Review: THE BELLES
/28 Comments/by SuzanneSeries: The Belles #1
Published by Disney-Hyperion on February 6, 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 440
Source: Library
Amazon
Goodreads
MY REVIEW:
Dhonielle Clayton’s gorgeous novel The Belles immersed me in one of the most unique fantasy worlds I’ve encountered in a long time. I was captivated from the novel’s early pages as we are introduced to the legend of a curse that hangs over the heads of the people of Orleans. The land of Orleans itself is exquisite, but its residents live under a terrible curse that causes them all to be born gray with red eyes. Because of their cursed appearance, they think of themselves as anything but beautiful and, in fact, become downright obsessed with doing whatever they can to improve their appearance.
The curse is where the Belles come into play. The Belles control beauty and have the ability, through magical gifts called arcana, to transform the gray-skinned, red-eyed citizens of Orleans into the most beautiful people in the world. They can change skin tones, hair color and texture, eye color, and can even use their magic to sculpt bodies as though they were plastic surgeons. Beauty is therefore a big deal in Orleans and the Belles are cherished by the citizens because of what they can do for them. Whatever look they wish to have, the Belles can make it happen for them. Well, for those who can afford it anyway. Beauty is quite literally a big business in Orleans and appointments with the Belles do not come cheap.
This life of making others beautiful is all the Belles know. It’s what they were born to do and as we see with Camellia, the main character, and her Belle sisters, initially they’re happy to do it because they think they’re doing a public service…until they realize all that it entails. Once selected to work either at the royal palace or at one of the selective teahouses and effectively removed from the public’s eye, all of that cherished behavior goes away and the Belles are treated little better than prisoners or slaves. They work long hard hours, until they’re practically collapsing from exhaustion and overuse of their powers, and those in charge don’t care as long as the money keeps rolling in and the customers keep lining up.
Camellia is especially disappointed because she expects to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become ‘The Favorite’ and work in the royal palace, but once she finally gets there, she realizes that being ‘The Favorite’ isn’t nearly as wonderful as she thought it would be. In fact, it’s downright awful as she encounters nothing but deceit, dark secrets, betrayals, and just so much ugliness in general. She finds herself at the mercy of Sophia, a particularly sadistic princess who constantly commands Camellia to use her arcana for revenge, to make people she doesn’t like ugly. Camellia is horrified by just how cruel and twisted Sophia is and becomes even more horrified when she realizes Sophia is in line to become Queen unless her ailing older sister can be cured of the mystery illness that has left her in a coma for years. The Queen, who is also ailing but is desperate to keep Sophia off the throne, begs Camellia for her help.
Even though it’s never been done before, can Camellia somehow use her arcana to heal the eldest royal daughter? The future of Orleans rests on her shoulders and Camellia must decide if she’s willing to take a risk that could cost her her own life…
Camellia. I found Camellia to be a compelling main character. She’s not perfect by any means, as we witness early in the book when she throws a near tantrum over the choosing of ‘The Favorite’, but she shows tremendous growth and compassion throughout the book, especially when she realizes the truth about The Belles and how they are treated, as well as once she sees firsthand just how sadistic and cruel Princess Sophia can be to those around her. I immediately began cheering Camellia on and hoping she would find a way to rebel against the evil Sophia.
Speaking of Sophia, if you’re into characters you love to hate, Sophia is definitely your girl. There is truly nothing redeeming about her personality that I could find. I cringed every time I turned the page and her name was there because I just knew she was there to inflict her cruelty on yet another innocent person who had done nothing to her. She may be exquisitely beautiful on the outside, thanks to the work of the Belles, but she is rotten to the core ugly on the inside.
The Worldbuilding and Magic System. I found everything about this world to be utterly captivating. Orleans itself is opulent and beautiful, and I loved the author’s attention to detail as she described it. Even more fascinating though was the actual legend that the book opens with, which explains how the curse came to be and how the Belles were then created to offset the curse. It was all just so inventive and the magical system of arcana and how they could be used to create beauty was mesmerizing. The author’s attention to detail as she described the process was truly exquisite and just so easy to visualize.
Beauty as a Veneer. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect going into The Belles, but it really struck me how much ugliness the author exposes in this beauty-obsessed world. It was a much darker read than I was expecting and I appreciated the added depth as Clayton rips that surface layer of beauty off and exposes what lies beneath, and in the case of the palace and the teahouses, it’s lies, betrayals, greed, unspeakable cruelty, and so much more.
