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Arabesque
An ambitious young princess, Ulrike, turns to the dark arts in order to become queen despite her younger sister’s warnings of a fatal consequence to mortgaging her soul. She succeeds, yet Ulrike finds herself trapped in a hateful marriage, her mind slowly being devoured by her powers, while conceiving and giving birth to a boy.
Alarick — “the bastard prince” — becomes the court’s favorite object of mockery because of the scandal of his conception, his mother’s spiraling madness compounding his ordeal. When Alarick falls in love with a childhood friend, Roald von Thiessen, the added sin of an unnatural romance gets caught up in a tumultuous aristocratic environment that’s rife with hypocrisy, cruelty, betrayal, and murder.
Forcibly separated from each other during a bloody uprising, Roald and Alarick become helplessly ensnared in nightmarish adventures designed to twist their characters and destroy their minds in the process. The young lovers fight for their souls and a way back to each other in a world weighed down by the forces of dark and light magic, and gods grapple with each other over mortal destinies.
Arabesque is a gothic, homoerotic retelling of the “Snow White” folktale, set in a darkly decadent, alternate Europe.
Alarick — “the bastard prince” — becomes the court’s favorite object of mockery because of the scandal of his conception, his mother’s spiraling madness compounding his ordeal. When Alarick falls in love with a childhood friend, Roald von Thiessen, the added sin of an unnatural romance gets caught up in a tumultuous aristocratic environment that’s rife with hypocrisy, cruelty, betrayal, and murder.
Forcibly separated from each other during a bloody uprising, Roald and Alarick become helplessly ensnared in nightmarish adventures designed to twist their characters and destroy their minds in the process. The young lovers fight for their souls and a way back to each other in a world weighed down by the forces of dark and light magic, and gods grapple with each other over mortal destinies.
Arabesque is a gothic, homoerotic retelling of the “Snow White” folktale, set in a darkly decadent, alternate Europe.
ebook
First published February 22, 2011
About the author
Hayden Thorne
102 books83 followersI write gothic fiction, fairy tales, and ghost stories with a touch of gay romance. For a complete and updated list of my published books,
please visit my Books2Read store
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 22, 2015
I really like this book. I want to say I love this book. I really do. But when you love a book you are able to reread it. I can't for this book. Towards the end, it was very painful. I couldn't stand it. I was also very scared because I thought that the author was going to have a really dumb ending. Which didn't happen; the ending was very happy and made sense and made me very happy.
The book heavily relies on conversion/ reparative therapy. (To correct homosexuality/transgenderness). And that's why it was painful. It was too much. Another thing that was too much was that the author drawled on and on and on and on and omg.
I strongly liked the book but I can say I definitely will not be reading another Hayden Thorne book.
The book heavily relies on conversion/ reparative therapy. (To correct homosexuality/transgenderness). And that's why it was painful. It was too much. Another thing that was too much was that the author drawled on and on and on and on and omg.
I strongly liked the book but I can say I definitely will not be reading another Hayden Thorne book.
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October 18, 2011I wanted to love this book. A dark fantasy retelling of Snow White featuring a beautiful boy who falls in love with another boy? I was so there.
But the style didn't agree with me. The narrative made me feel faintly patronized: it insisted on explaining things I already understood. Omniscient narrative sometimes lends itself to this kind of heavy-handedness, but I've seen it done with humor, playfulness, and self-irony before, so I know that's possible.
Also, while I read books mainly for the story, I admire authors who can teach me something without me being aware of it. Here, though, I was always conscious of a Message. It literally informs the characters, the deconstructed fairytales, the dialogue, and the whole movement of the plot. I agree with this Message, but it's distracting to always have it in front of me.
I did like Alarick's episode in the cottage. It was very atmospheric, and I liked the imagery of those seven eerie place settings sitting on that sad little table. The visceral horror of the wooden man who imprisons and destroys what he desires was also something that I found effective.
