The Eye of the Beholder

An interesting variant on Beauty and the Beast. The story is pretty much standard (the exact circumstances of Beauty's life and arrival vary, of course, but only in detail), but this one has a _lot_ from the Beast's point of view. It starts out with him, for the first chapter or two - who he was before, and why; what happened so that he became the Beast; and his life as the Beast. Then there's a chapter of Mira (Mirabelle - who doesn't like her full name, though it's never made explicit why - something about her mother, I think) at home with her father and sisters; her father leaves and returns in distress, and she goes to the castle. After that the chapters alternate; we get her view of events, and then the Beast's (who she names show more Lysander). Sometimes they overlap, sometimes one view is from events as they happen and the other is a review. Again, all the classic bits, but with the Beast's viewpoint involved it's rather richer. My only complaint is that as he begins to improve, he turns very strongly to self-blame and I-am-not-worthy - boring. And the standard happy ending, with, again, a little more detail - it goes on a little bit longer than the arrival of the celebrants. That's one heck of a spell, though, to make a land that's been either free or under someone else's rule for 300 years suddenly recognize their old king again - and never notice they stopped. Fun, and I do want to read more by her (under either name!). show less