What do you think?
Rate this book
Spirited
In May 1756 war is formally declared between the British and the French. During this highly dangerous time, Isabella Sevens is travelling with her father to the British stronghold Fort William Henry.
In the forest, Wusamequin, the young and handsome medicine man, looks to avenge the death of his wife and child at the hands of British soldiers. When Wusamequin spots Isabella and her father, he alerts his warriors to capture them. But Wusamequin is quite taken with how bravely Isabella battles. He orders the warriors to spare her and her father, and they are dragged back to their village. However, many members of the Mohican tribe still want them to be killed. In a desperate plea to Wusamequin, Isabella vows to stay as his hostage if he lets her father go.
Holder's colonial "captured-by-Indians" romance is an homage to "Last of the Mohicans" and a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast".
In the forest, Wusamequin, the young and handsome medicine man, looks to avenge the death of his wife and child at the hands of British soldiers. When Wusamequin spots Isabella and her father, he alerts his warriors to capture them. But Wusamequin is quite taken with how bravely Isabella battles. He orders the warriors to spare her and her father, and they are dragged back to their village. However, many members of the Mohican tribe still want them to be killed. In a desperate plea to Wusamequin, Isabella vows to stay as his hostage if he lets her father go.
Holder's colonial "captured-by-Indians" romance is an homage to "Last of the Mohicans" and a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast".
257 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 2004
10 people are currently reading
4947 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Holder
352 books2,408 followersNancy Holder, New York Times Bestselling author of the WICKED Series, has just published CRUSADE - the first book in a new vampire series cowritten with Debbie Viguie. The last book her her Possession series is set to release in March 2011.
Nancy was born in Los Altos, California, and her family settled for a time in Walnut Creek. Her father, who taught at Stanford, joined the navy and the family traveled throughout California and lived in Japan for three years. When she was sixteen, she dropped out of high school to become a ballet dancer in Cologne, Germany, and later relocated to Frankfurt Am Main.
Eventually she returned to California and graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at San Diego with a degree in Communications. Soon after, she began to write; her first sale was a young adult romance novel titled Teach Me to Love.
Nancy’s work has appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, amazon.com, LOCUS, and other bestseller lists. A four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, she has also received accolades from the American Library Association, the American Reading Association, the New York Public Library, and Romantic Times.
She and Debbie Viguié co-authored the New York Times bestselling series Wicked for Simon and Schuster. They have continued their collaboration with the Crusade series, also for Simon and Schuster, and the Wolf Springs Chronicles for Delacorte (2011.) She is also the author of the young adult horror series Possessions for Razorbill. She has sold many novels and book projects set in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Saving Grace, Hellboy, and Smallville universes.
She has sold approximately two hundred short stories and essays on writing and popular culture. Her anthology, Outsiders, co-edited with Nancy Kilpatrick, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award in 2005.
She teaches in the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program, offered through the University of Southern Maine. She has previously taught at UCSD and has served on the Clarion Board of Directors.
She lives in San Diego, California, with her daughter Belle, their two Corgis, Panda and Tater; and their cats, David and Kittnen Snow. She and Belle are active in Girl Scouts and dog obedience training.
Nancy was born in Los Altos, California, and her family settled for a time in Walnut Creek. Her father, who taught at Stanford, joined the navy and the family traveled throughout California and lived in Japan for three years. When she was sixteen, she dropped out of high school to become a ballet dancer in Cologne, Germany, and later relocated to Frankfurt Am Main.
Eventually she returned to California and graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at San Diego with a degree in Communications. Soon after, she began to write; her first sale was a young adult romance novel titled Teach Me to Love.
Nancy’s work has appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, amazon.com, LOCUS, and other bestseller lists. A four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, she has also received accolades from the American Library Association, the American Reading Association, the New York Public Library, and Romantic Times.
She and Debbie Viguié co-authored the New York Times bestselling series Wicked for Simon and Schuster. They have continued their collaboration with the Crusade series, also for Simon and Schuster, and the Wolf Springs Chronicles for Delacorte (2011.) She is also the author of the young adult horror series Possessions for Razorbill. She has sold many novels and book projects set in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Saving Grace, Hellboy, and Smallville universes.
She has sold approximately two hundred short stories and essays on writing and popular culture. Her anthology, Outsiders, co-edited with Nancy Kilpatrick, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award in 2005.
She teaches in the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program, offered through the University of Southern Maine. She has previously taught at UCSD and has served on the Clarion Board of Directors.
She lives in San Diego, California, with her daughter Belle, their two Corgis, Panda and Tater; and their cats, David and Kittnen Snow. She and Belle are active in Girl Scouts and dog obedience training.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 155 reviews
March 10, 2020
I thought I lost this book, but I was so happy to find it in the same spot I've left it over a month ago. I still have high hopes for this world! The book itself, on the other hand, is a disappointment. Another unfortunate consequence of my predilection to read books with pretty covers.
