Well…
I hardly know where to begin. I finished this book over 2 weeks ago, and still I’m not sure this review is quite what I mean to say. With that in mind, I’ve enlisted the help of Miss J. Alexander to express my thoughts. Cuz, y’all…
Let’s start with some background. The Claiming of Sleepy Beauty is book one of Anne Rice’s very adult take on the classic fairly tale. You have a kingdom far, far away; a prince comes to the rescue of the enchanted princess and breaks the 100 year old spell, but not with a kiss. Or not with just a kiss.
First, I can say that unlike most reviews I’ve read, I will not slam this book simply because it’s no holds barred, balls to the wall, hardcore erotica. Erotica. Not erotic romance. Shit is real in this book. Don’t come into this expecting Aurora and Phillip. If this isn’t your thing, great. But, it doesn’t warrant a one-star rating because the subject doesn’t appeal to you (or more likely the subject embarrassed you because you liked it too much).
I will say this: nothing and no one will ever make me like the scenes of Beauty’s initial “claiming.”
I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but first-person POV might’ve worked better. As it is, the scenes of the Prince awakening Beauty came off as rape. Feel free to disagree. We can debate it in the comments. But, you don’t get much more non-consensual than cutting off a woman’s (used loosely here, b/c she’s 15) clothes and taking her virginity before she regains consciousness. I suppose that’s just how things are done in this universe. It’s expected, as it probably was with Alexi’s punishments told later in the book. Probably says more about my expectations than Rice’s writing. Anyway, for a while those scenes colored the entire book for me, and it took me a while to really start appreciating what I hope Rice was attempting.
Moving on…
Beauty is awakened. The spell is broken, and the Prince takes his completely naked prize — on foot — back to his land of kinky fuckery, where we learn they are in the business of BDSM. This leads me to one of the things I really liked about the book: all of their slaves are royalty. Your power means jack shit when you’re in service here. Here you will be humiliated, used, punished, pleasured, beaten, and treated worse than the lowliest servant, but you will love it all. Eventually. And really, some of those punishments were totally all right with me. Sign me up!
That freedom and pleasure in the total submission asked of the slaves is what I believe is Rice’s goal in writing this tale. This is the fantasy: that deep down, we all want this, if societal expectations weren’t what they are/were. Well, at least it’s her fantasy. Not sure how well this idea was conveyed in this book, though. Rice herself addresses this issue in the preface, saying she wishes she had spent more time exploring the characters’ pleasure in what was happening.
I totally get that. There were moments that made me extremely uncomfortable, because the characters didn’t seem to be enjoying their training. Again, maybe a bit of first-person wouldn’t hurt here. I can’t believe I’ve said that twice in one review… On the other hand, there were moments that made me uncomfortable because I enjoyed the hell out of reading about it, and I had to question myself…
There were also portions that seemed to drag, such as Prince Alexi’s tale. Just went on too long. This book is supposed to be about Beauty’s awakening, right? I know its purpose, but really, I got the point well before he stopped talking.
Lastly, I’d say I hate the cliffhanger at the end, especially since I’m not inclined to finish the trilogy anytime soon, but I loved that Beauty made a conscious choice to explore something potentially darker than anything she had experienced thus far. In this, Beauty is claiming her own sexual awakening. I’m just not sure it made sense at that point in the story, considering she was so intent on staying with Alexi or getting back to her Prince.
Overall, my feelings are mixed about this book. Not much else I can say about it, but I would love to hear what others think. Do share.
Around the World in 80 Books 
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