Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay, narrated by Julia Whelan
Sci Fi/Dystopia/Romance/YA
Summary: In the city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra is raised to be a human sacrifice. Her death will ensure her city's vitality. In the desert, a mutant beast named Gem fights to save his people, known as the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that, together, they can return balance to their worlds.
391 Pages
My Rating: B+
This version of Beauty and the Beast definitely has some lovely aspects you don't get with these stories often. For one, the roles are reversed. Instead of "Beauty" (or the girl, if you prefer) being held hostage by the "Beast" (or boy, if you prefer), her people hold him hostage instead. For another, she starts out with a disability, which is something there still isn't enough of in YA these days. Granted, in this case, she is magically cured, so it's not perfect, but I do like that the story started out with her being perfectly capable even without her sight. I'm also very happy to find a sci fi version of this story, though it's very fantasy-based sci fi.
The story of Isra and Gem is a fairly typical story of two groups who hate each other and have done for so long that each no longer sees the other group as fully human. I like how well-woven the story of this world is, though at the beginning, I was certain the roses would have a very different role to play than they actually did. There are a few easy-fix issues in the story (see above about her disability for one), but overall, the story is a fascinating one, and those fixes don't do much to harm the story itself.
Definitely for fans of Beauty and the Beast, but don't expect the Disney version here. If you like sci fi as well as fairy tale retellings, and are a fan of YA, I think this is a good one to read.
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