Comment

Jan 11, 2016withthebutterflies rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
My eyes scanned over the shelves of fiction as I wandered Chapters, looking for my next book. My gaze rested on a beautifully designed red and black cover, the words Cruel Beauty in cursive. Though the cover made no sense to me until after I read the book, its intricate design and caption made me unable to put it down. I left with the book. I will start first with a heartfelt thank you to the author for creating this novel. Rosamund Hodge is a brilliant and talented young writer, and I can’t wait to begin reading whatever else she has to write (starting with Crimson Bound). Her words are lyrical and descriptive, and even though the story slowly unfolds, my eyes were glued to the pages. What I struggled most about with this book was the inability to read very quickly, yet very slowly at the same time. I wanted to reach the end to know what happened, while at the same time I wanted to linger over every word. To tell you a little bit about the story that has left me so breathless: Cruel Beauty is a tale as old as time. The classic Beauty and the Beast story that I know and love was infused with elements of Greek mythology (particularly Persephone and Hades), Romeo and Juliet, and perhaps most interestingly: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Gentle Lord, “Ignifex”, is master of shadows and bargains. Before she was born, Nyx’s father struck a deal with the Gentle Lord – the ability to have children with his wife at the price of one of his daughter’s hand in marriage. Nyx was essentially raised to slay the dragon – only the dragon is her fiance and the dark demon who has enslaved her people’s country. Bitter about her lot in life, and full of hatred for her new husband, Nyx searches for a way to quickly end her torment and assassinate her captor. But as she unravels the secrets of the Gentle Lord’s castle, she must come to terms with her feelings for both Ignifex and his slave, Shade, as well as her own cruel heart. My Rating: 5/5 This book may not deserve 5 out of 5 in every sense of literary rating, but based off of how much I enjoyed reading it, Cruel Beauty has earned a 5 out of 5. This book was breathtaking. I fell in love with the world Hodge created, with Nyx, and with the Gentle Lord. I rooted for true love to conquer all, and desperately clung to the pages as I neared the conclusion to the book. I loved the way Hodge created a love triangle in this novel. Nyx was drawn both to the seemingly pure-hearted captive, as well as to his supposedly pure evil captor. What hit me most is the idea that loving two polar opposites is the same as loving a whole – we are all both good and evil, we are all complex characters. The book ended way too fast for my liking, and though she says that she is done with the world of Cruel Beauty, I can only secretly hope for a sequel or spin-off in the future. I am resisting re-reading it with all my will until my 50 books challenge is done. But I can almost guarantee that book 51 will be Cruel Beauty.