Hunted

Dark and compelling re-telling of Beauty & the Beast. Loved the fact that Beauty is (as one memorable GR reviewer put it) a lot less intellectual than Disney's version but a lot more "stabby." The Beast isn't just a misunderstood guy in a wolf costume either - he's truly beastly to Beauty and only regains his humanity through his relationship with her.

Well drawn secondary characters add richness to an already strong story. I read Spooner's Starbound trilogy written with Amie Kaufman and although I enjoyed it, I would not have suspected she had the potential for something this impactful. She says in the book's afterword that she has wanted to write this book for many years. I'm so glad she finally set it free.

A retelling of Beauty and the Beast that does so many things right, particularly telling its own story, something new and different, even as it keeps to the general shape of a tale as old as time.

After Yeva’s father loses his business, he retreats to his old hunting lodge with his daughters. While he hunts for a way to reverse his fortunes, Yeva hunts for food to keep her family alive though the winter.
When her father goes missing, Yeva looks for him… and she falls into the hands of the Beast.
The Beast wants a hunter. And Yeva wants revenge.

One of my favourite things in these sorts of stories is when knowing folk- and fairy-tales is useful. (I like meta commentary and genre-savvy heroines, and I suppose there’s also something show more appealing about the idea that reading these sorts of stories is useful). So I liked the connections between the stories Yeva tells - that her father originally told her - and the story she finds herself caught up in.

I also liked Yeva’s relationship with her sisters, and the importance of her relationship with her dog Doe-Eyes. And the way the story explores the pitfalls of wanting more than what you have, wanting something which may be unattainable, was unexpected.

Yeva’s father began making forays into the surrounding forest, learning the woods again. He’d taught Yeva that the key to being a good hunter was not to track a creature through the forest but to know the forest so well it was like tracking your prey through your own home. He rarely came back with much those early days, but he made imminent plans for trips deeper into the woods.
Yeva begged him to let her come along.
“You’re not a child anymore,” said her father with a sigh. “When I’ve paid my debts we’ll move back to town. By that time, I fear, you’ll have gone so wild that the confines of civilisation will break your heart.”
“Please,” was all Yeva could think of to say. She had no argument against it - even years after the last time they had been hunting together, she still longed for the dark, cold, cathedral of the wood.

I listened to most of this as an audiobook before switching to the ebook. Rather to my surprise, I discovered I preferred reading it to myself. Perhaps because Hunted isn’t filled with lively conversations, it isn’t the sort of story where hearing it read aloud highlights the humour and enhances the reading experience?
Banter is possibly the only thing this retelling doesn’t have - which is not to say banter was needed. I enjoyed this as it is. show less

I am a sucker for a fairytale retelling, and even more so when it's Beauty and the Beast.
I truly enjoyed this book. Making Yeva a hunter and capable in her own right. Having a mix of previous versions of the story, and a believable progression in the relationship between the two. So good.
My only gripe is that I wanted a little more from the ending, as in how things turn out. Also I'd liked a bit more of the father's downward spiral at the beginning of the book, but those are minor complaints.

4.5/5

Note: Some spoilers if you do not know the story of “Beauty and the Beast.”

This is a retelling of the archetypical story of “girl meets bad boy with heart of gold,” i.e., "Beauty and the Beast."

Yeva is the youngest of three daughters, and has always been called Beauty by her father. Her father, an excellent hunter, became a merchant to make a better living, and then lost his fortune. He was forced to return to a life of hunting, but seemed to go mad, claiming a mythical beast was tracking him and driving away all the game. And then one day he didn’t return.

Yeva was taught to hunt by her father when she was young, and had always felt drawn to the forest. Now living in the city, she harbors a dissatisfaction with her life the show more origins of which she cannot herself articulate. She is restless and doesn’t feel she belongs somehow. When her father disappeared and she returned to the forest to look for him, she felt herself getting renewed. But then her joy turned to dismay when she came upon his body, and nearby, a fearsome beast. She tried to kill it, but instead, it captured her.

Besides the narration of Yeva, there are also intermittent segments by The Beast, who is looking for a good hunter to help break the curse on him. Since he can no longer count on the father, he focuses his attention on the daughter. He finds he is fascinated by her: “She moves like an animal in a woman’s body. She moves like beauty.”

