, Gun violence, and Alcohol
emilywemily6's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Torture and Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Gun violence, Self harm, and Alcohol
joisaddler's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Murder
vixenreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Gore, Sexism, and Alcohol
There are discussions of discrimination, segregation, and immigrating outside of a land because of fear for one’s own livelihood.gattolino_nn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I thought how everything was done with the history was impeccable and had me hooked from the start to the finish. I loved how this twist played out, and enjoyed how satisfying it was to finish.
Graphic: Xenophobia
Moderate: Death, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, and Murder
Minor: Suicide