Nancy Holder’s colonial romance "Spirited" is thoroughly dispiriting. She bills it as an homage to "Last of the Mohicans" and as a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast", suggesting that being a Native American is a disfiguring curse. I find the premise disconcerting, and even until I finished the book --the feeling still lingers. Aside from this, the story represents a blind, backward and degrading view of the Mohican culture, and it undermines all the other elements of the story which include: a predictable and slow-moving romance with ridiculous dialogue, and a startling magical theme that just crops up at the end, guaranteeing a happy ending amidst unresolved conflicts.
To describe my overall experience, let me leave you with this quote from the heroine during a battle scene:
“She couldn’t believe what she was seeing—the cruelty, the barbarism. She was screaming, ‘Stop! Stop!', but no one did.”
Nancy Holder’s colonial romance "Spirited" is thoroughly dispiriting. She bills it as an homage to "Last of the Mohicans" and as a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast", suggesting that being a Native American is a disfiguring curse. I find the premise disconcerting, and even until I finished the book --the feeling still lingers. Aside from this, the story represents a blind, backward and degrading view of the Mohican culture, and it undermines all the other elements of the story which include: a predictable and slow-moving romance with ridiculous dialogue, and a startling magical theme that just crops up at the end, guaranteeing a happy ending amidst unresolved conflicts.
To describe my overall experience, let me leave you with this quote from the heroine during a battle scene:
“She couldn’t believe what she was seeing—the cruelty, the barbarism. She was screaming, ‘Stop! Stop!', but no one did.”
February 5, 2014
I didn't like this one. At. All.
I have a huge problem with the concept that the tall, young, handsome Native American man was a beast simply because he was Native American. That so did not work for me. There was nothing beastly about him, nothing ugly or disfiguring, no curses working on him. She saw him as a "beast" or something less than human because of who he was, but for me, an author implying that simply not being a white European makes someone a beast was disgusting. I didn't like that. At all.
I found the book difficult to get through as the heroine is constantly shrieking, screaming, sobbing, or blurting "Mahwah" at anyone who comes along. When I found out what Mahwah meant I thought the tribe members must have thought she was either an idiot or very full of herself and that it was no wonder that she wasn't liked.
The idea that Isabella could do spirit magic was odd, to say the least. Why would this white English lady be able to do Native sprit magic? There is no explanation other than her belief that they magically belong together. Author, kindly explain this to your readers. "It's magic!" simply doesn't do it.
I really don't see this as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It is some weird thing about magic spirit battles and little pixies and the whole thing is odd.
And, most of all, I didn't feel love between these two characters. He still thought she was a haughty white woman and she still thought he was an uncivilized heathen
The book could have used some editing. There are small things that make no sense because of it.
I must choose my future 2013 books more carefully, a bad start to the year's reading.
*Interestingly, this is now subtitled as a re-telling of Last of the Mohicans instead of Beauty and the Beast which was the subtitle when I read it. Hmmmmmm. I don't see that as being correct either. I think this is just an attempt to get people to read something that is otherwise nothing special, but tie it to a known story and maybe you can drum up some interest. Badly done.
I have a huge problem with the concept that the tall, young, handsome Native American man was a beast simply because he was Native American. That so did not work for me. There was nothing beastly about him, nothing ugly or disfiguring, no curses working on him. She saw him as a "beast" or something less than human because of who he was, but for me, an author implying that simply not being a white European makes someone a beast was disgusting. I didn't like that. At all.
I found the book difficult to get through as the heroine is constantly shrieking, screaming, sobbing, or blurting "Mahwah" at anyone who comes along. When I found out what Mahwah meant I thought the tribe members must have thought she was either an idiot or very full of herself and that it was no wonder that she wasn't liked.
The idea that Isabella could do spirit magic was odd, to say the least. Why would this white English lady be able to do Native sprit magic? There is no explanation other than her belief that they magically belong together. Author, kindly explain this to your readers. "It's magic!" simply doesn't do it.
I really don't see this as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It is some weird thing about magic spirit battles and little pixies and the whole thing is odd.
And, most of all, I didn't feel love between these two characters. He still thought she was a haughty white woman and she still thought he was an uncivilized heathen
The book could have used some editing. There are small things that make no sense because of it.
I must choose my future 2013 books more carefully, a bad start to the year's reading.
*Interestingly, this is now subtitled as a re-telling of Last of the Mohicans instead of Beauty and the Beast which was the subtitle when I read it. Hmmmmmm. I don't see that as being correct either. I think this is just an attempt to get people to read something that is otherwise nothing special, but tie it to a known story and maybe you can drum up some interest. Badly done.
May 11, 2016
Horrible.
