Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Disney Press
Pages
215
Description
Presents an adaptation of the classic Beauty and the Beast fairy tale from the perspective of the cursed prince who is transformed from a beloved and jovial ruler into a reclusive and bitter monster in search of true love.
Description
A cursed prince sits alone in a secluded castle.
Few have seen him, but those who claim they have say his hair is wild and nails are sharp—like a beast's! But how did this prince, once jovial and beloved by the people, come to be a reclusive and bitter monster? And is it possible that he can ever find true love and break the curse that has been placed upon him?
A prequel to Beauty and the Beast.
Few have seen him, but those who claim they have say his hair is wild and nails are sharp—like a beast's! But how did this prince, once jovial and beloved by the people, come to be a reclusive and bitter monster? And is it possible that he can ever find true love and break the curse that has been placed upon him?
A prequel to Beauty and the Beast.
Series
Collection
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2014-07-22
Physical description
215 p.; 7.25 inches
ISBN
9781423159124
Similar in this library
Lexile
830L
User reviews
LibraryThing member TaSaBr14
Belle gently placed her fingertips on the thick glass, bringing her face closer to the rose. The case felt cold against her fingers and her breath fogged the vision. Her mouth gaped open, her eyes wide, she observed it, mesmerized.
A low growl came from the depths of one of the curtains that covered
The Prince, looming from behind the heavy cloth, preyed on her from the corner of the room. Why was she in here? Why can’t she listen?
He crawled out from the darkness, squinting at her curiousness. Why was she in here? Why can’t she listen?
He snuck up behind her, anger strangling him. Why was she in here?! Why can’t she listen?!
“GET OUT!”
She turned, shaken from her enchancement. Stumbling back, almost knocking over the rose, she stuttered her apologies. The Prince almost felt bad for her.
Almost.
“I said, GET OUT!”
The room shook from the powerful roar and he saw Belle wince before scurrying off quickly. Usually, the Prince felt glee, satisfaction, when he was able to scare off his prisoners, but now he only felt angst. An ache of, what was it, guilt? It stabbed like pinpricks into his heart and his eyes, large and grotesque from the spell, were overwhelmed and wet.
Why had his heart begun to thaw from the girl who sacrificed her freedom, something she had longed for, to save her weak father?
The Beast Within, written by Serena Valentino, tells the story of a cursed prince and a strange beauty from a not-so-common point of view of the antagonist of a famous story. Fantasy twists with drama to create the backstory of a harsh royal, too blinded by his arrogance to see he truly is a beast.
Atop a large mountain, far beyond the nearest village, sits a castle with a single occupant, a prince. He waits for something, anything to happen in his life to distract him from his broken heart and a curse looming over his head. His loyal servants, long ago turned to household objects, await a girl to love their master.
In a faraway town, a girl, much different from the rest, waits for adventure to come her way. Her father, a washed-up inventor, has just left with his latest science fair entry, trying to prove all in the town wrong, that he was not losing his mind. All the while, the prince’s best friend, buried in hauter, observes his daughter from afar with a desire for the most gorgeous yet peculiar woman to marry him.
Once upon a time, The Prince was in love. He found a beautiful maiden and was betrothed to her, for he could not look past her beauty to look into her heart. Little did he know, she had a dark family, and, when the engagement was broken off, her sisters, wicked and evil, cast a spell on him. This spell was special, and could only be broken by true love, or else he would be an ugly beast for the rest of his lonesome existence. It did not affect him because he knew he could defeat it by finding a woman to love him. The Prince did, but he could not see through his shallow heart to love her back, sending her away and dooming himself once more. One by one, his loyal servants began disappearing and he eventually hid away from all, no longer having any aspirations to find his true love.
His best friend, Gaston, was also under the spell. He could not remember his childhood pal, nor that he was a beast, and his desperation for the strange girl, Belle's, heart eventually drove him to such a jealous rage that when The Prince had allowed himself to open up once again to a girl, Gaston tried to take it away.
The Beast Within, while having a whimsical touch mixed with seriousness, did not have an affect like the author's first book, Fairest of Them All. It's audience, considering the book is angled towards children ages 10-14, did not have the storybook descriptions that a book like this needs. A plot like this deserves more credit, longer backstories, more detail, and this did not cut it. It tended to be quite confusing at some parts, never truly focusing on the relationships between the protagonist and antagonist until the very end. Serena Valentino, try she must, did not make this book relatable or at all enjoyable due to the lack of, no pun intended, magic. Her words, though lengthy and juicy, did not have any relation to one another, making it feel quite choppy at some points. Overall, this book, though it sounds extremely appealing to all of the Disnerds and Disneeks, does not have the enchantment that the original story does. Fairest of Them All is by far the better of the two, and the author's writing has gone down hill from then.
