Content levels
Hero archetypes
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Themes
Synopsis
In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret... In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds. Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe. As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.
Is Of Beast and Beauty appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 14 and up.
This Beauty and the Beast retelling features a blind princess destined for sacrifice and a mutant 'beast' fighting for his people's survival. Contains themes of prejudice, class division, and human sacrifice, with moderate violence and a slow-burn romance that includes kissing.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, mild sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include captivity, death, and ableism (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
Teens will be drawn to this fresh fairy tale twist with a forbidden romance between a princess and a beast, where love challenges prejudice and destiny.