I am half Apache, and the representation of native life is ridiculous. Also the fact that the main Native character is supposed to represent a beast is upsetting.
The books starts off with a navajo prayer, but is also supposed to be a retelling of last of the mohicans.
Maybe I should write a retelling of Mulan and have lots of haiku and talk about geishas....
I am half Apache, and the representation of native life is ridiculous. Also the fact that the main Native character is supposed to represent a beast is upsetting.
The books starts off with a navajo prayer, but is also supposed to be a retelling of last of the mohicans.
Maybe I should write a retelling of Mulan and have lots of haiku and talk about geishas....
May 13, 2017
One of the worst retellings I've found so far, this one purports, and I cite the subtitle on the cover as well as the Author's Note by the end, a retelling of The Last of the Mohicans, book and 1992 film version (so the author claims), and Beauty and the Beast, the Disney film. Somehow, Nancy Holder managed to not deliver any of these two promises, because this book is no retelling of any of them, neither novel nor fairy tale.
If you squinted hard, this could pass for a homage to James Fenimore Cooper's novel merely because it takes place in the same site and during the exact same period, plus there are Mohicans in the story. But beyond that extremely superficial resemblance, there's nothing to qualify this as a retelling. It would at best be qualified as a very mediocre romance that takes place during the French/Indian Wars in the 1700s, copying from the original the plotline where a convoy of British soldiers is ambushed by Indians (Hurons in the original, Mohicans in this one, for plot convenience), and a weakling TSTL of a female protagonist is taken prisoner, falls in love with her Indian captor, magical stuff happens, girl returns to whites, Mohican boy near dies from The Feels, Red Coats come to massacre the natives, magic happens and all surviving Mohicans plus the two reunited lovebirds are magically transported to the Land Beyond (a sort of Paradise) to live happily ever after and have babies. Essentially, the only solution for persecuted and massacred Native Americans this author can find is to resort to magic to move onto the Afterlife, the only place they can live unmolested by the wars of whites.
As for Beauty and the Beast, what this author understands for a retelling escapes me, because this novel in no way whatsoever resembles the fairy tale. Not in the least. Not only is the male lead here neither scarred, nor deformed, nor ill, nor cursed to be beastly by enchantment, all of which are what makes for a Beast figure. Instead, the "beast" here is a perfectly healthy, young, and very handsome Mohican shaman who possesses some weird and unexplained powers. What is beastly about him, exactly? Is the author suggesting that he is a Beast figure merely because he happens to be a Native American savage? If so, first time I read that your ethnic origins make you a Beast. Quite incomprehensible, and disrespectful to the fairy tale it claims to be retelling. Practically the only element in the entire novel that could be construed as a homage to the tale is the fact that the female lead abandons the male lead, and he near dies from it like Beast does when Beauty leaves and fails to return in time, and frankly, it doesn't work. The separation is so forced. The inclusion of a rose also reads forced, and since it doesn't play a role that matters, it's merely a throwaway.
The story turned out so mediocre that it'd only mean a few wasted hours for any reader that chose it.
If you squinted hard, this could pass for a homage to James Fenimore Cooper's novel merely because it takes place in the same site and during the exact same period, plus there are Mohicans in the story. But beyond that extremely superficial resemblance, there's nothing to qualify this as a retelling. It would at best be qualified as a very mediocre romance that takes place during the French/Indian Wars in the 1700s, copying from the original the plotline where a convoy of British soldiers is ambushed by Indians (Hurons in the original, Mohicans in this one, for plot convenience), and a weakling TSTL of a female protagonist is taken prisoner, falls in love with her Indian captor, magical stuff happens, girl returns to whites, Mohican boy near dies from The Feels, Red Coats come to massacre the natives, magic happens and all surviving Mohicans plus the two reunited lovebirds are magically transported to the Land Beyond (a sort of Paradise) to live happily ever after and have babies. Essentially, the only solution for persecuted and massacred Native Americans this author can find is to resort to magic to move onto the Afterlife, the only place they can live unmolested by the wars of whites.
As for Beauty and the Beast, what this author understands for a retelling escapes me, because this novel in no way whatsoever resembles the fairy tale. Not in the least. Not only is the male lead here neither scarred, nor deformed, nor ill, nor cursed to be beastly by enchantment, all of which are what makes for a Beast figure. Instead, the "beast" here is a perfectly healthy, young, and very handsome Mohican shaman who possesses some weird and unexplained powers. What is beastly about him, exactly? Is the author suggesting that he is a Beast figure merely because he happens to be a Native American savage? If so, first time I read that your ethnic origins make you a Beast. Quite incomprehensible, and disrespectful to the fairy tale it claims to be retelling. Practically the only element in the entire novel that could be construed as a homage to the tale is the fact that the female lead abandons the male lead, and he near dies from it like Beast does when Beauty leaves and fails to return in time, and frankly, it doesn't work. The separation is so forced. The inclusion of a rose also reads forced, and since it doesn't play a role that matters, it's merely a throwaway.