A low growl came from the depths of one of the curtains that covered
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the smudged windows, but Belle was too struck by beauty of a single, magical flower to notice. The Prince, looming from behind the heavy cloth, preyed on her from the corner of the room. Why was she in here? Why can’t she listen?
He crawled out from the darkness, squinting at her curiousness. Why was she in here? Why can’t she listen?
He snuck up behind her, anger strangling him. Why was she in here?! Why can’t she listen?!
“GET OUT!”
She turned, shaken from her enchancement. Stumbling back, almost knocking over the rose, she stuttered her apologies. The Prince almost felt bad for her.
Almost.
“I said, GET OUT!”
The room shook from the powerful roar and he saw Belle wince before scurrying off quickly. Usually, the Prince felt glee, satisfaction, when he was able to scare off his prisoners, but now he only felt angst. An ache of, what was it, guilt? It stabbed like pinpricks into his heart and his eyes, large and grotesque from the spell, were overwhelmed and wet.
Why had his heart begun to thaw from the girl who sacrificed her freedom, something she had longed for, to save her weak father?
The Beast Within, written by Serena Valentino, tells the story of a cursed prince and a strange beauty from a not-so-common point of view of the antagonist of a famous story. Fantasy twists with drama to create the backstory of a harsh royal, too blinded by his arrogance to see he truly is a beast.
Atop a large mountain, far beyond the nearest village, sits a castle with a single occupant, a prince. He waits for something, anything to happen in his life to distract him from his broken heart and a curse looming over his head. His loyal servants, long ago turned to household objects, await a girl to love their master.
In a faraway town, a girl, much different from the rest, waits for adventure to come her way. Her father, a washed-up inventor, has just left with his latest science fair entry, trying to prove all in the town wrong, that he was not losing his mind. All the while, the prince’s best friend, buried in hauter, observes his daughter from afar with a desire for the most gorgeous yet peculiar woman to marry him.
Once upon a time, The Prince was in love. He found a beautiful maiden and was betrothed to her, for he could not look past her beauty to look into her heart. Little did he know, she had a dark family, and, when the engagement was broken off, her sisters, wicked and evil, cast a spell on him. This spell was special, and could only be broken by true love, or else he would be an ugly beast for the rest of his lonesome existence. It did not affect him because he knew he could defeat it by finding a woman to love him. The Prince did, but he could not see through his shallow heart to love her back, sending her away and dooming himself once more. One by one, his loyal servants began disappearing and he eventually hid away from all, no longer having any aspirations to find his true love.
His best friend, Gaston, was also under the spell. He could not remember his childhood pal, nor that he was a beast, and his desperation for the strange girl, Belle's, heart eventually drove him to such a jealous rage that when The Prince had allowed himself to open up once again to a girl, Gaston tried to take it away.
The Beast Within, while having a whimsical touch mixed with seriousness, did not have an affect like the author's first book, Fairest of Them All. It's audience, considering the book is angled towards children ages 10-14, did not have the storybook descriptions that a book like this needs. A plot like this deserves more credit, longer backstories, more detail, and this did not cut it. It tended to be quite confusing at some parts, never truly focusing on the relationships between the protagonist and antagonist until the very end. Serena Valentino, try she must, did not make this book relatable or at all enjoyable due to the lack of, no pun intended, magic. Her words, though lengthy and juicy, did not have any relation to one another, making it feel quite choppy at some points. Overall, this book, though it sounds extremely appealing to all of the Disnerds and Disneeks, does not have the enchantment that the original story does. Fairest of Them All is by far the better of the two, and the author's writing has gone down hill from then.
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LibraryThing member loveofreading
The Beast Within is a YA novel from Serena Valentino, which tells the story of how the Beast's curse, expanding on the timeless Disney story we all know and love. If the story isn't enough to lure bookworms in, the book itself is beautiful--the cover image shown here does not do it justice. I love
As a huge Beauty & the Beast fan, I adored this book. As the story explores the Prince's transformation into the Beast and his transformation back into a human, the content is darker than what you may expect. Bloodlust is a major factor here as the Beast's humanity struggles against his curse. We definitely don't get much of this in the Disney film!
Content-wise, this is a fairly clean read. Parents and educators can expect violence, Gaston's womanizing and drinking, and bloodlust. It is definitely a story for readers who have grown up loving the Disney classic. While I don't think this is for younger readers, there is nothing shocking or disturbing to be concerned about.
Quite simply, if you like Disney's Beauty & the Beast, you should definitely pick up a copy of The Beast Within. It's a beautifully written story that twists and expands on the beloved film. Well-worth the read!
You can also check out Maleficent by Elizabeth Rudnick (and make it a beautiful set on your shelf!)
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having this one on my shelf!As a huge Beauty & the Beast fan, I adored this book. As the story explores the Prince's transformation into the Beast and his transformation back into a human, the content is darker than what you may expect. Bloodlust is a major factor here as the Beast's humanity struggles against his curse. We definitely don't get much of this in the Disney film!
