Rosamund Hodge’s Cruel Beauty is a standalone book in the Cruel Beauty Universe. Long ago, a kingdom was founded on the small island of Arcadia. For nine generations, the land was ruled by just kings, who protected the citizens from barbarians and demons. One day, the ninth king passed away, but before the tenth could be crowned, the prince of demons known as the Gentle Lord descended upon the castle. He killed the to-be-king, took the castle for himself, and separate the small island from the rest of the world, trapping them under a parchment sky. For 900 years, the he has ruled from the castle, granting wishes to those foolish enough to take them and leashing the demons if proper tribute is payed. For 900 years, the people of Arcadia were cut off from the rest of the world and lived in fear of the demons that haunted their shadows, watching as their loved ones were driven mad or dragged into nothingness. Now, all their hopes lie on Nyx Triskelion, a girl doomed to marry the Gentle Lord as payment for a wish her father made. From birth, she was groomed to kill him and free Arcadia from the spell entrapping it, and, on her seventeenth birthday, the day of her accursed marriage has come.
Nyx Triskelion is a bitter girl. All her life she was trained to the Gentle Lord’s murderer, but in the process, she was denied love and began to hate her family. She hated her father for making the bargain that sealed her fate. She hated her Aunt for making love to Nyx’s father soon after her mother died. She hated her twin sister for being able to smile free of from the worry of being killed by her husband. All this hate was buried deep in her heart where it festered and grew. At the same time she despised herself for hating her sweet, caring sister and for not being able to love her family. As the story progresses, her guilt only grows, but, with the help of some love, she gradually begins to accept herself.
Cruel Beauty is a fantastic retelling of Beauty and the Beast and probably one of the best I’ve read. Good fairy tale retellings are really hard to write well. The stories are so well known that most retellings are annoyingly, predictable and lack enough tension maintain and engaging plot. That is not the case with Cruel Beauty. Rosamund Hodge weaves Greek gods and myths into the setting, creating a unique identity for the book.
The pacing starts slow, carefully drawing you in with mysteries and secrets, and, from there, gradually picks up speed until it reaches the exciting climax. Thankfully, pacing is not the book’s only strong point.
Rosamund creates beautiful backdrops for the story. The entire island of Arcadia is a haunting yet beautiful land. The people are alive with culture and religion, as demons linger in the shadows. They are full of life and hope, yet poisoned with darkness and fear as well. This juxtaposition of beautiful, yet haunting carries throughout the book and is a major theme of the in the Gentle Lord’s castle. As part of Nyx’s mission, she must destroy the castle by nullifying four enchantments hidden inside the house. Every day, she wanders through the enchanted maze of a castle strolling through rooms that quietly shift and eating food that prepares itself. As she explores the many rooms of the castle, darkness follow at her heels. While some of the rooms open to gorgeous dining halls or luxurious ballrooms, some contain demons that will torture and devour her.
Unfortunately, some of the characters in the beautiful setting fell flat. Both Nyx and the Gentle Lord are well defined characters that undergo a powerful emotional and romantic arc, while Nyx’s aunt and father had less personality than a cardboard cutout. They have extremely limited roles in the story and even more limited one dimensional personalities making them targets for universal hate.
In contrast, Nyx had a vibrant personality that readers either love or hate. Some see her hard work, kind heart, and strong will while others see her as an emotional mess that fails at being an assassin. Both are aspects of her personality. She constantly displays actions of bravery and strong will, but also seems drastically unprepared to face the Gentle Lord despite having trained her entire life. It is up to the reader to decide which traits are more important and how to feel about Nyx.
Another divisive choice is the use of a love triangle. Many think it was a confusing insta-love mess and, in my opinion, they are partly right. The Nyx flips back and forth between two boys going from loving one to despising the other and vice versa all the while the each character becomes more complicated and the entire relationship is confusing. What these people fail to see is the slow development of Nyx’s relationships. The book takes place over several months, and during that time, she is able to think about her situation and her life. She does not instantly fall in love with the characters, but slowly sees the beauty and flaws in both and herself.