The story turned out so mediocre that it'd only mean a few wasted hours for any reader that chose it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2012
1.5 stars. A retelling of "Beauty and the Beast." 14+
Took me a while to slog through this. I never got into the book. Didn't care for the characters. Isabella didn't strike me as a Belle\Beauty character, which might have thrown off the groove. The whole thing just didn't feel like "Beauty and the Beast" to me at all. Certainly a very different way of telling it. One thing that I liked was that there was absolutely no Insta-love. They actually have to get to know one another before they fall in love. You know, like normal people. Especially since Wusamequin is an Indian "savage" that, along with his tribe, murdered most of all Isabella's soldiers and companions. His family was murdered and he wants revenge on the white skins.
Isabella and Wusamequin's connection was odd. I didn't know too much about the Indian tribes' religion\belief system so I was slightly confused in some parts. The ending was all over the place and rubbish. Mainly Wusamequin's declaration of love which was basically
Wusamequin: I''ll kill all the white men who would may or may not want to tear us apart including but not limited to your friends and people that you beg me not to kill. Love ya, honey.
Mahwah:......
Mahwah: *sobbing all over the place*
Wusamequin: What did I do?
Me: *head desk*
The New World, Indians, etc. Violence, thematic elements, and implied intimate relationships with a few "vague but not vague enough" scenes.
Took me a while to slog through this. I never got into the book. Didn't care for the characters. Isabella didn't strike me as a Belle\Beauty character, which might have thrown off the groove. The whole thing just didn't feel like "Beauty and the Beast" to me at all. Certainly a very different way of telling it. One thing that I liked was that there was absolutely no Insta-love. They actually have to get to know one another before they fall in love. You know, like normal people. Especially since Wusamequin is an Indian "savage" that, along with his tribe, murdered most of all Isabella's soldiers and companions. His family was murdered and he wants revenge on the white skins.
Isabella and Wusamequin's connection was odd. I didn't know too much about the Indian tribes' religion\belief system so I was slightly confused in some parts. The ending was all over the place and rubbish. Mainly Wusamequin's declaration of love which was basically
Wusamequin: I''ll kill all the white men who would may or may not want to tear us apart including but not limited to your friends and people that you beg me not to kill. Love ya, honey.
Mahwah:......
Mahwah: *sobbing all over the place*
Wusamequin: What did I do?
Me: *head desk*
The New World, Indians, etc. Violence, thematic elements, and implied intimate relationships with a few "vague but not vague enough" scenes.
December 21, 2008
This book is good and I really got into it (I cried a lot), but I didn't like all the fight scenes.
Okay, let me explain. This is a version of Beauty and the Beast set in the 1700s during the French & Indian Wars in the Americas. Beauty is young Isabella from England and the Beast is the Native American Shaman who kidnaps her and her father (an Army Doctor) after his tribe kills of their entire soldier escort. THAT is what I didn't like. All the killing in this book. But their relationship is amazing and does have all the magic you could ever want in a fairy tale. I like how the author relates the Native American 'savage' to being like a beast in the eyes of the 'white man.' Very clever and a good book--if you can stomach the fight scenes--there are a few.
Okay, let me explain. This is a version of Beauty and the Beast set in the 1700s during the French & Indian Wars in the Americas. Beauty is young Isabella from England and the Beast is the Native American Shaman who kidnaps her and her father (an Army Doctor) after his tribe kills of their entire soldier escort. THAT is what I didn't like. All the killing in this book. But their relationship is amazing and does have all the magic you could ever want in a fairy tale. I like how the author relates the Native American 'savage' to being like a beast in the eyes of the 'white man.' Very clever and a good book--if you can stomach the fight scenes--there are a few.
April 20, 2019
DNF at 47% because I'm pretty sure this is offensive to Native Americans. And purveyors of Native American culture/history. And people with eyes.
January 21, 2008
Several authors are contributing to the Once Upon a Time series; hence the varied tone and uneven quality. Spirited is by Nancy Holder, who specializes in teen dark fantasy (i.e., Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
The concluding author's note in the book explains that it is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but I think most teens would not have guessed the connection. For the most part it reads like an ordinary "noble savage romance" rather than a fairy tale: White girl is captured by Indian and they fall in love with each other. The ending becomes rather muddled in a spiritualistic way, but the romance concludes predictably.
The most clever insight revolves around this riddle-story, which the young Indian brave tells himself: "There are two wolves in your heart. One wolf is fear and one wolf is courage. Both are evenly matched and both are willing to fight to the death. And yet, one wolf will win. Which wolf will it be? The answer: The one you feed."