Beauty can’t see in the pitch-dark place she is being held, but thinks the man who communicates with her behind the door and who leaves her food is a sympathetic rescuer. She feels like she is going crazy from the isolation, and begins speaking through the door of anything and everything that came to her mind, “to fill the hungry silence.”

First she talks to her mysterious rescuer about her family, and then begins to relate to him the Russian fairy tales her father used to tell her.

The man behind the door agrees to let her out of the dark dungeon but only if she promises to keep on her blindfold; he threatens to kill her if she removes it.

With Beauty now outside the dungeon and in a warmer place, The Beast asks her to keep telling more stories. He seems particularly interested in the tale of Ivan, the young prince who tried to capture the Firebird. At one point though, Beauty manages to get the blindfold off, and realizes her “ally” is also her captor: he is The Beast. Since she believes The Beast killed her father, her feelings about him turn to hate, and to a desire for revenge.

The Beast observes that now:

“There is no animal in her. The way she speaks to us now, so full of fury, is more human than anything we have experienced in many long years. Animals don’t hate. That is the rightful domain of humanity.. . . . It is better this way, that she see us for what we are. We are pleased. She is strong still, despite her illness, and skilled. She will do what we require of her, and it will be done. We will be free.”

She agrees to stay with him as he insists (threatening to harm her family if she does not), but does not agree she won’t try to kill him again. He glowers, “If you try to kill us again, make certain you succeed.”

He does need her to kill someone, but he can’t say who it is, because that is part of the spell he is under. As Beauty observes, “In every fairy tale there were rules. Even monsters could not break them. And where, except in fairy tales, did there exist talking beasts?” She muses that “[s]he had never imagined the things her father told her might be reality.”

The Beast wants to satisfy her curiosity, but resolves:

"We will not break the terms of our sentence. We cannot explain, or we risk remaining trapped together for the rest of eternity.”

He makes her practice hunting every day. Then he trains her to see the magic in his forest and hear its music. She can hear the music that The Beast emits too.

He lets her see the castle where he lives as well, and to see more glimpses of his life there. She began to be less afraid of him, and at moments, to see his human side coming through.

Still, she is determined to avenge the death of her father. One night she creeps up on him when he is sleeping and is sure she has delivered a death blow. But as she discovers, he cannot be killed. And she also learns he wasn’t the one who killed her father. “Tell me,’ The Beast said softly. ‘If you had known, from the start, that I could not be killed, that you would never have your vengeance . . . would you have stayed?” And indeed, now that she has nothing more to keep her there with The Beast, she feels she must leave to go back to her family.

After she returns to them though, she apprehends - through her dreams - that the part of The Beast that is human is beginning to recede. Yeva decides she must go to The Beast again, and rescue him. She now realizes that "Her Beast was Prince Ivan,” and that, as per the fairy tale about the prince, she needs to find the Firebird to save him. But when she finds it, she learns another truth: the Firebird is the manifestation of an idea: it is the goal; the reward at the end of the quest; what everyone is looking for. As the Firebird explains, “I am the conclusion of your journey. All you’ve ever wanted. Magic. The music of the forest.”

Yeva is trapped by the Firebird, with little hope of escape. Then The Beast arrives, but not necessarily to save her. He is more wolf than man now, and somehow Yeva must bring him back to humanity before he kills her. In the process, they both discover what the curse really is, and what it would actually take to break it.

Evaluation: This retelling is well done, and quite romantic. I loved the slow simmering of the feelings for one another between Beauty and The Beast, and the self-awareness in each of them that these feelings induced. And of course like any fairy tale, this one is replete with thought-provoking metaphors - from the dual nature of humans, to the source of worth in a person, to the difficulties in identifying what you really want in life. show less

Surprise surprise! I did not want to read another Beauty and the Beast retelling. I did not expect to love this book. I did not think I’d be reading a book nonstop ... and yet here I am having read all day long and loved this Beauty and the Beast retelling.
I think the thing I enjoyed most is the attraction between the two does not get bogged down by lust or sensuality or romance. I liked most that what was between them was their similar desire for more... their wanting of more.
I love the spunky spirit of Yeva and that she hunts. I love that the love between the sisters never gets sullied by jealousy. I love the magic and the music of the ‘other’ world. Can you tell that I thoroughly enjoyed this book? Yum.
Now my biggest problem show more is what to read next. It’s always tough to pick from my TBR shelves after Ive finished a book I really enjoyed. show less

(Originally reviewed at thelibraryladies.com.)

