What do you think?
Rate this book
The Beauty of the Wolf
Amazing Meg RosoffExtraordinary Maggie AldersonWhat some might call beauty, I find monstrousIn the age of the Faerie Queene, Elizabeth I, Lord Francis Rodermere starts to lay waste to a forest.Furious, the sorceress who dwells there scrawls a curse into the bark of the first oak he faerie boy will be born to you whose beauty will be your death.Ten years later, Lord Rodermeres son, Beau is born and all who encounter him are struck by his great beauty.Meanwhile, many miles away in a London alchemists cellar lives Randa a beast deemed too monstrous to see the light of day.And so begins a timeless tale of love, tragedy and revenge A stunning retelling of Beauty and the Beast
400 pages, Paperback
First published February 21, 2019
39 people are currently reading
1363 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 168 reviews
February 16, 2019
The Beauty of the Wolf, written by award-winning author Sally Gardner under a pseudonym, had so much promise, and I'm a real sucker for fairytale retellings, but unfortunately, it was incredibly difficult to get through. The slow pacing feels as though the plot is not moving forward at all and the whole narrative was convoluted, incoherent and there was simply too much happening. Despite the excellent worldbuilding, the story became dull and tedious very quickly, not to mention confusing.
I admired the gender-bent slant on a tale known for its stereotypical romantic roles, and Delaney's attempt to draw attention to timely environmental issues such as deforestation and the impact it has on life on earth is admirable. I enjoyed the writing to an extent, as its rather flowery and descriptive, but sometimes it veers into the over-descriptive lane and fails to return. Perhaps if the book had been edited better and the characters given more depth it would have been more appealing to read. Also, the use of slang profanities and erotic language feels very out of place in a world of magic and fairies and is more than a tad offputting. The changing of the point of view at the drop of a hat meant you never knew who it was that was talking. I'm so disappointed.
Many thanks to HQ for an ARC.
I admired the gender-bent slant on a tale known for its stereotypical romantic roles, and Delaney's attempt to draw attention to timely environmental issues such as deforestation and the impact it has on life on earth is admirable. I enjoyed the writing to an extent, as its rather flowery and descriptive, but sometimes it veers into the over-descriptive lane and fails to return. Perhaps if the book had been edited better and the characters given more depth it would have been more appealing to read. Also, the use of slang profanities and erotic language feels very out of place in a world of magic and fairies and is more than a tad offputting. The changing of the point of view at the drop of a hat meant you never knew who it was that was talking. I'm so disappointed.
Many thanks to HQ for an ARC.
November 12, 2018
I see this book getting a lot of negative reviews or people saying it wasn't what they thought it would be. I have read many variations on the theme of Beauty & The Beast and this one is "very" different from some I have read, it takes a much darker and adult worded journey through the tale and in a way makes it its own. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it at first but that was perhaps because of some of the sexual content. I have no problem with sex in stories if it feels right and hasn't just been "inserted" if you pardon my pun.
The story was about looking past outward beauty and looking at the beauty inside of someone. First time I have read a B&B story with a gender change too with the beast being female and the male being a beauty. That made a refreshing change for me. I have read quite a few books of fairytales being more dark and twisty and this was just exploring that idea. After all most fairytales originate from source material that is quite dark and in some cases horrific which have only been sanitised in more modern history and by storytellers such as Disney. I liked how the author put characters into the story which is loosely set in the time of Elizabeth I and there is a shady playwright called Ben Shakeshaft who has trouble keeping out of a debtor's prison and leads a group of players. Then there is a cameo of the real Will Shakespeare in a few lines later in the book.
In this story there is a cruel and dissolute Earl, (Lord Rodermere) who has no respect for the old ways of the forest and magic. An enraged sorceress curses him that his son shall be the death of him. The Earl later lies in the forest with a beautiful Faerie woman and disappears for 18 human years to return and find he has a son of ethereal beauty born to him of the woman in the forest all by design of the sorceress. The Earl continues in his cruelty to his long suffering wife who has married again in his absence.
The Earl's son Beau is beautiful inside and out but to him his beauty is a curse, not a blessing along with his desire to murder his repulsive father. Beau has a gift bestowed on him by his faerie mother, he can hear the thoughts of certain magical beings and he is enamoured of a voice which keeps him company (Randa). His mother and sister and stepfather have already fled the Earl's clutches and Beau manages to escape as well and joins Ben Shakeshaft's theatre company. Fate brings Beau and Randa together again and he sees her in her true form, however, fate and the sorceress will stop at nothing to keep them apart.
Like I said, I liked it. The ending was a little abrupt for me but otherwise it was an entertaining book, but it is best not to go at it thinking it is going to be some kind of fluffy Disney style tale or you are bound to be disappointed.
The story was about looking past outward beauty and looking at the beauty inside of someone. First time I have read a B&B story with a gender change too with the beast being female and the male being a beauty. That made a refreshing change for me. I have read quite a few books of fairytales being more dark and twisty and this was just exploring that idea. After all most fairytales originate from source material that is quite dark and in some cases horrific which have only been sanitised in more modern history and by storytellers such as Disney. I liked how the author put characters into the story which is loosely set in the time of Elizabeth I and there is a shady playwright called Ben Shakeshaft who has trouble keeping out of a debtor's prison and leads a group of players. Then there is a cameo of the real Will Shakespeare in a few lines later in the book.
In this story there is a cruel and dissolute Earl, (Lord Rodermere) who has no respect for the old ways of the forest and magic. An enraged sorceress curses him that his son shall be the death of him. The Earl later lies in the forest with a beautiful Faerie woman and disappears for 18 human years to return and find he has a son of ethereal beauty born to him of the woman in the forest all by design of the sorceress. The Earl continues in his cruelty to his long suffering wife who has married again in his absence.
The Earl's son Beau is beautiful inside and out but to him his beauty is a curse, not a blessing along with his desire to murder his repulsive father. Beau has a gift bestowed on him by his faerie mother, he can hear the thoughts of certain magical beings and he is enamoured of a voice which keeps him company (Randa). His mother and sister and stepfather have already fled the Earl's clutches and Beau manages to escape as well and joins Ben Shakeshaft's theatre company. Fate brings Beau and Randa together again and he sees her in her true form, however, fate and the sorceress will stop at nothing to keep them apart.
Like I said, I liked it. The ending was a little abrupt for me but otherwise it was an entertaining book, but it is best not to go at it thinking it is going to be some kind of fluffy Disney style tale or you are bound to be disappointed.
August 26, 2021
Lord Snidely Whiplash offends Vindictive Faerie Queene by chopping down her sacred oaks, which happen to be in his lands, so Vindictive Faerie Queene takes revenge on him by sending a faerie maiden to whore herself to Lord Snidely Whiplash so he can father a too-beautiful-for-his-own-good son, who somehow will be his downfall. Child is born, so pretty he makes angels weep and Narcissus feel jealous, grows up well-loved and well-pampered. Until Lord Snidely Whiplash is unleashed back on his long-suffering household and manages to convince his son his beauty is in reality a monstrosity (get it? I don't), so he self-styles a Beast for no reason at all other than hating his reflection and his daddy. Meanwhile, girl is cursed to be a flesh-eating bird to complete Vindictive Faerie Queene's revenge, this time on her father for the sin of stealing a strip of cloth from her dress. Everything goes down (mostly) just as Vindictive Faerie Queene schemed, with some lovin' and a bit too much sexin' for comfort (but don't worry, author says sexuality back then was "fluid," so all is good. Please, try not to snort), until Too Beautiful He Is Ugly and Bird Girl come together and get their Happily Ever After, with girl losing her feathers and regaining her humanity. Fin.
Making fun aside, this book was extremely frustrating. One of the worst cases of good premise yet poor execution that I've had the misfortune of encountering. It's a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" set in Elizabethan England, not in good old Bess' court but in the countryside, at the manor of a despotic Lord who doesn't believe magic exists and disrespects practically everything that's not in his interests. It's a very original setting, even if the premise is only the generic B&B barebones plot with the genders swapped and not much more, so the setting was by far the strength the author could've made a better use of.
