Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey
Nov. 14th, 2011 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreLike other books in the "Once Upon A Time" line from Simon Pulse that I've read, Beauty Sleep is a book that has potential that it doesn't quite live up to, but a different take on a popular tale. And a heavy handed "look how clever and self-aware I am" narrative voice that thankfully stops being so heavyhanded after a bit.
The blurb of this Sleeping Beauty adaptation claims that it's about the princess-Aurore-looking for a way to break her curse. While that is an element, it takes place later on. Instead, the book largely focuses on the affect the curse has on the economy and political climate of the kingdom for the first 2/3s. I'm not sure I've encountered a version before that was all "hey, the heir to the throne is cursed to spend a hundred years in a coma once she turns 16...do you really think all the nobles and politicians aren't going to schemeschemescheme in every way they possibly can?" The last 3rd is the adventure part, and less interesting, though it does deal with "wait, WHY IS EVERYTHING SO DIFFERENT WHAT IS GOING ON?" a lot. The book also has a completely unconventional take on Prince Charming, and the resolution, romantic and otherwise doesn't remotely have Aurore being rescued.
I keep thinking I should love it, yet it never quite clicked for me. I don't think Aurore really had a strong voice, which I blame less on the character (who I liked) and more on the narrative enjoying it's uniqueness and cleverness more than it was really utilizing the less conventional aspects of the plot. (I also suspect I shouldn't have started reading it less than a week after reading The Snow Queen's Shadow as Hines has what is probably the best take on "Sleeping Beauty" that I've encountered, and without glossing over, avoiding, or romanticizing aspects of the original.) I also disliked how Aurore was really the only female character portrayed positively. Except, really, the others weren't negative as much as mostly barely there exept for her mother, who was written as holding her back, I thought, and far less important than Aurore's father, who was the one who supported her, and was far more prominent. (This is why, despite agreeing with most criticisms of it, I'll always be fond of Disney's Sleeping Beauty and at least somewhat compare others to it, because despite what other faults it may have, that thing has tons of women and women having relationships and the fairy godmothers/aunts have more to do with saving her than the prince.) It's still a pretty decent read though, and worth checking out if you like this stuff.
(Though, TBH, I think most versions of Sleeping Beauty are more likely to try interesting things than a lot of other fairy tales that get adapted? Probably because most people are at least somewhat aware of the problems in the original, even after it's been Disney-fied.)
The blurb of this Sleeping Beauty adaptation claims that it's about the princess-Aurore-looking for a way to break her curse. While that is an element, it takes place later on. Instead, the book largely focuses on the affect the curse has on the economy and political climate of the kingdom for the first 2/3s. I'm not sure I've encountered a version before that was all "hey, the heir to the throne is cursed to spend a hundred years in a coma once she turns 16...do you really think all the nobles and politicians aren't going to schemeschemescheme in every way they possibly can?" The last 3rd is the adventure part, and less interesting, though it does deal with "wait, WHY IS EVERYTHING SO DIFFERENT WHAT IS GOING ON?" a lot. The book also has a completely unconventional take on Prince Charming, and the resolution, romantic and otherwise doesn't remotely have Aurore being rescued.
I keep thinking I should love it, yet it never quite clicked for me. I don't think Aurore really had a strong voice, which I blame less on the character (who I liked) and more on the narrative enjoying it's uniqueness and cleverness more than it was really utilizing the less conventional aspects of the plot. (I also suspect I shouldn't have started reading it less than a week after reading The Snow Queen's Shadow as Hines has what is probably the best take on "Sleeping Beauty" that I've encountered, and without glossing over, avoiding, or romanticizing aspects of the original.) I also disliked how Aurore was really the only female character portrayed positively. Except, really, the others weren't negative as much as mostly barely there exept for her mother, who was written as holding her back, I thought, and far less important than Aurore's father, who was the one who supported her, and was far more prominent. (This is why, despite agreeing with most criticisms of it, I'll always be fond of Disney's Sleeping Beauty and at least somewhat compare others to it, because despite what other faults it may have, that thing has tons of women and women having relationships and the fairy godmothers/aunts have more to do with saving her than the prince.) It's still a pretty decent read though, and worth checking out if you like this stuff.
(Though, TBH, I think most versions of Sleeping Beauty are more likely to try interesting things than a lot of other fairy tales that get adapted? Probably because most people are at least somewhat aware of the problems in the original, even after it's been Disney-fied.)