Title: Charm
Series: Tales From The Kingdoms #3
Author: Sarah Pinborough
Published by: Gollancz (2013)
Pages: 224 pages
Why this book: The big finale! or in this case.. what actually happened in the beginning!
Why you should read the trilogy: If you enjoy fairytale retellings and want to read a dark, bold, sexy one, this trilogy is at your service.
Synopsis:
Charm is a beautifully illustrated re-telling of the Cinderella story which takes all the much-loved elements of the classic fairytale (the handsome prince, the fairy godmother, the enchanted mouse, the beautiful girl and, of course, the iconic balls) and puts a modern spin on the characters, their motives and their desires. This is fun, contemporary, sexy, and perfect for fans of ONCE UPON A TIME, GRIMM, SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN and more. This edition contains 15 original pen and ink illustrations by Les Edwards.
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My review:
Goodbye,
highly realistic and reliable fairytale retellings. Hello, insane, twisted and gruesome
jumble of amazingness.
‘Beauty’ is
the final book in the ‘Tales From The Kingdoms’ trilogy -and is actually the
prequel to both ‘Poison’ and ‘Charm’- by the talented Sarah Pinborough. It’s
her take on Sleeping Beauty’s fairytale but little did all of you know,
Sleeping Beauty is only the cover up story for something much more intriguing
and tingled; Can you imagine a plot in which you mash up Red Riding Hood,
Beauty and The Beast, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, The Huntsman, The Evil Queen,
Sleeping Beauty and Werewolves in a two-hundred pages novella? Well, Sarah. P did that and she pulled it off greatly. Long story short: Prepare
yourself for an extreme case of fairytale overdose.
So let’s
make this brief, we start off by the king and queen deciding that it’s finally
time for their son to experience a real adventure and rumor has it that in
their neighboring kingdom hidden treasures are easily accessible. They choose
The Huntsman –Our Huntsman- as his bodyguard and they part off together. On
their way, they rescue an old woman from a pack of wolves and to show her
gratitude for saving her grandmother, a young girl named Petra volunteers to
guide the two men on their journey. They arrive to the kingdom where every
living creature is asleep, enter the castle and discover a princess lying on
her bed unmoving. The prince being the reckless and brainless brat he is, don’t
think of the consequences and kisses the princess. She wakes up and that’s when
things start getting really interesting. So. Very. Interesting.
The
princess, or rather the queen, is called Beauty and she truly lives up to her
name. She is a stunning and an irresistible young lady with a kind heart and an
innocent soul. Soon, the Prince and Beauty fell deeply in love (It is not as
cheesy as it sounds.) and decide to get engaged. However waking up Beauty,
sweet lovable Beauty, might have been a terrible thing to do after all. And by
‘might have been’ I mean ‘definitely is’. Old rumors and stories start to reach the
surface of the kingdom. Horrible dark stories of monstrous doings by a certain
someone they call The Beast. But what if there’s a reason for the capital’s
enchantment? What if Beauty is actually
The Beast?
We get to
know more about The Prince’s personality in this book. Even after finishing Beauty,
I still can’t bring myself to like him. The thought of him makes me shiver with
disgust. I find The Prince as despicable as ever but at least I know why he did
what he did in Poison and Charm. We find out more about The Huntsman too. I
just love reading from his perspective because he is clearly not an easy character to write,
a rather challenging one in fact. He has both apparent and secret conflicts;
ones you have to dig out on your own. He also has an interesting way of
thinking. I absolutely respect him as a person. Most of the books I read are by
female authors but it’s very rare to find a male feminist. What a shame. That’s
what makes The Huntsman very interesting. Dear authors, learn from Sarah
Pinborough. Adding a feminist in your books could never be a
bad idea. Unless you're a misogynist.
Beauty is
nothing like Poison (a psychological take on Snow White) or Charm (a realistic,
social take on Cinderella). It’s an extremely dark story with a punk and a
gothic edge. I can’t promise people who are not familiar with such a concept to
enjoy this book. There’s a specific scene in Beauty when it reaches its climax
of gruesomeness: A very graphic description of an orgy. You’re certainly going
to have some twisted nightmares because of it. Now that’s something I can promise.
There
should be more books like this. This is what fairytale retellings must contain:
Creepiness, darkness, intensity, blood and grit all wrapped in a
layer of adventure, unexpected events and social issues without forgetting to
add a touch of romance and sarcasm. And of course, making the obvious unobvious
and vice versa.
Beauty is
the grand finale of an incredibly enjoyable trilogy. I dare say that out of the
three books, this is my favorite. Sarah Pinborough’s writing style is absolutely
compelling and I’ll definitely pick up more works by her in the future.
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Quotes:
“Sometimes,' Beauty said softly, sipping from her silver goblet, 'everyone needs to let the beast inside them out for a while'. She laughed, a sound like a waterfall meeting the sea and more glitter escaped from her fingertips. 'I like to see it. We all have our dark lusts. We should enjoy them.”
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Perks:
The more, The merrier. Various fairytale characters mashed up in the most perfect way. Just like Once Upon A Time.
Cons:
A little too graphic maybe? But you can skip those passages if you got extremely bothered.
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Rating: 5/5
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