Unfortunately, the plot soon scatters all over the place, the POVs are often confusing, there are huge time jumps taken care of in just a few lines, and the change from one storyline to the next isn't smooth but we're dropped from one POV to the next that's in media res. It flows very poorly, the writing is more focused on using pretty words than in telling the story competently, and it wasn't many chapters in before I was despairing at how the story was written because it had so much potential and I'd have wanted it to be good.
Making fun aside, this book was extremely frustrating. One of the worst cases of good premise yet poor execution that I've had the misfortune of encountering. It's a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" set in Elizabethan England, not in good old Bess' court but in the countryside, at the manor of a despotic Lord who doesn't believe magic exists and disrespects practically everything that's not in his interests. It's a very original setting, even if the premise is only the generic B&B barebones plot with the genders swapped and not much more, so the setting was by far the strength the author could've made a better use of.
Unfortunately, the plot soon scatters all over the place, the POVs are often confusing, there are huge time jumps taken care of in just a few lines, and the change from one storyline to the next isn't smooth but we're dropped from one POV to the next that's in media res. It flows very poorly, the writing is more focused on using pretty words than in telling the story competently, and it wasn't many chapters in before I was despairing at how the story was written because it had so much potential and I'd have wanted it to be good.
November 8, 2018
Read the full review also on my blog: https://lets-geek.blogspot.com/2018/1...
The Beauty of the Wolf is a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast that starts off beautifully, but then gets lost.
Total Rating: 4.4/10
Originality: 4/10
Language: 3/10
Atmosphere: 4/10
Characters: 4/10
World building: 5/10
Fun: 3/10
Predictability: 4/10
Believable: 3/10
Relevancy: 4/10
Cover: 10/10
Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Retelling
Time It Took Me To Read: approx. 3 hours
Pretty Cover and promising beginning, that unfortunately does not live up.
Originality: 4/10
I do not like retellings, but I keep reading them, because I actually read a few really good ones.
Language: 3/10
What a very very great shame. The book has beautiful passages:
"Come then, follow me down, for I am the crack between the words, a riddle to be solved. Come, follow me, into the shadow of a sorceress' spell and think no more of my presence. I am but the unseen, all-knowing storyteller."
"My mood is black, thick. And sticky is the rage that runs through my knotted veins."
"Why? Tell me why I am a thief?"
"Your beauty has stolen my reason."
But then suddenly the author throws in profanities and words that just rip you out of this world:
"Once, she longed to return to him, ached to feel his prick deep inside her, to feel his strength contain her, the howl of his whole being released into hers."
"She lifts her silken glove above her belly and lowers her cunny onto his weapon, wet at the point."
And you cannot believe those quotes are from the same story. I actually had to laugh out loud.
Atmosphere: 4/10
Did you ever have a really nice meal, but then you suddenly bit into something sour or found a hair in it, that ruined the whole meal? That is how the novel made me feel. I wanted to like it. But couldn't.
Characters: 4/10
I was almost annoyed at the Beauty in this story - this handsome prince, that is also so kind, so friendly, so selfless. So perfect.
I struggled to understand character's motivation, and many of their
World building: 5/10
First I believed to be in a fairy tale world - but suddenly characters talk about Christianity and Church, and then we get a Shakespeare Quote. That confused me quite a bit, and made the world crumble from my imagination.
Fun: 3/10
The book was not only confusing in world-building and language, but perspective, reducing the fun tremendously despite the good basis of a fairy tale retelling. The only thing that indicates change of perspective is cursive writing and non-cursive writing. However, perspectives also change multiple times within pages, making it incredibly confusing, forgetting who is speaking now.
Predictability: 4/10
The confusion and not being able to understand characters motives, made the whole plot full of holes and unstable.
Believable: 3/10
I was very confused about a lot of things. Why did the sorceress not just force him to stop cutting the trees, is she is able to curse him? Why has the curse to impact so many people's life? Why is she so obsessed with her coat?
Relevancy: 4/10
The original story told you no matter what you look like, your character is important. You can still be a hero, be love-able, and in your own way beautiful. But this story... I am not sure what the moral is.
Cover: 10/10
The cover is stunning, and promises a fairy tale. Also the fact that we see a tree relates to the story, as what kicks it all off is the felling of oak trees. The cover helped me get lost in the beginning of the novel and really feel like I am in a fairy tale.
Total Rating: 4.4/10
What an odd novel. The author can clearly write well, and I read somewhere a good author knows how to write - the story is secondary. So either this book was experimentation, or the author is still trying to find its feet.
I believe this novel can easily jump to a good 6-7 rating if reworked.
The Beauty of the Wolf is a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast that starts off beautifully, but then gets lost.
Total Rating: 4.4/10
Originality: 4/10
Language: 3/10
Atmosphere: 4/10
Characters: 4/10
World building: 5/10
Fun: 3/10
Predictability: 4/10
Believable: 3/10
Relevancy: 4/10
Cover: 10/10
Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Retelling
Time It Took Me To Read: approx. 3 hours
Pretty Cover and promising beginning, that unfortunately does not live up.
Originality: 4/10
I do not like retellings, but I keep reading them, because I actually read a few really good ones.
Language: 3/10
What a very very great shame. The book has beautiful passages:
"Come then, follow me down, for I am the crack between the words, a riddle to be solved. Come, follow me, into the shadow of a sorceress' spell and think no more of my presence. I am but the unseen, all-knowing storyteller."
"My mood is black, thick. And sticky is the rage that runs through my knotted veins."
"Why? Tell me why I am a thief?"
"Your beauty has stolen my reason."
But then suddenly the author throws in profanities and words that just rip you out of this world:
"Once, she longed to return to him, ached to feel his prick deep inside her, to feel his strength contain her, the howl of his whole being released into hers."
"She lifts her silken glove above her belly and lowers her cunny onto his weapon, wet at the point."
And you cannot believe those quotes are from the same story. I actually had to laugh out loud.
Atmosphere: 4/10
Did you ever have a really nice meal, but then you suddenly bit into something sour or found a hair in it, that ruined the whole meal? That is how the novel made me feel. I wanted to like it. But couldn't.
Characters: 4/10
I was almost annoyed at the Beauty in this story - this handsome prince, that is also so kind, so friendly, so selfless. So perfect.
I struggled to understand character's motivation, and many of their
World building: 5/10
First I believed to be in a fairy tale world - but suddenly characters talk about Christianity and Church, and then we get a Shakespeare Quote. That confused me quite a bit, and made the world crumble from my imagination.
Fun: 3/10
The book was not only confusing in world-building and language, but perspective, reducing the fun tremendously despite the good basis of a fairy tale retelling. The only thing that indicates change of perspective is cursive writing and non-cursive writing. However, perspectives also change multiple times within pages, making it incredibly confusing, forgetting who is speaking now.
Predictability: 4/10
The confusion and not being able to understand characters motives, made the whole plot full of holes and unstable.
Believable: 3/10
I was very confused about a lot of things. Why did the sorceress not just force him to stop cutting the trees, is she is able to curse him? Why has the curse to impact so many people's life? Why is she so obsessed with her coat?
Relevancy: 4/10
The original story told you no matter what you look like, your character is important. You can still be a hero, be love-able, and in your own way beautiful. But this story... I am not sure what the moral is.
Cover: 10/10
The cover is stunning, and promises a fairy tale. Also the fact that we see a tree relates to the story, as what kicks it all off is the felling of oak trees. The cover helped me get lost in the beginning of the novel and really feel like I am in a fairy tale.
Total Rating: 4.4/10
What an odd novel. The author can clearly write well, and I read somewhere a good author knows how to write - the story is secondary. So either this book was experimentation, or the author is still trying to find its feet.
I believe this novel can easily jump to a good 6-7 rating if reworked.
October 19, 2018
This was a clever and involving retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast story, with the roles reversed and an influx of magical mayhem within a historical setting.
A boy cursed with Beauty and a girl born in secret, half monster, hidden from view. A curse hangs over them all as the Sorceress seeks her revenge...
This is definitely an adult retelling, if I had one small bugbear with it, it is that the author sometimes seemed to take great pains to point this out, with some more, erm descriptive stuff dumping me out of the plot, but that's purely subjective and overall the story flows out beautifully, complex within it's themes and intriguingly plotted.
The oft told story is at the heart of it but Wray Delaney builds a whole mythology around it, keeping things unpredictable as to their final outcome.
The ending was classic and beautifully done, the writing is immersive and a little edgy and it was fun to read a book where the traditional concept is turned on it's head and given new life.
If you like this kind of reimagining then you'll like this. I look forward to more from this author.
A boy cursed with Beauty and a girl born in secret, half monster, hidden from view. A curse hangs over them all as the Sorceress seeks her revenge...
This is definitely an adult retelling, if I had one small bugbear with it, it is that the author sometimes seemed to take great pains to point this out, with some more, erm descriptive stuff dumping me out of the plot, but that's purely subjective and overall the story flows out beautifully, complex within it's themes and intriguingly plotted.
The oft told story is at the heart of it but Wray Delaney builds a whole mythology around it, keeping things unpredictable as to their final outcome.
The ending was classic and beautifully done, the writing is immersive and a little edgy and it was fun to read a book where the traditional concept is turned on it's head and given new life.
If you like this kind of reimagining then you'll like this. I look forward to more from this author.
![Profile Image for Namera [The Literary Invertebrate].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1647896333i%2F31792110._UX200_CR0%2C96%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
October 21, 2018
This one, sadly, did not work for me at all.
The description sounds amazing! I mean, I LOOOOOOOVE genderbent Beauty and the Beast, and the only other one I can think of is Nalini Singh's Lord of the Abyss. But I kind of could tell that the book wasn't for me almost as soon as I began, although I soldiered on to 24% before giving up.
Let's catalogue the stuff I couldn't deal with:
1. Commas. Delaney (which is a penname for Sally Gardner, actually) loves long sentences, but commas were frequently omitted from places where they really should've been included. The effect was to make the sentences feel like they were hurtling forward at breakneck pace, without giving anyone time to breathe, and this kind of pacing was completely unsuited to the story.
2. The writing. Most of the time it wasn't really bad, but it tried to be atmospheric and IMO failed pretty drastically. There were these weird words constantly thrown in, like 'prick' and 'shit', that felt super jarring because they didn't mesh with the delicate fairytale vibe the book was going for. Also, there were sudden tense changes halfway through paragraphs, and I was like huh???? I get that she was probably hoping they added to the air of faery-struck confusion, or whatever, but they just threw me out of the story in a major way.
3. Also, the POV kept changing, which is bad because the characters all felt vaguely flat in the first place. So being in a new character's head every five pages meant I couldn't connect with anyone.
4. (Not a spoiler!) A major plot point in the novel is the fact that the sorceress gets a piece of her petticoat stolen, so she's pissed and wants it back. I mean, okay, but the book was trying to blow this up to massive proportions, like OMG SHE HAD A SCRAP OF HEMLINE STOLEN FROM HER!!!, and it got slightly ridiculous. If it had been explained why her petticoat was so important this would have worked better.
5. I got the whole thing with the sorceress being angry because her trees were being cut down so she cursed the earl responsible, but a whole bunch of random side-people appeared and muddled the main plotline. So I got kind of confused which quickly led to being bored.
I think that's everything! It's shame, as I was really looking forward to it, but I think I've struggled enough with this one.
[Blog] - [Bookstagram]
The description sounds amazing! I mean, I LOOOOOOOVE genderbent Beauty and the Beast, and the only other one I can think of is Nalini Singh's Lord of the Abyss. But I kind of could tell that the book wasn't for me almost as soon as I began, although I soldiered on to 24% before giving up.
Let's catalogue the stuff I couldn't deal with:
1. Commas. Delaney (which is a penname for Sally Gardner, actually) loves long sentences, but commas were frequently omitted from places where they really should've been included. The effect was to make the sentences feel like they were hurtling forward at breakneck pace, without giving anyone time to breathe, and this kind of pacing was completely unsuited to the story.
2. The writing. Most of the time it wasn't really bad, but it tried to be atmospheric and IMO failed pretty drastically. There were these weird words constantly thrown in, like 'prick' and 'shit', that felt super jarring because they didn't mesh with the delicate fairytale vibe the book was going for. Also, there were sudden tense changes halfway through paragraphs, and I was like huh???? I get that she was probably hoping they added to the air of faery-struck confusion, or whatever, but they just threw me out of the story in a major way.
3. Also, the POV kept changing, which is bad because the characters all felt vaguely flat in the first place. So being in a new character's head every five pages meant I couldn't connect with anyone.
4. (Not a spoiler!) A major plot point in the novel is the fact that the sorceress gets a piece of her petticoat stolen, so she's pissed and wants it back. I mean, okay, but the book was trying to blow this up to massive proportions, like OMG SHE HAD A SCRAP OF HEMLINE STOLEN FROM HER!!!, and it got slightly ridiculous. If it had been explained why her petticoat was so important this would have worked better.
5. I got the whole thing with the sorceress being angry because her trees were being cut down so she cursed the earl responsible, but a whole bunch of random side-people appeared and muddled the main plotline. So I got kind of confused which quickly led to being bored.
I think that's everything! It's shame, as I was really looking forward to it, but I think I've struggled enough with this one.
[Blog] - [Bookstagram]
August 16, 2020
I found this very garbled and confusing.
January 27, 2019
This book was totally unexpected.
I read the other adult book, An Almond for a Parrot written by Wray Delaney (Sally Gardner) and loved it instantly, but after looking at the reviews for this book I was worried that it might be a flop.
Nevertheless I persisted and tried to keep the other reviews out of my mind. It was a surprise then that I discovered a magical retelling of the well known fairytale.
If you love Angela Carter then you will be delighted with this!
The writing style may not be to everyone's liking if you are used to a simple narrative, but in my opinion the poetic quality of the writing is what makes the book work.
A totally unexpected joy to read, could not recommend more if you love magic, sex and poetry!
I read the other adult book, An Almond for a Parrot written by Wray Delaney (Sally Gardner) and loved it instantly, but after looking at the reviews for this book I was worried that it might be a flop.
Nevertheless I persisted and tried to keep the other reviews out of my mind. It was a surprise then that I discovered a magical retelling of the well known fairytale.
If you love Angela Carter then you will be delighted with this!
The writing style may not be to everyone's liking if you are used to a simple narrative, but in my opinion the poetic quality of the writing is what makes the book work.
A totally unexpected joy to read, could not recommend more if you love magic, sex and poetry!
January 3, 2019
Thank you NetGalley and HQ for an ARC of this book for an honest review.
I really wanted to like this and I requested it as it said it was a re-telling of Beauty and the beast. I also liked the Blurb of this book describing the story involving faeries, and witches with kings and queens. But that all I liked about it. The story was told in several points of view but, as the author switched so often, I got confused what character the author was talking about. For me personally , I thought the story was too whimsical and over the top and when one character started singing about his cock, I thought that was enough now and I DNF at 30 percent.
I really wanted to like this and I requested it as it said it was a re-telling of Beauty and the beast. I also liked the Blurb of this book describing the story involving faeries, and witches with kings and queens. But that all I liked about it. The story was told in several points of view but, as the author switched so often, I got confused what character the author was talking about. For me personally , I thought the story was too whimsical and over the top and when one character started singing about his cock, I thought that was enough now and I DNF at 30 percent.
May 11, 2019
I was anticipating this read, the cover enticed me immediately but unfortunately the inside did not deliver. Every character fell flat to me and the plot seemed to be all over the place and I didn't know which part of it to actually follow. The writing style was the major let down. There was weird perspective changes which felt as though the author was more indecisive than strategically choosing a perspective. It went from third person to switching at random times between the beauty, beast and the sorceress which I felt to be very off putting and disconnected me from the story. I wished I could have enjoyed this book and I really tried to, but it just didn't happen.
See the full review here: https://dracoscrown.wordpress.com/201...
See the full review here: https://dracoscrown.wordpress.com/201...
October 24, 2018
Honestly I wanted to like this book. I mean whats better than a book piqued as a beauty and the beast retelling?
The Synopsis sounds promising and the cover is gorgeous but my love for the book ends there.
There is a lot of underdeveloped characters in this book and it flits to different povs which I didn't really care for.
The language in this book I found difficult and quite Jarring. The writing style clearly aims to be gothic and armospheric but didn't really deliver. The other thing I found irritating is the swearing. I mean it floats along in a fragile fairy tale way and then is punctuated with the words "prick" and "shit" I just don't get it.
I enjoyed the world building in this book but the rest of it I felt was confusing and tedious.
The Synopsis sounds promising and the cover is gorgeous but my love for the book ends there.
There is a lot of underdeveloped characters in this book and it flits to different povs which I didn't really care for.
The language in this book I found difficult and quite Jarring. The writing style clearly aims to be gothic and armospheric but didn't really deliver. The other thing I found irritating is the swearing. I mean it floats along in a fragile fairy tale way and then is punctuated with the words "prick" and "shit" I just don't get it.
I enjoyed the world building in this book but the rest of it I felt was confusing and tedious.
December 18, 2018
Folklore and fairytale entwine in this enchanting re-imagining of the story Beauty and the Beast. The typical tropes of fairytales are used - curses, beasts who are more than they seem, good and bad fairies, wicked parents and more - and all turned on their heads to bring new life and a rich darkness to the old tale. The atmosphere is wonderful and it is a glorious, bawdy romp of a book. If it has a downside it is that it has a lot crammed into the pages and I occasionally became confused as the book does flit quickly between a lot of different characters and events and some parts felt superfluous, as if they were only there to make a point. For example I felt that the plot line of the lady and her French manservant was there only to serve the purpose of re-iterating that a woman's lot in life isn't always
fair in a patriarchal society. That being said, I was sad to let go of the magical world that Wray Delany created and I eagerly await her next book.
My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.
fair in a patriarchal society. That being said, I was sad to let go of the magical world that Wray Delany created and I eagerly await her next book.
My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.
March 10, 2019
i think there's much to marvel at in the beauty of the wolf; it is a project heavy with inheritance, not just as a reworking of the 'beauty and the beast' narrative, but as a great-great-grandchild of renaissance literature and early modern drama, spenser's faerie queene, margaret cavendish's blazing world, echoes of shakespeare's tempest, actual reference to the anonymously penned warning to fair women. gardner, writing under the pseudonym delaney, picks at some of the threads i find most interesting and exciting in those texts, about androgyny and what was then considered hermaphroditism, bodies that are confusingly plural, about performance and costume, gender prosthetics and how we conceptualise the body when it is doubly actor and character, about hybridity, sometimes as the movement between states and sometimes as the confronting simultaneousness of being many things at once, about monstrosity and desire.
if these threads seem to tie the beauty of the wolf to the historical moment in which it's set, the pattern they form under gardner's fingers is just as undeniably influenced by more recent work, particularly angela carter; the beauty of the wolf shares carter's impulse towards ambiguity, a monstrosity that is both masculine and feminine, repulsive and alluring, an emphasis on sexuality and appetite, a desire to unsettle what is conventional and easy.
in moments, i felt truly compelled by what gardner was doing with all of this material. the premise of the book was doing a lot of interesting conceptual work, and there are patterns to gardner's writing that i recognised and cherished - every time she writes about language, letters, learning to read or speak, i find something new in it, and the moment in which her 'beast' character, randa, characterises each letter of the word 'love' felt particularly Good. as a whole, though, the focus wasn't quite tight enough, the immensely interesting possibilities created by her exploration of gender were never quite realised, the tone felt a little stiff and sometimes over-written - it felt as though gardner wasn't entirely in control of her own ideas and the many places they wanted to go, the many ways they wanted to express themselves. it was an uneven and not entirely satisfying reading experience, but one that stirred my thoughts, reminded me of old interests, suggested some new connections; perhaps more ambitious than successful as a novel, but definitely interesting.
if these threads seem to tie the beauty of the wolf to the historical moment in which it's set, the pattern they form under gardner's fingers is just as undeniably influenced by more recent work, particularly angela carter; the beauty of the wolf shares carter's impulse towards ambiguity, a monstrosity that is both masculine and feminine, repulsive and alluring, an emphasis on sexuality and appetite, a desire to unsettle what is conventional and easy.
in moments, i felt truly compelled by what gardner was doing with all of this material. the premise of the book was doing a lot of interesting conceptual work, and there are patterns to gardner's writing that i recognised and cherished - every time she writes about language, letters, learning to read or speak, i find something new in it, and the moment in which her 'beast' character, randa, characterises each letter of the word 'love' felt particularly Good. as a whole, though, the focus wasn't quite tight enough, the immensely interesting possibilities created by her exploration of gender were never quite realised, the tone felt a little stiff and sometimes over-written - it felt as though gardner wasn't entirely in control of her own ideas and the many places they wanted to go, the many ways they wanted to express themselves. it was an uneven and not entirely satisfying reading experience, but one that stirred my thoughts, reminded me of old interests, suggested some new connections; perhaps more ambitious than successful as a novel, but definitely interesting.
July 19, 2019
I cannot remember the last time I was so disappointed in a book. It was just BLEURGH I really don’t know how else to put it. The phrase ‘never judge a book by its cover’ has never rang more true because while the cover was gorgeous and I freely admit that is why i was attracted to it, the plot was gorgeous deficient. The premise of the book is Beauty and the Beast with a reversal of roles so that the man is the Beauty and the woman is the Beast. This is an intriguing concept and one I wanted to be see being played out.
I found the characters bland, the world building and cultures difficult to comprehend and in some places non-existent and the romance extremely superficial. The worst part however was the narration. It was very convoluted which made it extremely hard to follow. Not only were there too many different viewpoints that weren’t always clear, but the author seemed to oscillate between telling the tale and being a part of it all in all it was very confusing.
There was also too much of a focus on ‘pricks’ and ‘cunts’ the author brings them up almost every other page. While I understand that this is an adult novel I prefer any sex in the stories to add to the plot and here it was almost used to highlight the fact that there wasn’t one beyond what we already knew like Beauty and the Beast falling in Love. Love and sex were used synonymously which again isn’t romantically appealing in any way especially for a fairy tale re-telling. Instead of being steamy or ‘hot’ it’s almost just plainly vulgar. Also at one point there seemed to be a move towards the ‘beauty’ being gender fluid but then it back tracked and the author started talking about his ‘prick’ again so I dunno.
All in all it’s going down in my DNF shelf and I only read as much as I did (around half) because I had nothing else to read on my commute/lunch break. I doubt that I’ll ever pick it up again.
I found the characters bland, the world building and cultures difficult to comprehend and in some places non-existent and the romance extremely superficial. The worst part however was the narration. It was very convoluted which made it extremely hard to follow. Not only were there too many different viewpoints that weren’t always clear, but the author seemed to oscillate between telling the tale and being a part of it all in all it was very confusing.
There was also too much of a focus on ‘pricks’ and ‘cunts’ the author brings them up almost every other page. While I understand that this is an adult novel I prefer any sex in the stories to add to the plot and here it was almost used to highlight the fact that there wasn’t one beyond what we already knew like Beauty and the Beast falling in Love. Love and sex were used synonymously which again isn’t romantically appealing in any way especially for a fairy tale re-telling. Instead of being steamy or ‘hot’ it’s almost just plainly vulgar. Also at one point there seemed to be a move towards the ‘beauty’ being gender fluid but then it back tracked and the author started talking about his ‘prick’ again so I dunno.