Just in time to cash in on my “Beauty and the Beast” phase that has been reignited by the recent movie release (though, let’s be real, I’m almost always interested in “Beauty and the Beast” stories) comes this new release by Meagan Spooner with a re-imaging of the classic fairytale. And, what a relief, it is actually a true re-imagining! And a very enjoyable one at that!

Similar to my love of Jane Austen re-tellings, I’m always on the look out for a good fairytale re-imagining, and my favorite is “Beauty and the Beast.” And, just like the Jane Austen wanna-bes, many of them fall sadly short, so I’m always slightly nervous going in. Will this one be yet another let down? show more Or…?

In Spooner’s version, Beauty, or Yeva, and her two older sisters are the daughters of a wealthy merchant father. But this time, her father’s rise to fortune came upon the back of his skill as an archer and hunter in the mysterious forest that surrounds the city. From him, Yeva has also learned to tread the forest pathways, bow in hand, and developed a deep love for the woods and its denizens, both the ordinary and the fabled. After the family’s inevitable fall from fortune and her father’s subsequent disappearance on a hunting trip, Yeva sets out to find him only to become entangled in the plot of a Beast who is on the lookout for a skilled hunter to free him from a curse.

What I most loved about this book was the blending of familiar aspects from the classic tale (the main plot points are all there) alongside the truly unique new take on the story as a whole. And these new aspects weren’t only superficial changes. The entire curse is changed in a way that effects the action of the story, the characterization of its main characters, and the gradual build in the relationship between Yeva and the Beast.

First, for the familiar aspects. I was overjoyed to see one of the only other examples I can think of of a “Beauty and the Beast” story where the sisters were as well-handled as they were in my all-time favorite version, Robin McKinley’s “Beauty.” In particular, Asenka, the middle daughter who was born with a clubbed foot, is incredibly well-rounded and made to be a character in her own right. The relationship between all the sisters is lovely, shown and not told through small moments, like their ritual of break-making each night, and the larger interactions that come from the traumatic events that befall the family throughout the story. We all know that I am a sucker for sister stories, and this one was completely satisfying in every way.

And, as I said, the main bullet points of the fairytale are all there in this book. The family’s fall from fortune, Beauty’s time with the Beast, her return to her family, and her choice to go back to the Beast and save him from the curse. But, as I said, all of these traditional plot points were handled in completely unique ways. Beauty’s motivation for staying with the Beast is different. His motivations for wanting her there are different (we get small insights into his thoughts between chapters). Their relationship develops along different lines than those we expect (hunting trips in the woods rather than elaborate, enchanted dinners in a castle.) And the curse itself is set up in a completely new way.

I loved how naturally all of these elements came together, new and traditional. Yeva’s love of hunting isn’t simply thrown in as an aside that makes here character “strong” but is actually integral to the story. The relationship between the two builds slowly and naturally, never easily side-stepping the challenging aspects of the situation they find themselves in. There is no quick forgiveness or trust, but instead, a natural transformation. I also particularly liked what Spooner did with the Gaston-like character, Solomir. He was another excellent example of fleshing out a character who can often come across as just another stock character.

Lastly, Spooner added a level of depth to Yeva’s internal struggle throughout the book. Yes, circumstances force her into situations that she wouldn’t have chosen for herself, but from the very beginning her desire for something more is made clear. I appreciated how deeply the author delved into this sense of wanting and dissatisfaction, and how neatly these aspects of Yeva’s character were tied to the story and curse as a whole. Again, it wasn’t an aside to make Yeva more well-rounded, but an important aspect of the story itself. My only complaint would be that I feel Spooner may have missed an opportunity to push this theme further in the end of the book. It seemed like she walked right up to the edge of making a more powerful statement about this, but then side-stepped it a bit. She still made her point clearly and tied it together well, but I personally feel like it could have been taken a bit further, even.

All in all, I very much enjoyed this book. It is always so exciting to see an excellent fairytale retelling, especially of “Beauty and the Beast” which I think is probably one of the more challenging tales to do well. I strongly recommend this book to fans of the original story and of fairytale retellings in general! show less

Alright folks, it's time for the unpopular opinion of the month

But first of all let me just say that I actually planned to give this book 3 stars, then I reached a certain part(will elaborate later) and I just knew I couldn't rate it that way.