Content-wise, this is a fairly clean read. Parents and educators can expect violence, Gaston's womanizing and drinking, and bloodlust. It is definitely a story for readers who have grown up loving the Disney classic. While I don't think this is for younger readers, there is nothing shocking or disturbing to be concerned about.
Quite simply, if you like Disney's Beauty & the Beast, you should definitely pick up a copy of The Beast Within. It's a beautifully written story that twists and expands on the beloved film. Well-worth the read!
You can also check out Maleficent by Elizabeth Rudnick (and make it a beautiful set on your shelf!)
Show Less
LibraryThing member Sheila1957
This tells the story of Beauty and the Beast from the Beast's POV. He looks back to see how he came to this point of possibly remaining the Beast. I enjoyed hearing his side of the story. There were some surprises but they worked well into the story. This is a fun, easy read. Perfect for every
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Beauty and the Beast fan. Show Less
LibraryThing member MinDea
I'm a huge Beauty and the Beast fan, so I was excited to see this book at B&N. It's the story told from the Beast's point of view and the events that led up to the Prince being turned into the Beast. I thought it was a nice take on the story. Very quick read. The book cover and sleeve are very
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cool. Would recommend if you like Beauty and the Beast! Show Less
LibraryThing member theWallflower
Some people called this the "Grey" (the book from the abusive male's POV in "50 Shades of Grey") of Beauty & the Beast. This is not really true, except for the styling. It's Gothic, overwritten, and changes the canon. It can't even get lines from the movie right. And this is not forgivable for its
You don't find out anything useful or entertaining about the prince or his life from this story. Barely anyone from the castle shows up, missing an opportunity to show why the British Cogsworth is here in France or how the castle conducts business with the town. And the main character doesn't get a name -- he's always "The Prince". He doesn't even act within the theme of the movie -- that one should not judge by exterior appearances, to look beyond what you see. He used to be friends with Gaston, was engaged to another woman but broke it off because he got bored, and the enchantress isn't actually one person but three, like the Weird Sisters. And the primary plot has more to do with the conflict between them than anything to do with Beauty & the Beast.
It doesn't provide explanations for certain trivia -- like that the prince must have been eleven when he was cursed, and his parents were likely deceased. That's the kind of book I look for in those "untold stories" -- filling in the gaps. And I know you can do so, and I know you can do it creatively. I've done it myself. Maybe you can get away with this kind of thing for a character with zero to know backstory (e.g. The Wicked Queen), but not someone like the Beast. This is just capitalizing on nostalgia.
And this book is not a standalone. There seems to be some kind of thread to the other "the villain's story" books from Disney Press, meaning you have to read the series to understand it. This kind of commercialism is the final straw that puts the book in the garbage pile for me.
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primary audience -- people like me who have the movie memorized after seeing it so many times. I may not be able to recite the script from beginning to end, but I know when it's wrong. And I know when the author's being lazy. Christ, just watch the movie again.You don't find out anything useful or entertaining about the prince or his life from this story. Barely anyone from the castle shows up, missing an opportunity to show why the British Cogsworth is here in France or how the castle conducts business with the town. And the main character doesn't get a name -- he's always "The Prince". He doesn't even act within the theme of the movie -- that one should not judge by exterior appearances, to look beyond what you see. He used to be friends with Gaston, was engaged to another woman but broke it off because he got bored, and the enchantress isn't actually one person but three, like the Weird Sisters. And the primary plot has more to do with the conflict between them than anything to do with Beauty & the Beast.
It doesn't provide explanations for certain trivia -- like that the prince must have been eleven when he was cursed, and his parents were likely deceased. That's the kind of book I look for in those "untold stories" -- filling in the gaps. And I know you can do so, and I know you can do it creatively. I've done it myself. Maybe you can get away with this kind of thing for a character with zero to know backstory (e.g. The Wicked Queen), but not someone like the Beast. This is just capitalizing on nostalgia.
And this book is not a standalone. There seems to be some kind of thread to the other "the villain's story" books from Disney Press, meaning you have to read the series to understand it. This kind of commercialism is the final straw that puts the book in the garbage pile for me.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Lucky-Loki
The book's fine, but sadly didn't strike me as anything special. The author's tendency to shoehorn her own narrative in and fudge the established scenes in the films to conform to it are much more obvious and inelegant here than in the first volume, and it detracts from what feels like the main
Anyway, that aside, the story is a bit too fragmented to work properly, especially for people not familiar with the film should such a person for some reason decide to read this (a problem that the first volume didn't have), and the resolution is so external from the protagonist that it feels like deus ex machina even though the author clearly sets it up from the beginning. Considering how much of the story is spent on the Beast's internal struggle, it's indefensible to have the resolution happen literally off-site through magic intervention. The reader should most definitely have been present in his mind for the ending.