The only real issue I had with The Belles had to do with pacing. Once I saw a few demonstrations of what the Belles could do with their arcana to transform and sculpt peoples’ bodies, I felt like I had a pretty good idea of what their powers entailed. Unfortunately though, the book doesn’t stop at just one or two beauty transformations. I understood that Camellia’s position required her to have regularly scheduled appointments throughout the day to make people beautiful, and even though I initially loved reading about how the process worked, there were just so many detailed, step-by-step accounts of these appointments that I started to get a little bored and skimmed through them to get to the more exciting parts.
The obsession with beauty brings out a lot of ugliness in people and The Belles powerfully explores and exposes this ugliness. The first book ends with a pretty big cliffhanger so I look forward to reading the second book in the series to see how that turns out. Is rebellion on the horizon for Camellia and the Belles?
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orléans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orléans, the people are born gray, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful.
But it’s not enough for Camellia to be just a Belle. She wants to be the favorite—the Belle chosen by the Queen of Orléans to live in the royal palace, to tend to the royal family and their court, to be recognized as the most talented Belle in the land. But once Camellia and her Belle sisters arrive at court, it becomes clear that being the favorite is not everything she always dreamed it would be. Behind the gilded palace walls live dark secrets, and Camellia soon learns that the very essence of her existence is a lie—that her powers are far greater, and could be more dangerous, than she ever imagined. And when the queen asks Camellia to risk her own life and help the ailing princess by using Belle powers in unintended ways, Camellia now faces an impossible decision.
With the future of Orléans and its people at stake, Camellia must decide—save herself and her sisters and the way of the Belles—or resuscitate the princess, risk her own life, and change the ways of her world forever.
About Dhonielle Clayton
Dhonielle Clayton is the co-author of the Tiny Pretty Things series. She grew up in the Washington, DC suburbs on the Maryland side and spent most of her time under her grandmother’s table with a stack of books. A former teacher and middle school librarian, Dhonielle is co-founder of CAKE Literary—a creative development company whipping up decidedly diverse books for a wide array of readers—and COO of the non-profit, We Need Diverse Books. She’s got a serious travel bug and loves spending time outside of the USA, but makes her home in New York City, where she can most likely be found hunting for the best slice of pizza.
Weekly Recap #47: Week of 4/1 – 4/7
/34 Comments/by Suzanne
It’s time for another weekly recap post of all things happening on and off the blog. This week I’ll be linking to the Sunday Post, which is hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and to Stacking the Shelves, which is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews.
Another quick write up for me today because I have reviews to write or else I won’t have any posts going up this week, lol. Thank goodness I’m entering my last 6-day work week of the year! I’ve decided I’m just too old to work that many days in a row.
Aside from work, not too much else happened, nothing that I can remember anyway. I did celebrate my 2-year blogoversary though and am hosting a giveaway for a free book from The Book Depository. It ends tonight so make sure to enter if you haven’t already. There’s a link on the front page of my site.
I forgot to mention it in last week’s wrap up, but I did complete the Take Control of Your TBR Challenge in March. I managed to get 10 pre-March 1 books off of my TBR, which I was very happy about. The Belles, which I’m reviewing tomorrow on the blog, is the final book that I read for that challenge, so once that review posts, I’ll be back to reviewing the ARCs that I have coming up. I apparently went request happy again on Netgalley because I have a bunch of April/May ARCs to get through. I don’t think I’ll be touching my backlist again until June. Oops!
I think that’s it for me for now. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!
WHAT I POSTED LAST WEEK
- [1 Apr] Weekly Recap #46: Week of 3/25 – 3/31
- [2 Apr] The Room on Rue Amélie by Kristin Harmel ★★★½
- [3 Apr] Top Ten Tuesday – Ten Characters I Hate in Books That I Love
- [4 Apr] Can’t Wait Wednesday – Spotlight on WHAT IF IT’S US by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera
- [5 Apr] Dark Matter by Blake Crouch ★★★★★
- [5 Apr] The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn ★★★★
WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK
UPCOMING REVIEWS
STACKING THE SHELVES
TOTALLY RANDOM
Backlist Briefs – Mini Reviews for DARK MATTER and THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW
/30 Comments/by SuzanneAlso by this author: Recursion
Published by Crown on July 26th 2016
Genres: Science Fiction, Thriller
Pages: 342
Source: Purchased
Amazon
Goodreads
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
“Are you happy with your life?”
Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.
Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.
Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”
In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.
Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.
From the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy, Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human—a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.