Always one of my favorite parables, indicating that the true "Beast" lives in each person's heart!
The concluding author's note in the book explains that it is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but I think most teens would not have guessed the connection. For the most part it reads like an ordinary "noble savage romance" rather than a fairy tale: White girl is captured by Indian and they fall in love with each other. The ending becomes rather muddled in a spiritualistic way, but the romance concludes predictably.
The most clever insight revolves around this riddle-story, which the young Indian brave tells himself: "There are two wolves in your heart. One wolf is fear and one wolf is courage. Both are evenly matched and both are willing to fight to the death. And yet, one wolf will win. Which wolf will it be? The answer: The one you feed."
Always one of my favorite parables, indicating that the true "Beast" lives in each person's heart!
November 5, 2009
My favorite fairy tale has always been Beauty and the Beast. I won't even deny that that had something to do with the five star rating. Any story that has that kind of love is a favorite of mine.
Isabella is a young British woman who ends up kidnapped by an Indian tribe during the French and Indian War. What is a young woman to do in the midst of savages?
On a side note: I hate how Europeans treated the natives when they arrived. It makes me so angry I could scream. In Spirited, I was glad to see that Isabella was able to see both sides. If she hadn't, there's no way I'd be writing positive things about her.
Also, I'm not sure I'd classify this as a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Sure, some of the things were the same. Isabella is beautiful, her father is kidnapped, she tries to trade places, she can't stand her captor and tries to run away, the usual. But I would classify it more like a Pocahontas role-reversal than Beauty and the Beast.
And the way Indian medicine was portrayed was phemoninal! It was so cool to see the magic and the way they believe. It seems the author did a lot of research for this story.
Isabella is a young British woman who ends up kidnapped by an Indian tribe during the French and Indian War. What is a young woman to do in the midst of savages?
On a side note: I hate how Europeans treated the natives when they arrived. It makes me so angry I could scream. In Spirited, I was glad to see that Isabella was able to see both sides. If she hadn't, there's no way I'd be writing positive things about her.
Also, I'm not sure I'd classify this as a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Sure, some of the things were the same. Isabella is beautiful, her father is kidnapped, she tries to trade places, she can't stand her captor and tries to run away, the usual. But I would classify it more like a Pocahontas role-reversal than Beauty and the Beast.
And the way Indian medicine was portrayed was phemoninal! It was so cool to see the magic and the way they believe. It seems the author did a lot of research for this story.
October 20, 2011
Gah I didn't like this book at all when I read it a while ago. I wanted to like it because it seemed interesting. They only word that can accurately describe this is weird. It was just really weird.
Isabella and Wusamequin's relationship just came off creepy to me. He kept calling her Mahwah each time he talked to her. I swear the word Mahwah was in the book 500 times. It was just like ok...enough already! I have to give this books props though because it made me laugh. Not because there was anything funny, but because it was so corny and ridiculous. There was this scene where Isabella decides she's going to relinquish her white forefathers— she is no longer Isabella, she is now....MAHWAH! It was meant to be dramatic but it just was hilarious.
Isabella and Wusamequin's relationship just came off creepy to me. He kept calling her Mahwah each time he talked to her. I swear the word Mahwah was in the book 500 times. It was just like ok...enough already! I have to give this books props though because it made me laugh. Not because there was anything funny, but because it was so corny and ridiculous. There was this scene where Isabella decides she's going to relinquish her white forefathers— she is no longer Isabella, she is now....MAHWAH! It was meant to be dramatic but it just was hilarious.
January 16, 2011
Very different. Not a light fairy tale. It was dark and violent, but not too much that I didn't enjoy it.
February 23, 2012
A creative Native American / Englishwoman re-do of the Beauty and the Beast story - although I never really considered the main male character a "beast". Set during the French and Indian War it tells of an Englishwoman, Isabella, and her doctor father who have come to help heal people, when they are set upon by attacking Indians. Isabella is taken captive by the Indian tribe's medicine man, Wusamequin (the Beast) and through healing each other, they eventually realize their love for one another. It's a lovely story although the magical parts didn't quite fit for me. In fact, when the little fairy people first appear, I felt it suddenly took the story from historical fiction to fantasy and I felt a tad disoriented. I wondered why the author thought she had to include them and the other magic that comes along. I think it could have been a great story without it.
May 19, 2009
As I was reading it, I didn't connect that it was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Now that I think about it, it's quite obvious. I liked how different it was, but it got a little confusing when it went into all the magic stuff. I loved how you got the perspective from both sides. Would definately recamend this to people who love the retelling of fairy tales.
November 17, 2022
The Once Upon a Time series does not really.... feel right with real historical events.
