You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
A review by inkerly
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice
3.5
Quite the page turner
3.5 stars
(Trigger warnings: nonconsensual homoeroticism, rape, underaged minors, sex slavery, BDSM-elements)
Wow. This is definitely a page turner, and is one of the most out-there bdsm concepts I’ve ever heard and read. This is a reimagining of Sleeping Beauty, if Sleeping Beauty were awakened from her centennial sleep by a Dom Prince who then claims and enslaves her for the entertainment of his Kingdom. If fairytales, BDSM, and the concept of freedom woes fascinates you —and you are able to look past some of the more grim details such as all of this being imposed on a 15-year old girl (!) and spanking/gross humiliation/rape being your fancy —then this may be the book for you.
I rate it a 3.5 because it wasn’t very erotic (for me at least) as it was disturbing (forced homosexuality seems to be a common recurrence and admittedly it was very hard to swallow Beauty’s treatment in the beginning), and the plot is very gradual —it feels like situations are just thrown at Beauty and she is forced to grapple with her mental and physical shackles as a slave instead of gaining the courage and self reflection she needs. I should clarify that I in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM CONDONE any of the illegal and perverse aspects of this book in real life (I wish they just made Beauty 18 years old, and made the homo scenes less perverse), but as a whole the writing, character development, and world the author built based on the classic tale gets a 3.5 out of me. The book explores many times the theme of enduring and mentally freeing oneself through total and complete submission to the unknown as an interesting one, and I think the book carries this message well.
It would have been a better novel for me if it explored Beauty attempting to figure out the pieces of her life before she was enchanted and whether or not she would choose her old life vs this new one. And perhaps more probing into the Prince (who is unnamed) and his family. That seemed to be an angle Rice was leaning towards but again - this was very smut -heavy bdsm fluff.
3.5 stars
(Trigger warnings: nonconsensual homoeroticism, rape, underaged minors, sex slavery, BDSM-elements)
Wow. This is definitely a page turner, and is one of the most out-there bdsm concepts I’ve ever heard and read. This is a reimagining of Sleeping Beauty, if Sleeping Beauty were awakened from her centennial sleep by a Dom Prince who then claims and enslaves her for the entertainment of his Kingdom. If fairytales, BDSM, and the concept of freedom woes fascinates you —and you are able to look past some of the more grim details such as all of this being imposed on a 15-year old girl (!) and spanking/gross humiliation/rape being your fancy —then this may be the book for you.
I rate it a 3.5 because it wasn’t very erotic (for me at least) as it was disturbing (forced homosexuality seems to be a common recurrence and admittedly it was very hard to swallow Beauty’s treatment in the beginning), and the plot is very gradual —it feels like situations are just thrown at Beauty and she is forced to grapple with her mental and physical shackles as a slave instead of gaining the courage and self reflection she needs. I should clarify that I in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM CONDONE any of the illegal and perverse aspects of this book in real life (I wish they just made Beauty 18 years old, and made the homo scenes less perverse), but as a whole the writing, character development, and world the author built based on the classic tale gets a 3.5 out of me. The book explores many times the theme of enduring and mentally freeing oneself through total and complete submission to the unknown as an interesting one, and I think the book carries this message well.
It would have been a better novel for me if it explored Beauty attempting to figure out the pieces of her life before she was enchanted and whether or not she would choose her old life vs this new one. And perhaps more probing into the Prince (who is unnamed) and his family. That seemed to be an angle Rice was leaning towards but again - this was very smut -heavy bdsm fluff.