Legends of Light 1
A Beauty & the Beast Retelling
I need to read the other books that tie into this story, especially the one that sparked the whole curse and prophecy and involves the ancestress of the heroine, Elissa.
Very well done, a new angle on Beauty & the Beast.
Elissa and her orphaned siblings are living life on the edge, tormented by news of approaching war. Plus there are the wolves howling in the distance, constantly. Wolves are especially tormenting for Elissa, because as we learn once we're deep into the story, she has a scar from a wolf attack -- the same attack that killed her parents.
The Beast carries multiple scars, also from wolf attacks. He wears the skins of the wolves that he has killed, without number, for centuries. He calls her Beauty, and she slips up and calls him Beast, because that is what he seems. While he would like to explain the curse and the situation, he can't -- the same curse that traps her in the castle with him has taken his voice. Yeah, it's frustrating, for both of them. The bits and pieces of the story are revealed in his thoughts and writings and the snippets of news she hears about the outside world from the one person who, with no explanation, is able to get through the shield of magic and visit her at the castle.
There is prophecy and betrayal and learning to forgive and to care, and in the end, willing sacrifice. Elissa nearly dies, and is left marked by scars, just like Adrian the Beast, whom she has learned to love. That's not a spoiler, is it? Because this is, after all, Beauty & the Beast retold.
A very satisfying retelling. I really do need to get the other stories, to find out how the rose ties into the curse and betrayal and treason and the King's oath and the sacrifice that the Prince must make someday....
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