Overall rating:
8.5/10
Beasts and Beauty was an incredibly awesome set of fairytale
retellings, most with some type of subversion to the original fairytales plots.
What I really liked about the stories in particular was that there was an
interesting focus on beauty and being a beast (as the title already alludes to!)
and what that really means. The representation in the stories was also really
phenomenal, with some of the original fairytales including a wider variety of
cultures and sexualities. Overall, a really excellent read and I can’t wait for
Soman to bring out another set of fairytales!
Individual ratings
Little Red Rising
Hood: 8/10
The ending actually
really got to me in this first story and filled my heart with a lot of warmth.
I generally also just really loved the subversive elements of this fairytale (e.g.
the girls being “sacrificed” to the wolves, the wolf and grandmother’s roles in
the cottage etc.). It was quite a short story though, and I wished it would
have been a tad longer.
Snow White: 7/10
The only reason why I’m
giving this only seven stars and not more is more to do with the fact that the overall
plot of this book was just very similar to the original Snow White fairytale.
Don’t get me wrong, I really loved how Snow White was a woman of a color who struggle
with heavy racism throughout her life and how in the end she found solace and
sanctuary amongst the dwarves. The overall plot however wasn’t that different
and the ending just left me feeling a tad meh. Still an all-around good
story though, and the illustrations in this story were gorgeous.
Sleeping Beauty: 5/10
This short story was
just incredibly confusing to me, if I’m honest. I don’t really understand half
of what happened. I understand that the prince had some sort of relationship
with a type of monster, but because we barely got any details, it was just kind
of freaky to imagine how he got the scratches. Would have liked some more
details. And the hand thing was just a bit too much for me.
Rapunzel: 9/10
I really, really liked
this short story. It was kind of strange, especially the relationship between
Rapunzel and her “father”. However, the story was still kind of badass and really
subverted the idea that a girl locked up in a tower would fall head over heels
for just anyone. Rapunzel was a genuine badass.
Jack and the
Beanstalk: 8/10
This was an
interesting story, and was actually quite sweet at the end. What I liked (if I
understood the story correctly) was how the land of the giants mirrored Jack’s
inner thoughts about his family. I was overall really pleased with the ending
and thought it was really sweet.
Hansel and Gretel:
9.5/10
I absolutely adored
this story! It was so original and I absolutely loved the desi
representation. It was so sweet to see the love between the children and their
mother. Now I really would love to try one of those sweets!
Beauty and the
Beast: 8.5/10
This story was
incredibly heartbreaking at the end, and yet really beautiful and teaches a
valuable lesson of being careful when looking but not seeing. Although the core
elements of the typical Beauty and the Beast fairytale were intact, I still
felt like the story had a lot more depth to it than the story we all know. Mei and
her own dreams were actually quite fleshed out, and she was a more flawed
character than Belle. Overall a great story, with a rather tragic ending.
Bluebeard: 8/10
I have to admit, I don’t
actually know the original Bluebeard fairytale, so I can’t really compare that version
to Soman’s. However, I did like this story and how it really focused on the
love that Pietro had for the other orphaned boys.
Cinderella: 9/10
This fairytale was
actually completely different from the original one. In this, the mouse who
befriends Cinderella is actually the Prince’s long-lost love, Magdalena who was
cursed to be a mouse by a witch who stole the Prince. The story is about the
mouse taking Cinderella to the ball so she can tell the Prince that she is still
alive. I really loved this story, and that in the end, it was more about friendship
and love than about romance (or a romance between two girls, depending on how
you interpret it!).
The Little Mermaid:
7/10
This wasn’t really a
story at all, but rather a conversation between the little mermaid (Arielle I
guess?) and the “evil” witch. It was quite interesting, since the witch illuminates
the fact that the story could easily be read the other way around (with the
little mermaid as the “witch”) and that the true love of fairytales is usually
shallow and pushes the heroine to only be submissive. An overall interesting
conversation, but I wish it would have been an actual story, and not just eight
pages of dialogue.
Rumpelstiltskin: 8/10
I did really enjoy this
short story, though the one thing that was kind of disappointing was that the
story was almost exactly the same as the original fairytale. No extra twists or
some kind of plot subversion. However, it was still really well written (as is
all of Soman’s work!) and so I did really enjoy reading it.
Peter Pan: 8.5/10
Wow this story was incredibly
heartbreaking, oh my word! I honestly wasn’t expecting that ending, but it
was still incredibly beautiful. It was also nice that the story began after the
original Peter pan story ended, and that it wasn’t just a regular retelling, if
that makes sense.
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