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PAPERBACK

279 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1990

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92 people want to read

About the author

Barbara Hambly

205 books1,596 followers
aka Barbara Hamilton

Ranging from fantasy to historical fiction, Barbara Hambly has a masterful way of spinning a story. Her twisty plots involve memorable characters, lavish descriptions, scads of novel words, and interesting devices. Her work spans the Star Wars universe, antebellum New Orleans, and various fantasy worlds, sometimes linked with our own.


"I always wanted to be a writer but everyone kept telling me it was impossible to break into the field or make money. I've proven them wrong on both counts."
-Barbara Hambly

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5 stars
18 (39%)
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12 (26%)
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11 (23%)
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5 (10%)
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for SBC.
1,478 reviews
August 6, 2022
An Avon Romance based on the 1980s series created by Ron Koslow, starring Ron Perlman, Linda Hamilton and Roy Dotrice. This was a nice read - brought back lots of memories of the TV show! I liked Mouse best.

This book put together three telescripts into one novel (mirroring the themes, etc) but you could still tell where each of the three scripts ended. I didn't like the way Catherine was portrayed as not certain in her love for Vincent and still attracted to Elliot. I don't know how true it was to the series because I couldn't remember too much but in this version Catherine was attacked in the park, bandaged and taken in by Vincent, then she didn't see him for eight months. During those eight months she met and was swept off her feet by Elliot, then she found out Elliot was involved in some shady dealings (she thought) so she ditched him. Now in the book some months have passed since then and Elliot still pursues her but she has nothing to do with him, and she loves Vincent but thinks that love is different from the physical material love she needs to get by in 1980s New York.

The first story was about Mouse finding gold treasure Below. The second story was about Father's past rising up again - the wife who divorced him and is dying; his false persecution in the McCarthy trials. The third story is about Below's silence punishment to Mouse who takes things (steals) and a rockslide Father and Vincent get caught in. Catherine comes below and she and Mouse help them get out with Elliot's help, she accepts Elliot as a friend but loves Vincent most. A

pparently there's another book by Hambly called simply "Beauty and the Beast" (probably the first in this series) and another by Ru Emerson called "Masques". From the way they advertise them this looks like the third, or maybe the second. Note, there's a cool advert at the back for B&B merchandise - calendar, mug, nightshirt, satin jackets, pewter Vincent, portrait of Vincent, 3 generation photo and pewter tie-tack pin. :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Michelle Llewellyn.
535 reviews10 followers
October 2, 2013
See my review for book #1 as the year was 1996 BA (Before Amazon!) I had to special order this book through the mail from a bookseller who specialized in out-of-print/hard to find books and how happy I was when it finally arrived. As a die hard fan of the TV show thanks to VHS and cable reruns I HAD to own all the copies of the tie-in books and yes, I now own all 3 seasons on DVD.
Song of Orpheus is the novelization of three seperate episodes from the Beauty and the Beast TV show and all the stories are from season one: "Fever", "Song of Orpheus", and "Shades of Grey".
If you enjoy getting inside the heads of your favorite characters from the show, especially Vincent and Catherine, read this book, you'll love it! (less)
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Profile Image for Leelan.
233 reviews5 followers
October 25, 2008
The last in what I had hoped to be a long series of books written about the old TV series "Beauty and the Beast". A good collection od stories based on the TV episodes. What is really interesting is how some things translate from screen to page, how some things have to be augmented and some only sketched.
Profile Image for Maura.
3,883 reviews116 followers
October 24, 2014
I picked this up only because I always wanted to know what was going on inside Catherine and Vincent's heads during their TV episodes. Sure I could guess or imagine, but having it in writing makes it almost canon and I like having the insight. This basically writes out several of the TV episodes. It's pretty true to character and I loved reading them. Also, I read this before the episodes were out on DVD, so this was as close as I could get to reruns.
Profile Image for Kyle.
Author 1 book30 followers
July 16, 2016
Very bizarre; Goodreads has linked this book (Song of Orpheus)'s ISBN to the first book in this series - "Beauty and the Beast", also by Barbara Hambly - even though they are two separate titles. Goodreads needs to correct this.
Profile Image for Catherine.
107 reviews3 followers
January 29, 2008
For a girl who is not typcially a fan of romance, I sure loved this TV show.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

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