It's like the difference between Disney's Pocahontas versus Brother Bear. The former featured a Real Historical Person and is distinctly Uncomfortable to watch if you have any historical knowledge, even with the movie'swhitewashed attempts for positive representation. The latter is set in prehistorical times, of our ancestors long before what we call "civilization" was born. So you can just.... make shit up, and add things like spirits and magic, to fit an "older" world, and it doesn't matter, because then you're just creating a story that is removed from reality.
Spirited is set quite firmly in Colonial America and..... *sigh* Okay. I'll admit, I'm no expert on Native American studies. I cannot truly judge or criticize this book on its portrayal of a tribe of people whom I know nothing about. But I can say, it deeply disturbed me how much "both side-isms" was featured in the story ("they're all savages! Savages! Barely even human..." *coughs*). Perhaps I'm jumping to conclusions, or perhaps I'm simply annoyed that such a deeply sensitive topic was barely unpacked in a short novel that is part of a fairytale retelling middle school book series . Again. This series + real history = do not mix.
Historical/representation rant aside, was this book at least halfway decent of a read? Sure, for its genre and reading level. There were fairly pretty passages here and there, and I adored the Little People (the Makiawisug, little faerie folk who reminded me of a Native American myth in one of my fairytale books). But otherwise? Not one of my faves.
It's like the difference between Disney's Pocahontas versus Brother Bear. The former featured a Real Historical Person and is distinctly Uncomfortable to watch if you have any historical knowledge, even with the movie's
Spirited is set quite firmly in Colonial America and..... *sigh* Okay. I'll admit, I'm no expert on Native American studies. I cannot truly judge or criticize this book on its portrayal of a tribe of people whom I know nothing about. But I can say, it deeply disturbed me how much "both side-isms" was featured in the story ("they're all savages! Savages! Barely even human..." *coughs*). Perhaps I'm jumping to conclusions, or perhaps I'm simply annoyed that such a deeply sensitive topic was barely unpacked in a short novel that is part of a fairytale retelling middle school book series . Again. This series + real history = do not mix.
Historical/representation rant aside, was this book at least halfway decent of a read? Sure, for its genre and reading level. There were fairly pretty passages here and there, and I adored the Little People (the Makiawisug, little faerie folk who reminded me of a Native American myth in one of my fairytale books). But otherwise? Not one of my faves.
April 23, 2018
Beauty and the “Beast” retelling that is extremely ignorant and disrespectful of Native Americans.
The Beast was not a beast, merely a Native with a tragic past. Issue number one of many. If anything, the Beast was the heroine, whose prejudices make her rotten. However, that certainly did not come off as the author’s attention.
I also cringed at the use of “counting coup”. The author obviously does not understand this concept as it was originally created by Natives, specifically of the Plains, a group the author does not claim as inspiration for her “People”. The lack of understanding with this concept, partnered with the beast = savage native theme appalls me as vastly disrespectful of Native Americans.
EDUCATION:
Algonquin and Mohican tribes (which the author admits to using as the basis for the People) were SEDENTARY. There was an allusion in the book that the People were accustomed to moving to follow berries, fish, the changing leaves, and not out of fear. This implies seasonal migration. They would not do that. Why bother building a wigwam if you are going to move from it?
COUNTING COUP is a tradition of PLAINS tribes, NOT RIVER or Northeastern tribes. To put simply, it refers to going into battle with the aim of basically only touching the enemy and running away unharmed to show advanced skill. The “counting coup” refers to this act, not simply a way of sharing any exploit as the book often used it.
The Beast was not a beast, merely a Native with a tragic past. Issue number one of many. If anything, the Beast was the heroine, whose prejudices make her rotten. However, that certainly did not come off as the author’s attention.
I also cringed at the use of “counting coup”. The author obviously does not understand this concept as it was originally created by Natives, specifically of the Plains, a group the author does not claim as inspiration for her “People”. The lack of understanding with this concept, partnered with the beast = savage native theme appalls me as vastly disrespectful of Native Americans.
EDUCATION:
Algonquin and Mohican tribes (which the author admits to using as the basis for the People) were SEDENTARY. There was an allusion in the book that the People were accustomed to moving to follow berries, fish, the changing leaves, and not out of fear. This implies seasonal migration. They would not do that. Why bother building a wigwam if you are going to move from it?
COUNTING COUP is a tradition of PLAINS tribes, NOT RIVER or Northeastern tribes. To put simply, it refers to going into battle with the aim of basically only touching the enemy and running away unharmed to show advanced skill. The “counting coup” refers to this act, not simply a way of sharing any exploit as the book often used it.
January 17, 2023
I told my housemates that this was not a book I could see getting published today, but honestly, I'm surprised it was published in 2004. I feel like we were better than this even then.
As a teenager I loved the Once Upon A Time series (and fairy tale retellings in general.) Spirited was one of the few I couldn't get through an inter-library loan and I kind of feel like I understand why now. It is problematic on multiple levels. I won't go into detail about the problems with how Mohicans are portrayed. Other reviewers do a sufficient job.
