by Mercedes Lackey
October 2011
Luna
The eldest daughter is often doomed in fairy tales. But Bella, daughter of a wealthy merchant, vows to escape the usual pitfalls.
Book six in Lackey's Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series takes us into the wolfly fairy tales of Little Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast. Bella is the no-nonsense, eldest daughter of a wealthy merchant who spends her days running her stepmother's household and ensuring that her stepsisters don't make fools of themselves in public. When she is bitten by a werewolf, however, (after a visit to Granny's house, of course), she is kidnapped by the King's soldiers and forced to live with the beast who bit her until it is certain that she herself has not become infected with the curse. As I am summarizing this book I find myself thinking "Wow, this sounds like a really good book!" And it wasn't too bad, but I had two non-negotiable issues with it.
1. Miss Independent and Mr. Insecurity. Oookay, so here's the deal. When a man loves a woman, and a woman loves a man, that love generally grows out of mutual interests, respect, and compatibility with a little bit of lustful attraction thrown in. What we have in this book is a very independent young woman who knows her own mind and isn't afraid to speak it thrown into a situation with a wussy Duke who can't or won't stand up for himself or his people. Blech. There is some minor character development throughout the book, but it didn't stop me from wanting to shake Bella out of her stubborn, too secure with herself pigheadedness and kick the Duke off his royal hiney and force him to do something with his life.
2. Ewwww! Look at the cover! Yeah, yeah, "Don't judge a book by it's cover" and all that but guess what? Sometimes people judge YOU by the cover of the book you're reading. Hello heaving bosoms! Now, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that I've never read a similarly covered romance novel before, because I have. And I liked it. But that isn't what this is! For crying out loud, a chaste kiss is the extent of the "steam" in this fantasy romance. You can be sure that whoever designed this cover (and most covers) didn't read this book. The Bella described within would have been absolutely horrified to see her girls on display.
So there you have it. It was overall an enjoyable read, but I can't help feeling like so much more could be done with this series in which fairy tales are twisted into fun, new reads. I still stand by the first book in the series, however, and highly recommend it to anyone who loves fairy tales, romance, and spunky women who aren't afraid to take what they want from the world.
If you like fairy tales, browse through this list of fairy tale retellings by modern authors!
Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms
The Fairy Godmother
One Good Knight
Fortune's Fool
The Snow Queen
The Sleeping Beauty
Harvest Moon: A Tangled Web (Novella)
Beauty and the Werewolf
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