Beauty by Sheri Tepper review

Here is a re-imagined tale of the Sleeping Beauty. Duke of Westfaire's daughter in fourteenth-century England, Beauty does not succumb to the curse placed on her at her christening but instead finds herself leaving her home - and her time - behind soon after all the rest of Westfaire falls to deep slumber. The reader is in for a fascinating ride involving time travel, imagined worlds, Sidhe and the roots of some classic fairytales, with some romance and tragedy thrown in to boot. The novel is written as a first-person narrative, with tenses changing rather frequently from past to present and back again. That sounds annoying but here, it actually works once you get used to the flow.

There is a distinct moralising tone which emerges every so often - which, taking into account the book's message, is not surprising. It merely begins to chafe slightly after a time. Furthermore, I don't quite agree with the view presented regarding the horror genre. I shall say no more lest I give away spoilers.

I bought Beauty for two euros from a friend who was giving away some of her books to make room on her shelves. My expectations were neither especially high nor especially low, but based on the back cover synopsis the plot seemed like it could be worthwhile.

I was not wrong. For me, this was one of those novels you simply cannot stop reading before you have to.

Oh, prepare to have a dictionary at hand when you read this. There were quite a few 'big' words and even some that I did not recognise.


/ [Linderel]

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