Check the Shelf Review: Cruel Beauty

Summary (From Goodreads)

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

Betrayed by her family yet bound to obey, Nyx rails against her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, she abandons everything she’s ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, disarm him, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not 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. But even if she can bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him?

Shannan’s Summary

Nyx has been raised to kill the overlord that oppresses the people of her land.  She marries him without seeing him because of a deal her father made with him in an attempt to save her mother, which didn’t work.  The deals never work.  But that is what drives Nyx, and makes knowing she will die from this mission all the more tolerable.  What she doesn’t know is exactly what will unfold once she is in the house, making her mission more difficult than anyone could have prepared her for.

First Off…

This is one where the cover captivated me first, then I saw a bunch of good reviews on it so I decided to give it a try when I saw it on Overdrive.

Thoughts:

I think I’m really glad I listened to this as an audiobook, because I don’t know if I would have been able to finish it reading it on my own.  The story was well developed, but I think it would have been slow for my taste as far as reading goes.  Listening to it made it the perfect pace because I didn’t have to devote 100% attention to the story.

I thought the story was a great concept, since I’ve always enjoyed Greek myth.  So I liked how it wove together some myth with fairy tales.  And while I guessed a couple things that would happen, some of it I never would have guessed, and found myself worried by the end as to what would happen.

I liked how the book was a little messy.  The characters weren’t purely good or bad, but rather dealt with the good and bad in each of them so that even if you didn’t agree with their actions, you could sympathize with them.

I also liked the way love was addressed in the book.  The question of what makes love real, what makes love exist at all, and what makes a sacrifice a true sacrifice.

I will say though, I had to rewind three times to catch exactly what happens at the end, and even my sister said it took her a bit to understand the ending.  So I think the ending could have been a bit clearer.

The Voice

The characters were also well developed and I think I liked them better because of the way Knowelden read them to life.  All of their voices and personalities came through even more because of the reading, and again, I think that’s why I was able to make it through the audiobook, where as I think I would have given up on reading it myself.

In the End

I liked the story and the reader.  Just not to the level that makes me want to rush out and buy the next one. But I do want to read the next one.

10 Second Summary:

1. Very detailed:  I think the reason this book feels slow at times is that it’s very detailed and a lot of internal dialog.
2. Audiobook is well done:  I liked the voices and dramatization of the story and characters.
3. Mostly unpredictable:  With retellings there’s always some pieces that you can guess right on, but I wasn’t able to guess all of this one.

This one is on the border of Paperback and $5 and under for me.  I really like the cover, so if I found the Hardback for the right price I might splurge because it’s pretty.  But it’s not something I feel compelled to add right away to my shelf, just if I find it while pursuing.