And goodness, this is such a hard review to write! Honestly, I prefer to be bouncing around, letting the world know about characters I adored and relationships I swooned over. But the long and short of it is that I didn't enjoy myself as much as I would have liked. I'd wanted to love this book and I still do, but it just didn't click with me.
I still want to investigate Hayden Thorne's work, though, so I'll probably be looking at Renfred's Masquerade once I demolish this pile of books to be read...
But the style didn't agree with me. The narrative made me feel faintly patronized: it insisted on explaining things I already understood. Omniscient narrative sometimes lends itself to this kind of heavy-handedness, but I've seen it done with humor, playfulness, and self-irony before, so I know that's possible.
Also, while I read books mainly for the story, I admire authors who can teach me something without me being aware of it. Here, though, I was always conscious of a Message. It literally informs the characters, the deconstructed fairytales, the dialogue, and the whole movement of the plot. I agree with this Message, but it's distracting to always have it in front of me.
I did like Alarick's episode in the cottage. It was very atmospheric, and I liked the imagery of those seven eerie place settings sitting on that sad little table. The visceral horror of the wooden man who imprisons and destroys what he desires was also something that I found effective.
And goodness, this is such a hard review to write! Honestly, I prefer to be bouncing around, letting the world know about characters I adored and relationships I swooned over. But the long and short of it is that I didn't enjoy myself as much as I would have liked. I'd wanted to love this book and I still do, but it just didn't click with me.
I still want to investigate Hayden Thorne's work, though, so I'll probably be looking at Renfred's Masquerade once I demolish this pile of books to be read...
August 13, 2011
I did not in any way expect the artistry I found in this book. It is sophisticated without being complicated, and it has no artifice because it does not need it. The sex is almost sweet, and yet it is there, subtle and understated. The book is dark as well, and Thorne pushes her characters to the limits.
The writing in this book is extraordinary. Honestly, I was completely blown away. Voice, pacing, tone, character, setting--everything is here.
And I was incredibly humbled by this book because I think it was the Snow White retelling that I wanted to write in Sweet Son, but then my damn dirty muse went mucking about, and we got something else. Not that it's bad. But I read this and sighed because I really wished I'd written it.
The writing in this book is extraordinary. Honestly, I was completely blown away. Voice, pacing, tone, character, setting--everything is here.
And I was incredibly humbled by this book because I think it was the Snow White retelling that I wanted to write in Sweet Son, but then my damn dirty muse went mucking about, and we got something else. Not that it's bad. But I read this and sighed because I really wished I'd written it.
May 15, 2017
I didn't get it. I get the part about being a homoerotic story and about acceptance, but it was so wordy that I couldn't really get into it. I love the romance that the two main characters shared, but the details were too much in the environment. To be honest, it feels Hemingway-ish writing. The evil queen being deranged was fine and so was the ghost of the sister, but everything else seemed convoluted. Plus, there were a few issues I had with the characters, such as the King brushing off his son. I understand that the child was not his, but usually in monarchies, a scandal is worse. Also usually the King would kill the offending child from the beginning. A lot of the story just didn't add up.
February 2, 2013
I don't know if it's the writing style, the jumbled up events or my mind just doesn't comprehend this story but finishing this one makes me just confused and bland. The introduction with the self growing palace and forest makes you intrigued in the story but the whole thing suddenly gets cut of by introducing you with a new characters at randomly and in a completely new surroundings so that you're lost and that makes you grasp for any sense of where all this is going only to shove you into a fairy tale after fairy tale.
I must say I had high hopes but they were devoured by the growing palace.
I must say I had high hopes but they were devoured by the growing palace.
February 8, 2013
A dark, homoerotic retelling of Snow White. Contains a decadent and opaque writing style that is not for everyone, but captures the long, arduous journey of self-discovery that can be bleak and painful, full of mistakes and regret, until the ultimate and cathartic awakening.
May 6, 2011
This story has so much promise unfortunately the mismatch fairy tales/plot/editing that had me confused in the middle and I only got back to the storyline at the end.Sigh...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews