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In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...
In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.
Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.
As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.
From the Hardcover edition.
- Sales Rank: #187064 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-07-23
- Released on: 2013-07-23
- Format: Kindle eBook
From School Library Journal
Gr 8 Up–Hundreds of years after humans landed on a distant planet, Smooth Skins live in protective domes that keep out the scaly skinned Desert People, whom they call Monstrous. Blind since childhood, 17-year-old Princess Isra makes clandestine nighttime visits to the dome's rose garden. Someday, as queen, she will have to shed her blood to water the roses and keep the city secure. To save their people from starvation, a Monstrous raiding party attempts to steal the roses and their magic. Isra demands that 19-year-old Gem be spared. She hopes that he can help her raise plants to stop the scaling skin that could doom her to banishment. Slowly Isra comes to see both literally and figuratively the deformities and mistreatment of the Banished inside the city and the injustices done to the Desert People outside. Gem realizes that Isra, too, is a prisoner, destined to marry Bo, whose powerful father manipulates events to make sure his son will rule the kingdom. Eventually Isra learns that the queens' bloodletting actually feeds an evil Dark Heart beneath the flowers. Only love between a Smooth Skin and a Monstrous can break an ancient curse. Isra, Gem, and Bo narrate chapters of this reimagining of the familiar tale. Isra and Gem reluctantly acknowledge their growing attraction that deepens into love. Bo, who might have emerged as a villain, instead questions the need for sacrifice and resists his father's demands. Explanations of complex history and legend slow the pace at times, but revelations and plot twists keep the action flowing and romance growing. Variations of conventions such as having a Monstrous attempt to steal roses and bring the dying princess to life are overshadowed by the final transformation of Isra, Gem, and their people into something entirely new, both Beast and Beauty. A satisfying read for fans of romantic fantasy.–Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, MankatoĪ±(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review
"There is a personal, romantic side to their struggle, but it's the ideological, cultural, and cosmic perils that threaten to overwhelm them." ---Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Stacey Jay is the author of several popular books for young adults, including Of Beast and Beauty, You Are So Undead to Me, Juliet Immortal, and Dead on the Delta. She lives with her family in California. Visit her at staceyjay.com.
Julia Whelan, a former child actress, began narrating and directing audiobooks after graduating from college with a degree in English and creative writing. She has garnered many positive reviews, won multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, earned a Grammy nomination, and was named one of AudioFile magazine's Best Voices of 2010.
Most helpful customer reviews
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful.
Sheer Perfection
By Lili's Reflections
I think that writing a coherent review currently is impossible. It's been a really long time since a book made my heart speed up, my breathing shallow because I was so engrossed. It's been a really long time since I thought that a writer's writing style is really beautiful and went out of my way to tell others that. It's just been a while since a book managed to truly blow me away and make me love it so much. OF BEAST AND BEAUTY, the first book I've ever read by Stacey Jay, managed to do all that and more. I can already tell that this book will stick with me for a while.
The intricacies of this new world was fascinating. They easily engross you and hold you captive throughout the duration of the book--making it an incredibly quick and enjoyable read. It's set in a dying world where domed cities must make royal sacrifices every thirty years in order to ensure the continual thriving of their people. Isra, the blind future Queen of Yuan, is set to be the next sacrifice to allow her people to continue to live. The domes are necessary to cut the citizens off from the evils of the outside world and the disfigured race that lives in the desert. The Monstrous are beastly people with poisonous claws and they must be feared, but when they break into Yuan and one of them murders the King, everything spirals out of control. They leave a single Monstrous prisoner behind named Gem in order to ensure peace between the two races, but he is unwelcome by all except Isra who is strangely fascinated by her new prisoner and eventual friend. A lot of the amazing world-building was displayed through personal anecdotes and the telling of old legends from both races, and I found this to be a welcome, unique touch that kept my interest without having to info-dump. This also allowed the mystery of Yuan to be unraveled in a really unique way that left me flipping pages as fast as I could.
I think the strongest point of this story was the characterization. Both Gem and Isra live in two completely different yet equally dying worlds, and they both will do anything required to save those they love. But, in the end, they both have the biggest hearts of gold. They can plan to do terrible things but never follow through with it. They're both just so good, and I truly truly loved that. Isra never allowed her blindness to hinder her. In fact, it just made her stronger. And Gem was proud of who he was, even if the Smooth-Skinned people that Isra ruled believed he was disgusting. His form was beautiful and his people were beautiful. In his eyes, everything somehow was beautiful. I liked the hidden messages that such a thought process shared. And I also loved the side characters, especially Needle, Isra's loyal maid, best friend, and dress-maker despite being born mute. Bo was a unique side character as well, often warring with himself about what is right since he tended to simply feel for so many people. He had a good heart, he just didn't know how to manage everything. This book is told in the altering perspectives of Gem and Isra, with a few chapters in Bo's perspective thrown in. I normally would think his perspective was completely unnecessary, but he added a lot of back-plot to the story and summed up all questionable plot lines. Although, I have to admit, while I enjoyed his voice I did not love it nearly as much as I loved Gem and Isra's.