All in all it’s going down in my DNF shelf and I only read as much as I did (around half) because I had nothing else to read on my commute/lunch break. I doubt that I’ll ever pick it up again.
October 4, 2019
Why so much hate? This book has so many bad reviews I almost didn't read it, but thank god the synopsis captivated me enough and here I am trying to even the scale.
The writing is magnificent, the story whimsical and the characters mysterious.
Ok I have to confess that Wray Delaney isn't affraid to talk about sex and in a crude way. When I first read one of those passages I was surprise because it seems odd considering the rest of the story, but it isn't chocking either and I got used to it.
The story is based on Beauty and The Beast but with a gender swap… A GENDER SWAP!!! Yes, please! Randa is the beast trap in her father's house in London, wishing she could look more human and Beau is the beauty living in a mansion with a hateful father wishing his reflection would reflect his true self and not some perfect puppet. In the middle of all this there is a sorceress who wants revenge. And of course in the end there is a moral like every good fairytale possesses.
What else do you need?
The writing is magnificent, the story whimsical and the characters mysterious.
Ok I have to confess that Wray Delaney isn't affraid to talk about sex and in a crude way. When I first read one of those passages I was surprise because it seems odd considering the rest of the story, but it isn't chocking either and I got used to it.
The story is based on Beauty and The Beast but with a gender swap… A GENDER SWAP!!! Yes, please! Randa is the beast trap in her father's house in London, wishing she could look more human and Beau is the beauty living in a mansion with a hateful father wishing his reflection would reflect his true self and not some perfect puppet. In the middle of all this there is a sorceress who wants revenge. And of course in the end there is a moral like every good fairytale possesses.
What else do you need?
December 14, 2018
I'm two minds about this book: on one side I loved the world building and the style of writing, on the other side I found the characters a bit flat and I had problems in feeling any connection to them.
There's a lot of potential but I think some more editing could help.
Many thanks to HQ and Netgalley for this ARC
There's a lot of potential but I think some more editing could help.
Many thanks to HQ and Netgalley for this ARC
December 19, 2021
Reviews for this book are predominantly negative. I don't believe that is fair, so I will share my point of view as someone who actually enjoyed it to balance things out a bit.
This book is inspired by the Beauty and the Beast, which is far from my fave among fairy tales. But it was so solid and well done on its own which is usually very hard to do, in my experience. These are core tales for many readers and most of us were exposed to them at very impressionable ages. So attempts to surpress their iconic marks on our psyches tend to fall short more often than not. It wasn't the case here at all. This is a part fairy tale part gothic story part shakespeare play set in a very beautifully crafted Elizabethan background where the characters ask themselves very intriguing questions about the fear of the self. The adoration of the self. The yearning to be somehwere else, someone else, something else and the abject horror that comes with the thought of losing ourselves. The way nature terrorizes us and enchants us, they way we desperately want to be one with it once again and at the same time, our fear that we might never be "human" again, if we were to ever achieve that. How, the more we dominate it, the more feeble we feel in its shadow, expecting some terrible retribution. Overall a very ambitious and interesting approach to the main elements of the Beauty and the Beast, if I say so myself, and each aspect was executed quite well. There were many original elements that enriched the core story and truly made something different with it.
Many reviewers complain about the language, calling it overly flowery or unnecessarily confusing. This made me think that I was going to find an extremely dense text but that wasn't the case at all. The language fits the setting very well and contributes to the atmosphere. It also flows nicely. It would sound quite clanky for Elizabethan characters to speak like they were in a 21st century setting, imo. Some turns of phrase might throw you off at first but if you've ever read anything that was written before this century in your life, I think you'll understand this book just fine and I say this as a non-native speaker.
The plot was well developed and the pacing was steady. It wasn't fast paced by any means but I was never bored at any point. Each character was compelling in their own right. As a fae enthusiast, I enjoyed what the author did with them as well. This book had the genderclusterfuck I've been looking for in fae adjacent narratives, which was very nice and interesting to read even though it was mainly focused on humans. Were the sex scenes awkward? Yes. Were there some elements I would exlude myself? Yeah. But these are not unusual elements for the gothic genre and they weren't by any means prominent enough to "ruin" the story. The bootleg Shakespeare, the real one making a random cameo, the Shakespearean elements woven into the story, they were all pretty delightful to me. The ending happened a bit too fast but even that is very on brand for fairy tales.
I think what went wrong with this book in many cases is this: many people don't actually like *fairy tales*. I'm talking about real fairy tales here, the old ones with the gore and the (usually icky) sexual elements and the confusing narratives. I don't say this as a judgement, just a straightforward fact. Most fairy tale retellings I've encountered fell under the romance genre and there is nothing wrong with that but I think this is the point that muddles the minds of many readers. Fairy tales can be quite annoying sometimes because they have their own peculiar logic, their own (very unconventional for modern readers) conventions and their own set of rules. These are all distinctly different from those of the romance genre's, which are closer to what we are used to as modern story consumers. On the other hand, among all the retellings I've read so far, this book came closest to capturing the true "energy" of fairy tales. It might not fit the logic of our regular world but it stays consistent in its own. So if you are coming into this expecting a very "rational" story or a lighthearted romcom, you won't be happy. You enjoy gothic stories and want to see something a little different? I'd say give it a go.
This book is inspired by the Beauty and the Beast, which is far from my fave among fairy tales. But it was so solid and well done on its own which is usually very hard to do, in my experience. These are core tales for many readers and most of us were exposed to them at very impressionable ages. So attempts to surpress their iconic marks on our psyches tend to fall short more often than not. It wasn't the case here at all. This is a part fairy tale part gothic story part shakespeare play set in a very beautifully crafted Elizabethan background where the characters ask themselves very intriguing questions about the fear of the self. The adoration of the self. The yearning to be somehwere else, someone else, something else and the abject horror that comes with the thought of losing ourselves. The way nature terrorizes us and enchants us, they way we desperately want to be one with it once again and at the same time, our fear that we might never be "human" again, if we were to ever achieve that. How, the more we dominate it, the more feeble we feel in its shadow, expecting some terrible retribution. Overall a very ambitious and interesting approach to the main elements of the Beauty and the Beast, if I say so myself, and each aspect was executed quite well. There were many original elements that enriched the core story and truly made something different with it.
Many reviewers complain about the language, calling it overly flowery or unnecessarily confusing. This made me think that I was going to find an extremely dense text but that wasn't the case at all. The language fits the setting very well and contributes to the atmosphere. It also flows nicely. It would sound quite clanky for Elizabethan characters to speak like they were in a 21st century setting, imo. Some turns of phrase might throw you off at first but if you've ever read anything that was written before this century in your life, I think you'll understand this book just fine and I say this as a non-native speaker.
The plot was well developed and the pacing was steady. It wasn't fast paced by any means but I was never bored at any point. Each character was compelling in their own right. As a fae enthusiast, I enjoyed what the author did with them as well. This book had the genderclusterfuck I've been looking for in fae adjacent narratives, which was very nice and interesting to read even though it was mainly focused on humans. Were the sex scenes awkward? Yes. Were there some elements I would exlude myself? Yeah. But these are not unusual elements for the gothic genre and they weren't by any means prominent enough to "ruin" the story. The bootleg Shakespeare, the real one making a random cameo, the Shakespearean elements woven into the story, they were all pretty delightful to me. The ending happened a bit too fast but even that is very on brand for fairy tales.
I think what went wrong with this book in many cases is this: many people don't actually like *fairy tales*. I'm talking about real fairy tales here, the old ones with the gore and the (usually icky) sexual elements and the confusing narratives. I don't say this as a judgement, just a straightforward fact. Most fairy tale retellings I've encountered fell under the romance genre and there is nothing wrong with that but I think this is the point that muddles the minds of many readers. Fairy tales can be quite annoying sometimes because they have their own peculiar logic, their own (very unconventional for modern readers) conventions and their own set of rules. These are all distinctly different from those of the romance genre's, which are closer to what we are used to as modern story consumers. On the other hand, among all the retellings I've read so far, this book came closest to capturing the true "energy" of fairy tales. It might not fit the logic of our regular world but it stays consistent in its own. So if you are coming into this expecting a very "rational" story or a lighthearted romcom, you won't be happy. You enjoy gothic stories and want to see something a little different? I'd say give it a go.
