Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Book Review: The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelaure aka @AnneRiceAuthor


The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty was a lovely shock to the system for me. It was phenomenally written by a psuedonymed Anne Rice.


A beautiful languid, lovely prose all the while describing harsh, violent, erotic scenes. Sometimes I was reading, mouth agape. Other times I realized I was curled up in a ball, tucked all up as I read. All the while I was eager to read, eager to learn more of Beauty's journey or if her prince would be redeemed. I was wanton to know how, or even if, Beauty and her counterparts would rebel or escape, but then again, her alternatives were nothing. It was exciting and heartbreaking all at the same time.



You feel sad for Beauty, but then again you want her to keep going and be strong and prevail. I found myself thinking of things for her to do, how to escape her enslavement to the prince who freed her.



It's such a dichotomy. Freedom from sleep only to be bound in slavery. At what cost can you find true freedom?


Our Beauty is a spoiled, rich girl, idle and bored, although she loves her family and is always the epitome of well-bred princess. But then she's awakened after a hundred years of sleep and taken from everything she's ever known, enslaved by a prince and his mother, the queen, and kept in a violent atmosphere of debauchery and pain, pleasure and gluttony.


I was fascinated by the story beyond the obvious "erotic adventure" as the book touts on the cover.


Age old question... what is freedom? Am I to describe someone else's freedom? Should it be my version of freedom or theirs? Who's is right? If our Beauty and the other Prince and Princess slaves find freedom within their pain and captivity, through the actions and commands of others, is it still freedom?


Also, what is too much? My limits may be different from your limits? How do you know until you push past them and realize you've gone too far? This is what Beauty begins to learn.


At the end of the first book, you are left asking, "But what happens next?" and I eagerly picked up the second "Beauty's Punishment."


Now we find out what Beauty is really made of now that she's been ripped away from her captor prince and thrust into the village.


If you want to push your limits and really read a gorgeously written tale, I highly recommend The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty.
Not for the faint of heart.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like my kinda book! Raunchy retellings of fairytales are my thing! I'll be looking out for this. Great review Becca. ;)

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