Cayla Reads: Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Title: Cruel Beauty
Release Date: January 28th 2014
Genre: romance, young adult, fantasy, retelling
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Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

I gave this book a try and the first time, I was confused on what the hell was going on. There was so much information dumped on me in the first quarter of the book and nothing made any sense and I thought the writing was overdone so I just dropped it and moved on with life.

So I signed up for a buddy read on Goodreads and my buddy wanted to read this book and I was a bit hesitant since I remembered the first time I tried and didn't go well but I agreed to read it with her and I'm so glad I did give it a second chance because this book became something I did not expect.

“Where you go, I shall go; where you die, I shall die, and there will I be buried.”

Let's talk about the writing first since that was the biggest issue for me the first time I read this. After finishing this book, I've come to the conclusion that I both hated and loved the writing. The writing is beautiful and Hodge made everything so detailed and perfect but sometimes the writing could be so overdone. There's so much information dumped on me and sometimes I have to reread what I didn't understand so I could get a good grasp on what was going on. Besides that, the Hodge's writing made the atmosphere of the book dark and beautiful which made me loved it so much.

What I also liked best were the characters. I like how no one in this book was good. Maybe they had good intentions but it didn't exactly make them a good character. I like those kinds of books where not everyone is perfect and has some kind of flaw. I loved Nyx. She was so strong, angry, and determined. Her emotions makes her a bit impulsive and her resentment towards her sister and her family makes her so real. I would hate my family to if I was going to spend most of my life preparing to kill a demon lord then marrying him when I'm seventeen.

"Why is he scared of the dark?"

I meant the words for a joke, but Shade nodded seriously. "Like all monsters. Because it reminds him of what he truly is"

Without Ignifex, this book would not have been enjoyable, The raillery between Ignifex and Nyx was so fun and entertaining. I like how no matter how twisted and wicked Nyx can be, Ignifex still found her oddly attractive and amusing. The romance in this was a bit rushed but can be easily overlooked. There is a love triangle and a very unneeded one since it did no purpose in the book.

If it wasn't for Ignifix and the demons in his book, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it this much. What the demons do and did to people were horrid yet interesting to learn and see.

The only thing that annoyed me so much was the ending. I had absolutely no idea what the hell was happening. So much stuff was happening and this happens and that happens and I'm just here still trying to catch up to Nyx of what was going on. It's like she gets the stuff of what's going on but it's not explained enough for us readers (or me) to know too. I maybe think I know what's happened and what went down but at the end everyone does have a happy ending.