Beauty

by Robin McKinley

There are plenty of retellings of fairy tales, Beauty and the Beast not being the least of these. Robin McKinley has two versions of this fairy tale, and while ROSE DAUGHTER has its merits, my favorite retelling is BEAUTY. One of the reasons why this book is so good is that it takes what you know and love about the story and adds life to the characters. Not only do you grow attached to Beauty and the beast, but you also develop a connection to the other members of Beauty's family.

The character Beauty is a feminine character that is strong and was someone I could relate to when I first read the book as a teenager. She is the daughter of a shipwright who loses everything in one go. Forced to sell everything they own in the city, Beauty, her two sisters, and her father head into the country hoping to find a new place for them to live. Beauty is the youngest of the three and does the majority of the rough work. One of her father's ships makes it back to port and he heads back to the city. On his journey home he is caught in a snowstorm and there meets the beast and the story goes on from there.

BEAUTY is a story that takes a well known story and flushes it out. The characters are well developed and it is just a story that anyone who enjoys fairy tales will love. And if you want a completely different take on it, ROSE DAUGHTER offers an even more unique take of the well known story.