And, while this book has so much more to it, it's still a BEAUTY AND THE BEAST re-telling at its heart, meaning that the romance is important. And, damn, can I say that I love love and this love story. It was slow-going and passionate all at once--the way a love story should be. And the BEAUTY AND THE BEAST interpretation was great. It added all the more meaning to the words "beastly" and "beautiful" and made me smile endlessly while reading the epilogue--an epilogue so sweet and perfect that I never wanted it to end. While I couldn't have asked for a better story, I was saddened to turn to the last blank page because I grew so attached to Isra and Gem. Even now, I don't want to leave them behind just yet.
I don't know what else to say about this one aside from the fact that it blew me away entirely. I can't think of a single piece of criticism because I did love it so much. I recommend this book to anyone willing to read it. Those who love fantasy re-tellings, those who love an amazing romance, those who love something different and unique or a book littered with fascinating political intrigue and dark unknowns lurking beneath the surface. This is a book that could be universally loved and I truly hope anyone who picks it up will love it as much as I did. To put it simply, this book is a must read of 2013, no questions asked.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
Live To Read ~Krystal
By Krystal Larson
Stacey Jay has a magical ability to pull readers into the strange worlds she creates. Her
powerful, poetic writing caused me to lose myself for three hours as I devoured her book. Of Beast and Beauty is unlike her previous novels, Juliet Immortal and Romeo Redeemed. Jay’s latest novel is a retelling of the classic story Beauty and the Beast that she has made her own.
Beast is a princess named Isra who must die to ensure her people will live. Blind and a “Smooth
Skin” that is afraid she is “Monsterous”, Isra is part of a curse she knows nothing about. Gem is Beauty, a man labeled “Monsterous” that lives in the desert, working against Isra to save his own dying people. Isra and Gem come from different worlds, but share an inner strength and perseverance. To save themselves and the people they love, the two will face an ancient evil.
Although Of Beast and Beauty was difficult to put down, the culmination of the plot was
unsatisfying. The plot flowed too easily and left me feeling disappointed; the book proceeded exactly as expected. I felt as though I knew how the book would progress as soon as I began reading. Still, falling into the world of Isra and Gem was enjoyable, and I would recommend the book to readers who have enjoyed Jay’s earlier novels or other retellings.
*Review copy provided for review, this in no way affects my review*
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
Full of sweet romance, an interesting world, and a unique sci-fi twist to the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast.
By Dark Faerie Tales
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.
Quick & Dirty: Full of sweet romance, an interesting world, and a unique sci-fi twist to the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast.
Opening Sentence: IN the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret.
The Review:
Hundreds of years ago humans arrived on the planet, but their bodies were not made to withstand the atmosphere. The kind and gentle mother of the planet took pity on this new species and changed some of them to help them adapt. They became more like beast and were called monstrous. All the humans unaffected turned against the monstrous and banished them. To survive the harsh environment the humans offered the planet a human sacrifice. By doing this they created a dark and sinister magic. The magic created cites and as long as long as there was a human sacrifice made every 30 years or so they were fed and protected. The kind mother that tried to help the humans put a curse upon the people that could only be broken if a human and beast could come to love each other more than anything else.
Isra is a blind princess in the city of Yuan. She went blind during a terrible accident when she was 4 years old. After that she was kept in a tower away from everyone for her protection, but she had a rebellious spirit and she would leave her tower at night to visit the magical rose gardens. One night while Isra is visiting the enchanted garden; there is a monstrous attack and her father, the king, is killed. They also capture one of the monstrous. Isra has now become queen, but she has very little say in how the kingdom is run. Soon she starts to spend time with the monstrous and he is very different from what she always believed about the monstrous people.
Gem lives with his tribe in the dessert. They live a very hard life where food is scarce and his people are all slowly dying. They need something to help them and their leader has a vision that if they steal the enchanted rose bushes from the city they will be saved. So Gem and some of his fellow tribe members find a way to break into the city, but Gem is captured. He becomes a prisoner and he has to help the new queen plant a garden. He decides that if he can get the queen to trust him, he might be able to eventually escape and help his people. But the more time he spends with the beautiful, blind queen he starts to care for her.
The story alternates between Gem and Isra's point of view. I had a little bit of a hard time connecting with Isra. She has lived a very sheltered life so of course she is arrogant about a lot of things, but I felt that she was conveniently naive too much. She does grow and I did eventually start to like her, it just took a little longer than I would have liked. Gem on the other hand, I liked right away. He is a strong character that has many great qualities. He truly cares about his people and even though he feels weak he is actually very strong. He tries to do what's right even when it is difficult.
This was a really great retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast. It was a really fast read that hooked me right away and I had a hard time putting it down. The plot was fairly predictable, but there were a few good twists that I wasn't expecting. I had a rough start with some of the characters, but by the end I fell in love with all of them. I really loved the romance; it was sweet and developed realistically. The world was interesting and magical. The writing was beautiful and the story was very captivating. This is my first Stacey Jay novel, but it will certainly not be my last. I would highly recommend this book for sci-fi or fairy tale retelling fans, I think both groups would really enjoy it.
FTC Advisory: Delacorte Books for Young Readers/Random House provided me with a copy of Of Beast and Beauty. No goody bags, sponsorships, "material connections," or bribes were exchanged for my review.
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