Beauty's Release (1985)

It's a bad job of writing erotica when, while parsing through assorted emotional meanderings, angsty moments, and kink sex, one notices continuity errors. ( )

Excellent. Will definitely read again. Soon ( )

The first two Sleeping Beauty books were amazing! I can't wait to see how the story ends! ( )

It's nice to have finally completed this trilogy. As imaginative as they are, you really do have to brace yourself when reading these books. Since erotica is much more important than the plot in this trilogy, I'll divulge a little on this final book.

The Queen sends a rescue squad to recapture Beauty and her fellow slaves Tristan and Laurent, but not before Laurent secretly teaches the Sultan's steward Lexius what it feels like to be a slave... which, of course, Lexius very much enjoys and finally succumbs to. Tristan and Laurent are punished for a year as ponies in the stable while Beauty is sent back to her land, being reluctantly relieved of her enslavement.

I won't go into how the story ends, but it does end rather perfectly for such a twisted little series of books. So, you do walk away from the series feeling good about how things turned out.

If you're into S&M erotica, this is certainly a series to add to your collection. However, if you're a "completionist" like me and are looking to read each and every book Anne Rice has written... you may want to weave other books into your reading routine when working through these.

A lot more of this story is told from the perspective of another slave, Prince Laurent, than Beauty's. Beauty's adventures are rather tame in comparison to Laurent's while they (Beauty, Tristan, Laurent, and a couple others) are kidnapped and held captive in the palace of an Arab sultan. Laurent manages to master one of the sultan's closest advisers, and in so doing become the most dynamic character and the hero of the piece. Fans of the trilogy will rejoice in the ending which promises Beauty's forever-after happiness, but those more squeamish about male on male sexual action will not be pleased with this volume. Personally, I thought it was an above average piece of erotica and mourn Rice's recent conversion to religion which almost guarantees she will not return to writing in this genre. ( )