Review:
Dark Matter is a fast-paced sci-fi novel that, at its essence, explores how far a man will go to get back to his loved ones. It follows Jason, a man who has a pretty decent life. He’s got a wife who loves him, a great teenage son, and a job as a science professor at a local university in Chicago. One night Jason goes out to buy ice cream and his entire world turns upside down. He is abducted at gunpoint, drugged, and wakes up in a world that he doesn’t recognize. It’s still Chicago, but it’s not his Chicago. In the version of Chicago Jason wakes up in, not only does he not have a wife and child, but he’s also an award-winning physicist who has been working on and apparently testing a way to travel in the multiverse. His theory is similar to time travel, except that instead of actually traveling through time, you can travel to an unlimited number of parallel universes, each of which were created at key moments in one’s life when choices had to be made. Jason quickly realizes that someone has used his invention to steal his life and deposit him here in this alternate version of his world and begins a desperate race to find his way back home to his family.
I loved pretty much everything about this book. I thought the premise was unique and I thought the author did a brilliant job of incorporating many complex scientific ideas like string theory, while still making the storyline entirely accessible to even a reader who isn’t into science or science fiction. I thought the pacing of the book was fantastic as well. It was an incredibly suspenseful read and the pacing never lagged. It actually just got faster and faster until it reached a breakneck pace each time Jason tried and failed to find his way back home.
It was definitely a plot-driven read, although I thought it also posed some very deep philosophical questions, the main one being how far would you go to be reunited with your loved ones…Would you kill someone if it meant you could have your family and your life back?
I’m probably the last person on the planet to read this book, but if you’re looking for a wild ride that will keep you turning pages way past your bedtime, Dark Matter will not disappoint! 5 STARS
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
Published by William Morrow on January 2nd 2018
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 427
Source: Purchased
Amazon
Goodreads
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.
Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare.
What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.
Review:
The Woman in the Window is a riveting psychological thriller that follows main character Anna Fox, a child psychologist who has been forced to retire because she was recently diagnosed with agoraphobia and is afraid to leave her home. Because her whole world is now confined to her house, Anna has minimal contact with actual people. She has standing appointments with her psychiatrist and a physical therapist, who are willing to make house calls, but aside from that, Anna spends much of her time online playing chess, taking French lessons, and taking part in an online agoraphobia forum where she, ironically, counsels others who are suffering from her condition and helps them move forward with their lives even though she has been trapped in her home for 10 months now. When she’s not online, Anna spends the rest of her time either drinking wine, popping prescription pills, or standing at her window with her camera observing her neighbors. She knows all of the comings and goings of her neighbors, and takes a special interest in the new neighbors that move in across the street. When she accidentally witnesses what appears to be a crime one night while staring at their house and no one believes her when she tries to report it, it turns her entire world upside down to the point where she doesn’t know what is real and what isn’t anymore. Did she imagine it? Is there danger across the street?
One of the mysteries of the book that I found most compelling was that there are hints that Anna has suffered some kind of horrific trauma that has led to her agoraphobia, but we must follow the clues throughout the story to get to the truth about what has happened to her. I actually guessed this plot twist fairly early on, which on the one hand, was a little disappointing, but on the other hand, it also made me feel tremendous empathy for Anna, which I might otherwise not have felt. This also helped me to better accept why she is such an unreliable character and it made me very invested in wanting to see her get better.
The story of what happened to Anna, coupled with getting to the bottom of what actually happened across the street, made for such a gripping read. I literally could not put this book down. At one point, I even had my Kindle propped up next to the stove while I was cooking so that I could sneak in a few more pages. It’s always such a treat to find a book that grabs my attention like that, so with that said, if you’re looking for a suspenseful and twisted thrill ride that will have you questioning what is real vs. what is imagined, I’d highly recommend The Woman in the Window. 4 STARS
About A.J. Finn
A.J. Finn has written for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the Times Literary Supplement (UK). A native of New York, Finn lived in England for ten years before returning to New York City.
About Blake Crouch
Blake Crouch is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of the novel, Dark Matter, for which he is writing the screenplay for Sony Pictures. His international-bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy was adapted into a television series for FOX, executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, that was Summer 2015’s #1 show. With Chad Hodge, Crouch also created Good Behavior, the TNT television show starring Michelle Dockery based on his Letty Dobesh novellas. He has written more than a dozen novels that have been translated into over thirty languages and his short fiction has appeared in numerous publications including Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Crouch lives in Colorado.
The best way to stay apprised of new releases is to follow him on Facebook and Twitter.