There are also some bothersome signs that the author hasn't bothered to research the first thing about how a medieval household functions, with the members of the Beast's staff never being referred to by job title and being vaguely delegated to "in the kitchen" or doing specific tasks when required by the plot. Not to mention the Prince (clearly in the sense of a lord of his own principality in the film) being mentioned as some kind of future king, which clearly makes no sense considering his age and lack of living parents -- the author's simply not aware that such a thing as "prince" being a title in its own right, and struggles to fudge what she perceives as a continuity error (but isn't until she makes it one).
There are, however, many bright spots. The decision to make the Beast so volatile as to secretly be a constant threat to Belle's life is clever, though it gets sadly buried in minutia and never feels sufficiently present for mytastes. The reappearance of the Odd Sisters from the previous book to establish an onging continuity in the background is wonderful and, honestly, the notion of the shared continuity was what made me buy these books in the first place. And the character of Circe worked rather well, humanising the sisters somewhat without removing the necessary cloud of uncertainty as to their abilities and motivations. Based on the first book more than this, I'm still committed to reading the next few volumes in this series, but hopefully, they will be less bland than this one turned out to be.
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draw of a backstory novel. Change offscreen elements and add different motivations and subtext all you want, but don't change the _actual_ scenes, or it's a remake, not a tie-in.Anyway, that aside, the story is a bit too fragmented to work properly, especially for people not familiar with the film should such a person for some reason decide to read this (a problem that the first volume didn't have), and the resolution is so external from the protagonist that it feels like deus ex machina even though the author clearly sets it up from the beginning. Considering how much of the story is spent on the Beast's internal struggle, it's indefensible to have the resolution happen literally off-site through magic intervention. The reader should most definitely have been present in his mind for the ending.
There are also some bothersome signs that the author hasn't bothered to research the first thing about how a medieval household functions, with the members of the Beast's staff never being referred to by job title and being vaguely delegated to "in the kitchen" or doing specific tasks when required by the plot. Not to mention the Prince (clearly in the sense of a lord of his own principality in the film) being mentioned as some kind of future king, which clearly makes no sense considering his age and lack of living parents -- the author's simply not aware that such a thing as "prince" being a title in its own right, and struggles to fudge what she perceives as a continuity error (but isn't until she makes it one).
There are, however, many bright spots. The decision to make the Beast so volatile as to secretly be a constant threat to Belle's life is clever, though it gets sadly buried in minutia and never feels sufficiently present for mytastes. The reappearance of the Odd Sisters from the previous book to establish an onging continuity in the background is wonderful and, honestly, the notion of the shared continuity was what made me buy these books in the first place. And the character of Circe worked rather well, humanising the sisters somewhat without removing the necessary cloud of uncertainty as to their abilities and motivations. Based on the first book more than this, I'm still committed to reading the next few volumes in this series, but hopefully, they will be less bland than this one turned out to be.
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LibraryThing member DJLunchlady91404
I really don't know how I feel about this book. I was intrigued by the idea of it being the story from the beasts point of view but it seemed to be a bit of a let down. I was also not really a fan of the ending it left alot to be desired. I think if were a bit longer and finished off a few of the
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loose ends it might have sat better with me. I can't say I disliked it but it will definitely not be on my top 10 list of the year. Show Less
LibraryThing member Shahnareads
I'm really liking this series. I enjoying getting that little bit of extra info about the characters and history of the curse. Having "the sisters" as a connecting thread to the series is a nice touch. I like the idea of all the stores being part of the same timeline.
LibraryThing member MrNattania72
The Fates Causing Damage in The Enchanted Land
Basically, Snow White's Evil Queen, had s great back story and the introduction to the Fates was neat, The Beast Prince bored me to sleep 4x and Ursala's back story was okay, but Leigh Bardugo offered a much better back story for her reasons of being
Kinda Disappointed
Basically, Snow White's Evil Queen, had s great back story and the introduction to the Fates was neat, The Beast Prince bored me to sleep 4x and Ursala's back story was okay, but Leigh Bardugo offered a much better back story for her reasons of being
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Evil and a witch. Kinda Disappointed
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LibraryThing member briandrewz
An interesting addition to the very familiar story of Beauty and the Beast. In this version, the villain of the story is the Beast. We are treated to some backstory that shows an unlikely friendship between the Beast and another well known character. It also sheds more light on how he came to be
Another good installment in a fun series.
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the terror of the forest.Another good installment in a fun series.
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LibraryThing member Enid007
I simply adore Beauty and Beast it is one of my top favorite fairy tales and getting the opportunity to read this book was exceptional for me, I love reading different points of view and getting the Prince/Beast side of the story was simply awesome.. love love loved this book.
Call number
J4A.Val