Beastly By Alex Flinn (3/5)

I read this book rather quickly, whilst on holiday, which to me classifies it as an 'easy read'. I am in two minds about it however. I am an eternal fan of Beauty & The Beast, and yes I'm referring to the Disney film. I was raised on it, my entire morality was pretty much shaped as a result of this film, so I was quite curious how this modern adaptation would fare. I was especially tempted by the fact that it was from The Beast's point of view. The book started out with Kyle, who was simply an arse. He was extremely realistic in this way, his bullying was quite subtle and cruel, his self confidence a result of a lifetime of being treated as if he was elite. His character was three dimensional in this way and it made him seem more than your typical 'bully', especially in a book set in a high school environment. The loss of his looks, his 'friends', his girlfriend, his status all made his character develop in a way that was entertaining to read, and the plot continued at a nice pace, it didn't seem to drag at any point. For me the greatest turning point in his personality was when he realised that the people who were working for him, and who his previous self would have sneered at, were actually the closest friends he had ever had. The relationship between him and his live in staff was, to me, rather sweet and endearing. I can't really fault the development of his character in this area, and my only criticism was that the two years went by too fast, and I would have enjoyed to experience more of his life during this time. I feel like the successful development of Kyle's personality and his relationship with his new friends carried the novel for me, as I found other sections a little unrealistic or unexplained.

The one problem I did have with this novel was that the love story felt a little forced. I did like that it felt forced from Kyle/ Adrian's side, since he is aware that he only has a very slim chance of breaking the curse and would throw his whole self in no matter who was on the other side. Linda however, I found a little 'meh'. She did nothing for me, she had very little personality, and what she did have was general and uneventful. I think the story lacked her point of view, we have no idea why she decided to fall for 'Adrian', except for the fact that she is deep enough to look beyond appearances. To me love is a lot more complicated than that, and a number of factors result in someone falling in love, I think I would have liked to have seen some of those factors in this story. I would have liked Linda to have been more three dimensional, to maybe have more of an attitude when she is imprisoned against her will. She just seemed to be an after thought of a character. I also didn't enjoy the fact that during her separation from Adrian the explanation for her lack of contact was losing an address and being unable to find him. This seemed like a little bit simple for me, and I didn't like the damsel in distress aspect to her character either. The one part of her story I did enjoy was her relationship with her father. Having him give her away as an attempt to escape a jail sentence and continue to use drugs was a very smart idea of the author. It was a realistic way to write a type of parent who would willingly sacrifice their child. Using the justification of a drug addict was a clever method, in my opinion. Another part of the story I was dissatisfied with was the character of Kendra, I found her to lack depth and some parts of her personality were entirely unexplored. On top of that at times she seemed to stretch almost to the point of becoming a cliché. I enjoyed her at the beginning of the book but towards the end she became more unrealistic and a little dull.

In general I enjoyed the book, but only because the development of the main character was enough to compensate for the flaws found elsewhere. I enjoyed sharing Kyle's story and it was a good job that this part was written so well, or else I may have lost interest.