June 24, 2023
I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand it is a wish come true: I asked for a gender reversed Beauty and the Beast retelling, and got it recommended by a lady from my online book club. I enjoyed the language, with its old timey feel and the poetic descriptions, and the story was certainly very original, with an interesting cast of characters who mostly weren‘t just good or bad, but with some nuance to them.
Also there is diversity, especially when it comes to gender and sexual preferences.
On the other hand the way the story is told keeps you slightly at a distance, which I do not like. Also it is a very convoluted tale, and went on for slightly too long.
I also preferred the hero to the heroine, which makes me sad. She is a tragic character because of her back story, but I have read heroines with similarly bad history who still had more fight and spirit in them. Even though Randa is a very powerful being, she pretty much waits around to be saved, and disappears when the situation gets difficult. I feel bad for wanting more from her, as she is very much a victim through absolutely no fault of her own.
The story is told from three (or more?) different viewpoints.
While there are at least two black characters with important roles in the book, there sadly seems to be a little too much focus on whiteness as a sign of beauty and purity. This has to be weighed against the main message of the book, that real beauty has nothing to do with your external looks.
The narrator of the audio did a good job with a demanding text.
Also there is diversity, especially when it comes to gender and sexual preferences.
On the other hand the way the story is told keeps you slightly at a distance, which I do not like. Also it is a very convoluted tale, and went on for slightly too long.
I also preferred the hero to the heroine, which makes me sad. She is a tragic character because of her back story, but I have read heroines with similarly bad history who still had more fight and spirit in them. Even though Randa is a very powerful being, she pretty much waits around to be saved, and disappears when the situation gets difficult. I feel bad for wanting more from her, as she is very much a victim through absolutely no fault of her own.
The story is told from three (or more?) different viewpoints.
While there are at least two black characters with important roles in the book, there sadly seems to be a little too much focus on whiteness as a sign of beauty and purity. This has to be weighed against the main message of the book, that real beauty has nothing to do with your external looks.
The narrator of the audio did a good job with a demanding text.
March 30, 2025
Beauty and the Beast has always been my all-time favorite fairy tale, so I was excited to read this unique retelling. I like the approach of flipping the traditional roles by making the Beast a woman. This twist adds an intriguing layer to the story and a different perspective.
The writing is poetic and richly descriptive—sometimes almost too flowery—but it creates an enchanting, atmospheric world that feels immersive. I particularly enjoyed following Beau’s journey of self-discovery. His character growth is compelling, and the themes of love, perception, and inner strength are beautifully woven throughout the novel.
While the lyrical prose may not be for everyone, I appreciated the way it added to the fairy-tale feel of the book. Overall, The Beauty of the Wolf is an imaginative take on a classic tale, perfect for readers who enjoy lush writing and unconventional retellings.
The writing is poetic and richly descriptive—sometimes almost too flowery—but it creates an enchanting, atmospheric world that feels immersive. I particularly enjoyed following Beau’s journey of self-discovery. His character growth is compelling, and the themes of love, perception, and inner strength are beautifully woven throughout the novel.
While the lyrical prose may not be for everyone, I appreciated the way it added to the fairy-tale feel of the book. Overall, The Beauty of the Wolf is an imaginative take on a classic tale, perfect for readers who enjoy lush writing and unconventional retellings.
April 18, 2024
This was painful to read. The only way this could be considered a beauty and the beast retelling is the fact there was a beast and a beauty. It felt shallow.
January 30, 2019
This is a retelling of The Beauty and the Beast, but in a totally unexpected way. A complete role reversal in fact! . Told from the perspective of three main characters, The Sorceress, The Beauty and The Beast, this could, at a pinch, be described as a ' green novel', due to the concerns about felling trees and the innate wonder of a forest.
It is a mixture of Folklore and Fairy tale,but not sure which viewpoint to favour. Full of curses, bad fairies, and wicked and uncaring parents.
It is a bawdy tale, that at first amuses, and then the novelty wears off,and the magical atmosphere disappears.
I found the book to be very wordy, full of descriptive writing, but certain events are hammered home so vehemently , that it becomes tiresome.
I found it to be an odd book,and I just couldn't be persuaded by the story. I greatly admire the novels of Miles Cameron and The Red Knight Saga, and hoped this would be in the same vein, but sadly not. Just not my cuppa tea this time.
It is a mixture of Folklore and Fairy tale,but not sure which viewpoint to favour. Full of curses, bad fairies, and wicked and uncaring parents.
It is a bawdy tale, that at first amuses, and then the novelty wears off,and the magical atmosphere disappears.
I found the book to be very wordy, full of descriptive writing, but certain events are hammered home so vehemently , that it becomes tiresome.
I found it to be an odd book,and I just couldn't be persuaded by the story. I greatly admire the novels of Miles Cameron and The Red Knight Saga, and hoped this would be in the same vein, but sadly not. Just not my cuppa tea this time.
February 24, 2019
Review to follow.
Very disappointed.
Very disappointed.
January 17, 2019
This was the Beauty and the Beast retelling I never knew I needed but I loved it!
It's great for fans of Holly Black or Amanda Hocking, and the fact it's set in Elizabethan England just made me want to read it even more.
It's quite a quick book to get through although there are a few different points of view so I did have to check whose I was reading at times.
It's a really interesting and refreshing take on a well known story and anyone who loves twisted fairy tales should read this.
It's great for fans of Holly Black or Amanda Hocking, and the fact it's set in Elizabethan England just made me want to read it even more.
It's quite a quick book to get through although there are a few different points of view so I did have to check whose I was reading at times.
It's a really interesting and refreshing take on a well known story and anyone who loves twisted fairy tales should read this.
January 20, 2019
This novel intrigued me and I am glad that I read it, so thank you NetGallery!
The novel follows three narrative strands: The Sorceress, The Beast and Beauty. Each one has a different voice and Delaney shows how each interprets situations, although there are crossovers as thoughts are at times heard by other characters. The story starts with The Sorceress awaking to find the arrogant new Lord Rodermere felling her ancient oaks, ignoring her warnings and disbelieving all pagan 'witchcraft' he continues despite her threatening a curse. It is the curse that he brings upon himself and his future children that drives the plot, although do not think that it is the same curse as Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast', as you would be doing Delaney a disservice.
The opening of the novel is focused on The Sorceress and I fell in love with the descriptions of the woods, oaks and the mystical forest. Delaney's descriptive abilities are what engaged me from the start and kept me reading throughout. What I also liked was the fight between pagan and organised religious beliefs, although this is more of a backdrop rather than at the forefront of the novel. I would say the last 100 pages were my favourite as this is when all of the plots begin to merge and you start to gain answers to the nagging questions you've had for a while.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read, at times you can feel like you are wading through a sea of characters and can question how these new people are even relevant to the plot... but keep going because all will become clear, and yes they are all relevant!
The novel follows three narrative strands: The Sorceress, The Beast and Beauty. Each one has a different voice and Delaney shows how each interprets situations, although there are crossovers as thoughts are at times heard by other characters. The story starts with The Sorceress awaking to find the arrogant new Lord Rodermere felling her ancient oaks, ignoring her warnings and disbelieving all pagan 'witchcraft' he continues despite her threatening a curse. It is the curse that he brings upon himself and his future children that drives the plot, although do not think that it is the same curse as Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast', as you would be doing Delaney a disservice.
The opening of the novel is focused on The Sorceress and I fell in love with the descriptions of the woods, oaks and the mystical forest. Delaney's descriptive abilities are what engaged me from the start and kept me reading throughout. What I also liked was the fight between pagan and organised religious beliefs, although this is more of a backdrop rather than at the forefront of the novel. I would say the last 100 pages were my favourite as this is when all of the plots begin to merge and you start to gain answers to the nagging questions you've had for a while.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read, at times you can feel like you are wading through a sea of characters and can question how these new people are even relevant to the plot... but keep going because all will become clear, and yes they are all relevant!
