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jajalalaI finished reading The Misadventures of an Amateur Naturalist by Ceinwen Langley, a sapphic retelling of Beauty & the Beast. Overall: An enjoyable retelling with emphasis on the historical context and some gritty realism.
I really enjoyed the characters and plot in this. The first half/third of the story is literally just establishing and entrenching the reader in the time period and life situation of the main character. It makes for a "slow" start if you're eager to dive into the meeting the Beast etc, but I loved getting to know the characters around her. Everyone felt realistic and nicely characterized--I love when even antagonists are nuanced and operating in a way that as a reader I completely understand them. The main character ends up in an engagement that she does not want, but I could feel the palpable pressure that made her (and those around her) make the choices that led her there.
When she decides to take destiny into her own hands, faking her death and running away, the story takes a bit of a survivalist turn. She runs through a snowstorm, almost gets frostbite, almost gets eaten by wolves, then takes shelter in a dilapidated chateau with no food, no heat, and tries to avoid the terrifying beast while battling a fever and the threat of starvation... ahaha I got a lil stressed reading it, the stakes of the situation were so high! This is NOT like the Disney version where talking furniture kindly helps her out. She gets an owl that screeches helpfully sometimes, and that's it. Most of the building is full of dust, moths, and rats.
Once she sorts things out with the Beast, things take a more contemplative turn, and her naturalist interests are highlighted. She approaches the Beast with the inquisitive mind of a woman who has read Charles Darwin and is doing her darnedest to figure out how something like the Beast could have evolutionarily occurred. I liked the main character's sensibility and general fascination with the world; it is highlighted throughout the book, but it gave something special to her relationship with the Beast.
The queer themes were also great, the author found a clever way to show some of the Beast's life pre-Beast, and the story of her discovering what she liked and the life she wanted to lead was compelling. The romance isn't super intense--their relationship is only just starting, but the main character and the Beast clearly have some gay (and potentially trans or gender non-conforming?) stuff going on, and you understand why they get together at the end.
The magic part is probably the most underdeveloped... because the main character has such a scientific approach, the reveal of magic creating the Beast feels almost silly, and the mechanics of it aren't really explored (like they explain who cast, why and when, but the details of the curse aren't ever really dug into).
There was also a very sad note at the end that made me tear up. Aside from that, though, it did overall have a happy ending.
At the end, I was surprised to discover it was a self-published book! I had noted like, two typos as I read along, but aside from that I thought it was very well constructed. Self publishing is a mixed bag, but it makes me happy when someone takes a risk and ends up bringing something lovely like this into the world.
Retellings of classic stories I think are both easy and tricky--easy in that the reader is usually already invested, and you can trust them to expect/anticipate/accept certain things, but tricky in that you need to be doing something NEW to not bore the reader. I think this story found a good balance by making the main character an intent naturalist and really digging into the historical time period and some queer themes, while maintaining the arcs of the original story with a more gritty mood. I certainly enjoyed it!
I really enjoyed the characters and plot in this. The first half/third of the story is literally just establishing and entrenching the reader in the time period and life situation of the main character. It makes for a "slow" start if you're eager to dive into the meeting the Beast etc, but I loved getting to know the characters around her. Everyone felt realistic and nicely characterized--I love when even antagonists are nuanced and operating in a way that as a reader I completely understand them. The main character ends up in an engagement that she does not want, but I could feel the palpable pressure that made her (and those around her) make the choices that led her there.
When she decides to take destiny into her own hands, faking her death and running away, the story takes a bit of a survivalist turn. She runs through a snowstorm, almost gets frostbite, almost gets eaten by wolves, then takes shelter in a dilapidated chateau with no food, no heat, and tries to avoid the terrifying beast while battling a fever and the threat of starvation... ahaha I got a lil stressed reading it, the stakes of the situation were so high! This is NOT like the Disney version where talking furniture kindly helps her out. She gets an owl that screeches helpfully sometimes, and that's it. Most of the building is full of dust, moths, and rats.
Once she sorts things out with the Beast, things take a more contemplative turn, and her naturalist interests are highlighted. She approaches the Beast with the inquisitive mind of a woman who has read Charles Darwin and is doing her darnedest to figure out how something like the Beast could have evolutionarily occurred. I liked the main character's sensibility and general fascination with the world; it is highlighted throughout the book, but it gave something special to her relationship with the Beast.
The queer themes were also great, the author found a clever way to show some of the Beast's life pre-Beast, and the story of her discovering what she liked and the life she wanted to lead was compelling. The romance isn't super intense--their relationship is only just starting, but the main character and the Beast clearly have some gay (and potentially trans or gender non-conforming?) stuff going on, and you understand why they get together at the end.
The magic part is probably the most underdeveloped... because the main character has such a scientific approach, the reveal of magic creating the Beast feels almost silly, and the mechanics of it aren't really explored (like they explain who cast, why and when, but the details of the curse aren't ever really dug into).
There was also a very sad note at the end that made me tear up. Aside from that, though, it did overall have a happy ending.
At the end, I was surprised to discover it was a self-published book! I had noted like, two typos as I read along, but aside from that I thought it was very well constructed. Self publishing is a mixed bag, but it makes me happy when someone takes a risk and ends up bringing something lovely like this into the world.
Retellings of classic stories I think are both easy and tricky--easy in that the reader is usually already invested, and you can trust them to expect/anticipate/accept certain things, but tricky in that you need to be doing something NEW to not bore the reader. I think this story found a good balance by making the main character an intent naturalist and really digging into the historical time period and some queer themes, while maintaining the arcs of the original story with a more gritty mood. I certainly enjoyed it!
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Date: 2024-05-19 03:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-05-20 12:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-05-23 04:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-05-24 11:29 am (UTC)I guess it's kind of like fanfic! Readers are going in with a shared language and expectations of how the plot/characters will go.