Cat Hellisen

What if a fairy tale curse didn't come with the guarantee of a fairy tale love? What if falling out of love meant the curse resumed? And what if you knew that someday the same would happen to you?

Such is the premise of Cat Hellisen's Beastkeeper, a book that gathers together fairy tale themes of love and revenge, courage and grief, and in beautiful, effortlessly poetic prose, brings them into our modern realm of broken promises, fickle parents, and fleeting first loves. The result is moving show more and unexpectedly healing: those fairy tale themes prove powerful even, and perhaps especially, amid the cutting shards we find so often in real life.

Beastkeeper is written for middle grade and young adult readers, but like many a Robin McKinley retelling or Lloyd Alexander adventure or Frances Hodgson Burnett classic, there is much here for adult readers to discover. show less

For such a slim and unassuming volume, this book farexceeds expectations. Hellison's prose is light, but intricate, and perfectly captures the turning point between her protagonist's innocent youth and magic-filled future. The story starts out simply enough with a family devolving into chaos, but instead of turning the book into an expected tale of familial redemption (though there are aspects of this) or devolving into teenaged angst/darkness (though there is plenty of risky if not risqué show more behaviour) she manages to keep the prose simple enough that the story feels like an ageless fairytale, but complex enough that there are distinct echoes of modern faerie-masters such as Gaiman, Black, and Link. Very well done; I'm very much looking forward to more from Hellison. show less

Lovely prose for some dark and weird fantasy short stories set in Africa, and mostly featuring teenagers, growing up, discovering love etc, but very much not YA. A couple are set in the same universe (as one of the author's novels which, based on this, I am interested in reading). Sisters jealous of their twin finding love away from the home occur a couple of times, as do twists on more traditional folk tales, keeping the high body count that such stories involve. Shapechangers and the ocean show more (hence selkie style) dominate across most of the stories somewhere, but again usually in a manner different from that you might expect. All the stories are somewhat disturbing on different levels, sometimes immediately creepy, others just twist your perceptions of character - a technically skilled feat within the confines of a short story.

All were engaging, and whilst it's hard to fully engage with complex worlds within a short story, I feel that the author's talents may lie more in the novel length to introduce and explore the complexities of her imagination.

Enjoyed. show less

With today making me feel like my life is spiraling out of control, I decided to take a break from my more serious reads and indulge myself in something a little more laid back. My go-to for a pick-me-up is generally some sort of fairy tale. I have had this beauty sitting on my shelf for a while. This was one of Mckays .50 cents finds. Quite frankly, this book was intended for middle to early high schoolers, but the price was right, the cover is gorgeous and the overview sounded stellar. I show more couldn't pass it up, an I'm so glad that I didn't. Cause this book was just what the doctor ordered on a day like today..

for as long as she can remember Sarah and her parents have always lived their lives on the go. Constantly moving from place to place, Sarah has never had any real friends or lived in one place long enough to feel at home. Although lonely, she finds comfort and fulfillment through the love of her parents. But all of that changes one winter night as Sarah's world comes crashing down, and for no apparent reason her mother abandons them. Her father, unable to cope, leaves Sarah to fend for herself. Then unexpectedly, his normal persona begins to change into something otherworldly and inhuman. Leaving him to decided that he can no longer give Sarah the care that she needs, so he whisks her away to live with grandparents that she did not even know existed.

There is something strange about Sarah's nana. For starters she lives in a castle in the woods, she keeps a beast in her shed and unexplained, magical occurrences tend to happen around her. Sarah knows something is off, and she is determined to get some answers. But the answers she gets may have been better left in the forest... Buried deep in the wild woods Sarah uncovers the secrets of her family's history and begins to discover that the mysteries of her families past will forever seal her fate in the future. The only hope lies in Sarah and her ability to end a tangled web of curses placed on her bloodline.. but with time running out will Sarah find herself caught in the crossfire...leaving her to forever be a beastkeeper or worse.... a beast..

Magic. That's the word that comes to mind when trying to describe this book. Normally I tend to go for a much darker, more adult twist on a retelling, but with Beastkeeper I was completely taken back to much more simplistic time and left with such full and nostalgic feeling. A feeling of fulfillment that I have been craving from a book for quite some time now.

I loved the unique and totally original twist that Miss Hellisen was able to bring on such a classic tale. Beauty and The Beast is without a doubt, one of my all time favorite fairy tales. And for me I don't feel that you can do much better that the original. But with this story the twist is so tastefully and originally done, that it only fuels my love for the classic tale. This book was deep rooted in fantasy, and full of creative twists.

As far as Character and story development goes, I feel that the author does a phenomenal job. Her characters were not only lovable and easy to connect with, they were also fully developed. The story line progressed quickly, but not at too fast a pace that it couldn't enjoyed. All of the descriptions were kept to minimum, yet there was enough to paint a clear picture. All in all I would give this book 10 stars and an A++ for creativity. I absolutely adored reading this book, not just because it was exactly what I was looking for, but because of the whimsical storytelling and magical experience. This is one to share with the kids or something light, with a deeper meaning to pick up on a rainy day! show less