Narratively, I could not get behind this couple. Our heroine gets kidnapped and between Stockholm syndrome and a lot of hallucinogens decides she's found her people. It is disturbing. The world building is downright confusing and the book desperately needs a glossary or list of characters to keep everything straight. Maybe I would have tracked it better if I cared more. But I didn't.
Not good as a Beauty and the Beast retelling, rather offensive as a representation of indigenous people. Definitely not one I'm coming back to.
As a teenager I loved the Once Upon A Time series (and fairy tale retellings in general.) Spirited was one of the few I couldn't get through an inter-library loan and I kind of feel like I understand why now. It is problematic on multiple levels. I won't go into detail about the problems with how Mohicans are portrayed. Other reviewers do a sufficient job.
Narratively, I could not get behind this couple. Our heroine gets kidnapped and between Stockholm syndrome and a lot of hallucinogens decides she's found her people. It is disturbing. The world building is downright confusing and the book desperately needs a glossary or list of characters to keep everything straight. Maybe I would have tracked it better if I cared more. But I didn't.
Not good as a Beauty and the Beast retelling, rather offensive as a representation of indigenous people. Definitely not one I'm coming back to.
December 5, 2019
Okay, I didn't actually hate this book. There were a few things that I think the author did well: She conveyed dark emotions well. The anger, dear, hate, and panic were all written in an intense manner that dialed the tension to eleven. The same goes for her being able to describe the horror of the terrifying and brutal situations. It was fairly intense, reading through the incredibly violent scenes.
That said, boy was this book unfortunate in a lot of it's themes and ideas. Going in there was something inherently icky about re-telling Beauty and the Beast where the 'beast' is only that because he's Native America. However, I was willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt: I've liked other books by her, and thought she might be able to handle the subject well. She was not able to rise about the icky. In fact, more got piled on as I read. She threw a bunch of different Native American traditions together and called it one Native tradition, which that's an issue. As was having a random white girl have super Native American powers without any training whatsoever, and to develop them out of nowhere.
On top of that, the romance felt very forced and the ending was dumb.
That said, boy was this book unfortunate in a lot of it's themes and ideas. Going in there was something inherently icky about re-telling Beauty and the Beast where the 'beast' is only that because he's Native America. However, I was willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt: I've liked other books by her, and thought she might be able to handle the subject well. She was not able to rise about the icky. In fact, more got piled on as I read. She threw a bunch of different Native American traditions together and called it one Native tradition, which that's an issue. As was having a random white girl have super Native American powers without any training whatsoever, and to develop them out of nowhere.
On top of that, the romance felt very forced and the ending was dumb.
September 15, 2019
1.5 stars
Urghhh there were many elements that I would have enjoyed if it weren't for the way this novel was written. I get that the author was trying to accurately reflect 18th century attitudes about foreign places and cultures, but I cringed at the depiction of indigenous peoples and the repeated use of words such as "savages". The entire premise - that being indigenous equates to being a "beast" - is insulting and just plain awful. I am obsessed with "Beauty and the Beast" and this could have been such a fascinating retelling, but inaccurate cultural stereotypes, revenge and bloody massacres seemed to be more at the forefront than love. Maybe it would have made a better novel if the "Beast" was actually a bear and the storyline was more fleshed out? Overall I was unimpressed; there are undoubtedly better retellings in the "Once Upon a Time" series.
Urghhh there were many elements that I would have enjoyed if it weren't for the way this novel was written. I get that the author was trying to accurately reflect 18th century attitudes about foreign places and cultures, but I cringed at the depiction of indigenous peoples and the repeated use of words such as "savages". The entire premise - that being indigenous equates to being a "beast" - is insulting and just plain awful. I am obsessed with "Beauty and the Beast" and this could have been such a fascinating retelling, but inaccurate cultural stereotypes, revenge and bloody massacres seemed to be more at the forefront than love. Maybe it would have made a better novel if the "Beast" was actually a bear and the storyline was more fleshed out? Overall I was unimpressed; there are undoubtedly better retellings in the "Once Upon a Time" series.
December 8, 2019
honestly did a lot of skimming to read this whole thing in a day, i'm trying to give all the once upon a time books a chance (a few have been rereads and i don't love them the way i did upon first read)
like..........this is supposed to be beauty and the beast which like the only thing that lines up is the guy taking her prisoner. equating being native american to being a beast is just horrifying tbh
and like i get that this was trying to be historically accurate but my god the use of the word savage was just excessive
still not even sure why they liked each other?? like for her at least i guess bc he was kind and took care of her, but i don't feel like there was any good reason for him to like her lmao it was like he was just automatically attached and protective of her idk
i'd take some of the bad storytelling of the other books in the series over this though
like..........this is supposed to be beauty and the beast which like the only thing that lines up is the guy taking her prisoner. equating being native american to being a beast is just horrifying tbh
and like i get that this was trying to be historically accurate but my god the use of the word savage was just excessive
still not even sure why they liked each other?? like for her at least i guess bc he was kind and took care of her, but i don't feel like there was any good reason for him to like her lmao it was like he was just automatically attached and protective of her idk
i'd take some of the bad storytelling of the other books in the series over this though
December 13, 2019
didn't like the ending.