March 14, 2019
Follow my blog: hjbookblog.wordpress.com
“So few of us are born to be ourselves; we are but the dreams of lovers, of mothers and fathers who long for us to step where their feet never dared.”
So let’s talk about the cover! Isn’t it absolutely stunning? It’s the very first thing that strikes you about this book. I was sold at the very first glance!
Then what draws you in is the blurb! The plot is so very promising and intriguing. Beauty and the Beast retold with a role reversal? Damn!
Important themes like Gender Fludity, Sexuality and Body Positivity is brilliantly acknowledged and explored through this book.
The premise and what she tried to do with it really had great potential. But how the content came to be is somewhat praiseworthy and somewhat disappointing.
The charecters lacked depth and the pacing was slow. I was very much fixated on the original story, and the crude language of this book threw me off. Words like “prick” etc. offset my enjoyabilty. The language kept destroying the delicate world I tried to imagine.
But it becomes a lot more fascinating if you read it as a completely different story. If you drop your preconceived notions that you hold on from the classic and read it in fact as an Adult fiction, you get to see this book in a whole new light. In all its fierce form.
The writing was flowery but yet hard to get into. The story, impressionable.
“So few of us are born to be ourselves; we are but the dreams of lovers, of mothers and fathers who long for us to step where their feet never dared.”
So let’s talk about the cover! Isn’t it absolutely stunning? It’s the very first thing that strikes you about this book. I was sold at the very first glance!
Then what draws you in is the blurb! The plot is so very promising and intriguing. Beauty and the Beast retold with a role reversal? Damn!
Important themes like Gender Fludity, Sexuality and Body Positivity is brilliantly acknowledged and explored through this book.
The premise and what she tried to do with it really had great potential. But how the content came to be is somewhat praiseworthy and somewhat disappointing.
The charecters lacked depth and the pacing was slow. I was very much fixated on the original story, and the crude language of this book threw me off. Words like “prick” etc. offset my enjoyabilty. The language kept destroying the delicate world I tried to imagine.
But it becomes a lot more fascinating if you read it as a completely different story. If you drop your preconceived notions that you hold on from the classic and read it in fact as an Adult fiction, you get to see this book in a whole new light. In all its fierce form.
The writing was flowery but yet hard to get into. The story, impressionable.
February 24, 2019
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free e-book to review for an honest opinion.
I was torn on the as I really wanted to like it and I persevered to the end, but in hindsight I should have marked as DNF.
The story is a beauty and the beast retelling and the synopsis held such promise, but sadly it was lacking. I found the writing style incoherent, the constant changing of POV meant even with the chapter telling you who was narrating I still had to double check ! The language used felt out of place often , sometimes inappropriate (I am no prude but it affected the story telling) I could see the attempts to try to make the story feel dramatic and otherworldly, but sadly this failed. I loved the character of Randa and she was the only character in the book I felt was truly fleshed out that you held empathy as a reader for. I like Beau at the start but his character became too self involved and I am aware that was part of the plot but felt it detracted any care or feeling I had for him. I found the narration from the sorceress to be annoying and was often treating the reader as dense, as if they needed the lot explaining. Overall I feel I am sad as the book had promise, there were parts I loved like Randa and her story, but sadly the rest was just lacking.
I was torn on the as I really wanted to like it and I persevered to the end, but in hindsight I should have marked as DNF.
The story is a beauty and the beast retelling and the synopsis held such promise, but sadly it was lacking. I found the writing style incoherent, the constant changing of POV meant even with the chapter telling you who was narrating I still had to double check ! The language used felt out of place often , sometimes inappropriate (I am no prude but it affected the story telling) I could see the attempts to try to make the story feel dramatic and otherworldly, but sadly this failed. I loved the character of Randa and she was the only character in the book I felt was truly fleshed out that you held empathy as a reader for. I like Beau at the start but his character became too self involved and I am aware that was part of the plot but felt it detracted any care or feeling I had for him. I found the narration from the sorceress to be annoying and was often treating the reader as dense, as if they needed the lot explaining. Overall I feel I am sad as the book had promise, there were parts I loved like Randa and her story, but sadly the rest was just lacking.
November 18, 2018
'The Beauty of the Wolf' by Wray Delaney
Wow. Just wow. This book was amazing in so many different ways. With the original 'Beauty and the Beast' being my all time favourite fairy tale, i just had to choose this book as the first one I review and can I just say, I don't regret making that decision at all. I loved the book as a whole but I especially loved how the base plot was similar to the original telling yet it was so different at the same time. My hat goes off to Wray Delaney who was behind this incredible piece of work for taking me back to my childhood with the engaging characters and plot.
Wow. Just wow. This book was amazing in so many different ways. With the original 'Beauty and the Beast' being my all time favourite fairy tale, i just had to choose this book as the first one I review and can I just say, I don't regret making that decision at all. I loved the book as a whole but I especially loved how the base plot was similar to the original telling yet it was so different at the same time. My hat goes off to Wray Delaney who was behind this incredible piece of work for taking me back to my childhood with the engaging characters and plot.
February 7, 2021
I don't quite know how to place this one. I liked it and I didn't? The first third had me intrigued, the middle a bit bored, then the last third was everything I wanted the rest of the book to be. The premise is good, I love the concept behind the retelling, but I also think it dragged a bit in places and found the language a bit much at times. 3 stars.
March 12, 2019
I have only one word for this book, and that is; stunning! I know I say the same about an awful lot of the books that I have read but this is something special. I have never read anything like it before and I doubt I will read anything quite as beautiful as this again. This could very well be the best book I have read!
I was instantly fascinated by this book, the premise of the story was a lure that I couldn’t pass. But I was just blown away, right from the first page I knew that I had opened a once in a life time book and it is. It’s enchanting, beautiful and full of eternal love.
The Beauty of the Wolf tells the story of how one action can start a whole line of events some good and some very bad, how our actions will always be weighed and measured and when that happens you will have to face and live with the repercussions. Just as Francis; Lord Rodermere had to face! When he callously cut down some of the trees to the Faerie woods to build his ‘House of the Three Turrets’ the Sorceress vowed she would have her revenge and laid a curse upon not only his head but that of his son; Beau.
Beau is cursed with beauty so enchanting that any who sees him will instantly be enchanted by the Faerie boy, be he also has a cursed that weighs heavy on his beautiful shoulders a destiny as such that he will be the death of his father.
But the Sorceresses plan back fires as Beau isn’t at all what she had planned him to be, he is nothing like his cold, ruthless and hated father. He is good, kind, caring and loyal.
Far away in a grimy and cold cellar in London lives Randa, born human but due to an act by her father she is now a beast of nightmares. Seen to be cold, heart-less, evil and soul-less a beast that isn’t capable of anything more than killing. But lonely Randa is far more than what people see of her, she is full of life and love but she has been treated with hate and fear all her life, except by a rare few.
Both Randa and Beau are stuck in lives that is against them, but as with the original fairy-tale there is light a head for both and that light is each other. But, as they are so different and both set to follow different path’s, and so begins a story of true love and tragedy.
The Beauty of the Wolf is an original and imaginative re-telling of one of my whole time favourite fairy-tales; Beauty and the Beast but with a twist, and it is that twist away from the original well-loved story that really sets this apart from any other book. Instead of the beast being the man in this it is in fact the woman, which really speaks the female readers especially. After all what woman has felt like a ‘Beast’ at one time or another? What woman doesn’t look in the mirror and constantly find something we hate about what we see? Writing the ‘Beast’ as a woman is a stroke of genius and it is that element that so many will utterly love about this book, it is putting every woman’s thoughts of their selves into perspective. I would call that; empowering!
