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Beastly by Alex Flinn
Dec. 28th, 2011 10:37 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
I am a beast.
A beast. Not quite wolf or gorilla or dog, but a horrible new creature with fangs, claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a walking monster.
You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. And I’ll stay this way forever – unless I can break the spell.
Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, the perfect girl, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly … beastly.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Alex Flinn’s modern recasting of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST was ultimately too saccharine an affair for me and I never felt that Flinn reconciled the modern day New York setting with the old-fashioned fairy tale feel. As a result, there isn’t enough grit in there to offset the sweetness and I never really saw Kyle as anything more than a plot cypher while Lindy slots into the worrying trend of passive female characters who allow creepy things to happen to them without fighting back. If you’re a fan of fairy-tale retellings, you may like this but I was hoping for something a little bit more.
A beast. Not quite wolf or gorilla or dog, but a horrible new creature with fangs, claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a walking monster.
You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. And I’ll stay this way forever – unless I can break the spell.
Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, the perfect girl, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly … beastly.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Alex Flinn’s modern recasting of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST was ultimately too saccharine an affair for me and I never felt that Flinn reconciled the modern day New York setting with the old-fashioned fairy tale feel. As a result, there isn’t enough grit in there to offset the sweetness and I never really saw Kyle as anything more than a plot cypher while Lindy slots into the worrying trend of passive female characters who allow creepy things to happen to them without fighting back. If you’re a fan of fairy-tale retellings, you may like this but I was hoping for something a little bit more.