** SPOILERS**
no real solutions to the serious problems faced by the Indians / British just a magic escape for a small handful of people. I didn't really feel the love between the 2 main characters. He spent the whole book resenting her for being British and showing her no love especially when others of his tribe were around, while she began respecting his people and culture but then suddenly their love was so true it could create a magical portal to another realm for the Indians to escape the murderous British. The tribe members spent the whole book attempting to murder her or rape her but now she will live in a magic world with them??
** SPOILERS**
no real solutions to the serious problems faced by the Indians / British just a magic escape for a small handful of people. I didn't really feel the love between the 2 main characters. He spent the whole book resenting her for being British and showing her no love especially when others of his tribe were around, while she began respecting his people and culture but then suddenly their love was so true it could create a magical portal to another realm for the Indians to escape the murderous British. The tribe members spent the whole book attempting to murder her or rape her but now she will live in a magic world with them??
August 25, 2021
It was good. A few familiar but pleasing twists. Makes me want to fact-check native American culture but once I remembered this was an elaboration, I could sit back and enjoy the ride.
Edit: okay, people in the comments were saying him being non-white is what made him the beast. I thought it was his rage and vengeance against the people who killed his loved ones. That was the first thing wee are introduced about him and through most of the book, he forgets. Until that one point. He was never cursed like the original beast but clouded by hatred and by being with the heroine, this finally allowed him peace and the ability to reach into the land beyond.
Edit: okay, people in the comments were saying him being non-white is what made him the beast. I thought it was his rage and vengeance against the people who killed his loved ones. That was the first thing wee are introduced about him and through most of the book, he forgets. Until that one point. He was never cursed like the original beast but clouded by hatred and by being with the heroine, this finally allowed him peace and the ability to reach into the land beyond.
November 26, 2023
Incredible. This story was amazing. I was a little worried about it at first as the racism really is rampant with this one but by the end I was totally rooting for the characters. This book is graphic, if talk of|| murder an scalping will bother|| this may not be the book for you. I liked the way he protected her even though he knew he should hate her. ||The way their hearts joined together to make magic was beautiful, I was so sad when they burned her half of his spirit, it did make the whole him dying when she left thing make more sense though||. Though this was a very unique take on beauty and the beast it did have many similarities with the original.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 24, 2019
I don't even know what to say...
Soooo, this is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast -which is already weird because that makes two Beauty and the Beast fairy tales in this particular series- and honestly, it was a decent rewrite of an amazing classic. However, i found myself to be disinterested and bored by all the "spiritual" stuff going on. And while I'm at it I might as well mention that going into it I thought it was supposed to be Pocahontas and not Beauty and the Beast.
All things considered, I'm sure it wasn't a very easy book to write, i just don't think I'd re-read it.
Soooo, this is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast -which is already weird because that makes two Beauty and the Beast fairy tales in this particular series- and honestly, it was a decent rewrite of an amazing classic. However, i found myself to be disinterested and bored by all the "spiritual" stuff going on. And while I'm at it I might as well mention that going into it I thought it was supposed to be Pocahontas and not Beauty and the Beast.
All things considered, I'm sure it wasn't a very easy book to write, i just don't think I'd re-read it.
May 4, 2017
Not my favorite of this series. With many of the others, I loved how the tale was re-imagined, in this one, things just did not fit, in my opinion. I did not like the characters, or the setting for this story.
November 18, 2017
Ugh, ugh. Possibly the worst retelling of Beauty and the Beast ever. Best part, the poem in the opening of the book. A Navajo Prayer, even though this book is about Algonquin tribes. Thank goodness for that prayer.
November 6, 2019
This book started out very promising, it was very historically accurate had a very promising romance..then it got weird, it turned sci-fy/fantasy with really STRANGE scenes, very ridiculous thoughts, words, I got really far into the book but has to stop, very disappointed !
October 16, 2017
I liked the story but I didn't think it was fast enough.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2018
A retelling of Beauty and the Beast!
June 15, 2018
I honestly do not remember much about of the overall plot, other than it was an intercultural romance between a native woman and a white man. I did not like it at all.
December 14, 2018
I loved the whole set of these retellings growing up and reread them all again in university. A well told story and one of the best of the set.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 155 reviews