I am so in love with this, the story is simply beautiful. I was instantly pulled into the Faerie world where Beau and Randa dwell as the writing is mesmerizing it is so full of passion and charm, Ms Delaney takes the reader away and transports them to this far of Faerie world with her unique and hugely lovable characters, who even though they are from the world of magic you can relate to them. The story is utterly enchanting, moving, passionate full of love and danger, captivating and spell-binding.
I can guarantee that you will fall utterly in love with this story, you will feel every emotion that Beau, Randa and even the Sorceress feel. You will walk in their footsteps and become enchanted.
No, other word but; Perfection!
I was instantly fascinated by this book, the premise of the story was a lure that I couldn’t pass. But I was just blown away, right from the first page I knew that I had opened a once in a life time book and it is. It’s enchanting, beautiful and full of eternal love.
The Beauty of the Wolf tells the story of how one action can start a whole line of events some good and some very bad, how our actions will always be weighed and measured and when that happens you will have to face and live with the repercussions. Just as Francis; Lord Rodermere had to face! When he callously cut down some of the trees to the Faerie woods to build his ‘House of the Three Turrets’ the Sorceress vowed she would have her revenge and laid a curse upon not only his head but that of his son; Beau.
Beau is cursed with beauty so enchanting that any who sees him will instantly be enchanted by the Faerie boy, be he also has a cursed that weighs heavy on his beautiful shoulders a destiny as such that he will be the death of his father.
But the Sorceresses plan back fires as Beau isn’t at all what she had planned him to be, he is nothing like his cold, ruthless and hated father. He is good, kind, caring and loyal.
Far away in a grimy and cold cellar in London lives Randa, born human but due to an act by her father she is now a beast of nightmares. Seen to be cold, heart-less, evil and soul-less a beast that isn’t capable of anything more than killing. But lonely Randa is far more than what people see of her, she is full of life and love but she has been treated with hate and fear all her life, except by a rare few.
Both Randa and Beau are stuck in lives that is against them, but as with the original fairy-tale there is light a head for both and that light is each other. But, as they are so different and both set to follow different path’s, and so begins a story of true love and tragedy.
The Beauty of the Wolf is an original and imaginative re-telling of one of my whole time favourite fairy-tales; Beauty and the Beast but with a twist, and it is that twist away from the original well-loved story that really sets this apart from any other book. Instead of the beast being the man in this it is in fact the woman, which really speaks the female readers especially. After all what woman has felt like a ‘Beast’ at one time or another? What woman doesn’t look in the mirror and constantly find something we hate about what we see? Writing the ‘Beast’ as a woman is a stroke of genius and it is that element that so many will utterly love about this book, it is putting every woman’s thoughts of their selves into perspective. I would call that; empowering!
I am so in love with this, the story is simply beautiful. I was instantly pulled into the Faerie world where Beau and Randa dwell as the writing is mesmerizing it is so full of passion and charm, Ms Delaney takes the reader away and transports them to this far of Faerie world with her unique and hugely lovable characters, who even though they are from the world of magic you can relate to them. The story is utterly enchanting, moving, passionate full of love and danger, captivating and spell-binding.
I can guarantee that you will fall utterly in love with this story, you will feel every emotion that Beau, Randa and even the Sorceress feel. You will walk in their footsteps and become enchanted.
No, other word but; Perfection!
February 20, 2019
Warnings: parental abuse, allusions to sexual assault, use of dated racist and transmisic slurs, death of newborn, animal cruelty, violence
Rep: There are a couple of black (one of whom is also genderfluid) and gay characters among the secondary characters.
I have read many retellings of Beauty and the Beast, in various forms, but this one may be singularly unique. The story is narrated in turns by the sorceress, the beauty and the beast - and it tells the story of a boy, Beau, created for the sole purpose of fulfilling a curse, and a girl, Randa, who has a beastly form due to her parents' alchemical experiment to revive her, both entangled in the scheme of a sorceress who sought vengeance on the Beau's tyrannical father. Conceptually, it is an edgy gothic fairytale style story, with very flowery language and a winding plot. I wouldn't say it to be feminist in its ideas, but it is anti-patriarchial (and a bit of religious criticism thrown in) and pro-nature in what it tries to discuss.
Beauty of the Wolf takes the blocks of the original tale and reassembles them in a pattern that has key moments, but used entirely differently. Like, the theft of the rose happens quite later on, but Beau is still taken as a collateral for it. The 'curse' of becoming a beast is cured but through the help of the King of Beasts, not by true love's kiss. And the beast is not entirely a person, but a concept that is brought up, and also both the characters. Beau's aversion to his own beauty, his despair over being an instrument of a curse, and Randa's stalker moves are quite different from what you would expect of traditional fairy tale protagonists. The sorceress herself, starts from a place of justice, but she is too Dramatic and instead of just getting it over with, she goes the extra mile of making an elaborate curse akin to prophecy which sweeps all the other characters into its net.
Now, you may be wondering if it is what I usually seek in retellings - dark themes, unique plot ideas, complicated characters - why would I give it only 3 stars? Well, that's because of the writing itself - it was too flowery and archaic for my tastes (even though it fits), and only makes the plot drag along. Also, what is the author's aversion to using commas? I had to read so many sentences twice because I couldn't figure out what was being said, clearly. Between the euphemisms and the cringe-y sex scenes (there are many, mind you), the story kinda flounders, trying to hook you into it. The middle practically stalls with nowhere to go, as Beau tries his hand at being an actor (which involves a good bit of cross-dressing) while Randa is off brooding and the Sorceress is trying to get that little scrap from her petticoat back (it is never made clear why it was important for her to do so, and why time was getting its hold on her).
Overall, as a story I would say it was definitely something fresh (ironic, considering the language and the setting) but the writing may be appealing to only a niche audience.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from HQ, via Netgalley.
Rep: There are a couple of black (one of whom is also genderfluid) and gay characters among the secondary characters.
I have read many retellings of Beauty and the Beast, in various forms, but this one may be singularly unique. The story is narrated in turns by the sorceress, the beauty and the beast - and it tells the story of a boy, Beau, created for the sole purpose of fulfilling a curse, and a girl, Randa, who has a beastly form due to her parents' alchemical experiment to revive her, both entangled in the scheme of a sorceress who sought vengeance on the Beau's tyrannical father. Conceptually, it is an edgy gothic fairytale style story, with very flowery language and a winding plot. I wouldn't say it to be feminist in its ideas, but it is anti-patriarchial (and a bit of religious criticism thrown in) and pro-nature in what it tries to discuss.
Beauty of the Wolf takes the blocks of the original tale and reassembles them in a pattern that has key moments, but used entirely differently. Like, the theft of the rose happens quite later on, but Beau is still taken as a collateral for it. The 'curse' of becoming a beast is cured but through the help of the King of Beasts, not by true love's kiss. And the beast is not entirely a person, but a concept that is brought up, and also both the characters. Beau's aversion to his own beauty, his despair over being an instrument of a curse, and Randa's stalker moves are quite different from what you would expect of traditional fairy tale protagonists. The sorceress herself, starts from a place of justice, but she is too Dramatic and instead of just getting it over with, she goes the extra mile of making an elaborate curse akin to prophecy which sweeps all the other characters into its net.
Now, you may be wondering if it is what I usually seek in retellings - dark themes, unique plot ideas, complicated characters - why would I give it only 3 stars? Well, that's because of the writing itself - it was too flowery and archaic for my tastes (even though it fits), and only makes the plot drag along. Also, what is the author's aversion to using commas? I had to read so many sentences twice because I couldn't figure out what was being said, clearly. Between the euphemisms and the cringe-y sex scenes (there are many, mind you), the story kinda flounders, trying to hook you into it. The middle practically stalls with nowhere to go, as Beau tries his hand at being an actor (which involves a good bit of cross-dressing) while Randa is off brooding and the Sorceress is trying to get that little scrap from her petticoat back (it is never made clear why it was important for her to do so, and why time was getting its hold on her).
Overall, as a story I would say it was definitely something fresh (ironic, considering the language and the setting) but the writing may be appealing to only a niche audience.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from HQ, via Netgalley.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 168 reviews