So this book tells the story of Yeva, who's a hunter who lives with her father and two sisters in... Ireland? Scotland? Russia? Madagascar?Narina? Wonderland?
I don't even know because it's not mentioned in the whole damn book. Now, this usually wouldn't bother me if there's a good world building but the actual place has no name, but there's literally little to no world building done in this book. It's all chunks and pieces thrown around but not linked together well.

Anyways, so Yeva's father show more somehow manages to lose all of his fortune and her and her sisters are forced to go live in this little cabin in the middle of nowhere.

Their father goes back to hunting so he can provide for his family but forbids Yeva to join him. What does our heroine do one may ask? Why she goes hunting on her own of course!

Then this perfectly nice guy who is to be the Baron's heir and who actually understands Yeva's wild nature comes all the way from god knows where to the middle of nowhere to tell Yeva that he doesn't give a shit she lost all of her fortune, he still wants to marry her and go on adventures for her.
What does Yeva say?
Well of course she says no, because ya know she's a "wild" creature who doesn't want to accept this very nice, very understanding, very charming young man who might as well be her family's only salvation from dying cold and hungry and alone in the middle of nowhere.

But!
Have no fear, Solmir keeps coming over and asking her to marry him over and over and over and OVER again until she's like "well alright then"

ANYWAYS
Her father comes back from one of his hunting journeys all troubled and he goes back to the forest the following day, acting all weird and stuff.

After a few days Yeva is worried so she follows him.

Up to this point I really have no problem with the story, it's your typical Beauty and The Beast retelling really.

She finds her dad's corpse and then she's captured by the Beast.

After waking up in a dark cell, she finds some food and meds from her own pack and naturally she just ASSUMES the person who gave her that is a FRIEND not her bloodydamned captor, because you know, you find friends outside of your cell all the time *cue the eyeroll*
The moron then proceeds to tell him everything about herself and her family and tells him stories and whatnot.
Until one day, she discovers that, surprise surprise, her "friend" is actually the Beast who captured her and killed her father


The Beast starts training her as her personal hunter for god knows what and the sexual tension between them becomes almost unbearable.

I can't believe I'm saying this but this book did suffer a worse case of Stockholm Syndrome than the original story.
(At least in the original Belle was not kept a prisoner and she started falling for the Beast because she got to see his kind heart, despite the zoophile-ish vibes this may give)

Anyways once she learns that he actually wasn't the one who killed her dad and that she can't kill him she decides to go back home.
Only to discover her sisters are back to their old town's home curtsy of her old sister's fiancé.

Again, up to this point I was kinda 'meeh' with this book, yes I did have issues with it but up to this point I was planning to give it a 3 stars rating.
Then this happened:

"I have a cousin in Kiev," she said finally, "who got married very young, because she wasn't wealthy enough for a large dowry and her parents didn't know if she'd ever get another offer like the one she'd recieved"
Yeva wondered if Galina had forgotten about her dreams, and nodded.
"Her husband wasn't a good man. He hit her when she didn't do everything exactly to his liking-if the bread was burned, or if the home wasn't spotless, or if he thought she'd looked too long at another man. He always hit her where it wouldn't show, until one day he lost his temper and blackened her eye and her brother recognized what was happening. But when he prepared to deal with the husband, to bring the matter to the magistrate and get the marriage annulled, my cousin begged him not to. She defended her husband and said he only had a terrible temper, that he was so loving and so apologetic afterward, and that no other man could possibly make her feel so special, so loved, and that he needed her"

I just lost it at this part.
I even considered DNFing the book right there and then, but since I didn't have much left I made myself continue.

Let me make myself very clear
If he hurts you (be it physical or emotional), apologizes, then does the same thing over and over again. Then he does not mean the apology.
It doesn't matter how loving or special he is, if he's abusing you, DO NOT stay with him.
Even if you love him.
You can fall in love with the wrong person.
And it's okay to leave someone even if you still love them.
Keep in mind, that if he loves you he wouldn't hurt you.

Also, dear authors:
Stop romanticizing abusive relationships! They are not okay! Stop making young people think that if someone apologizes for hurting you then you should stay with them even if they keep doing it over and over and over again. This is fucked up. JUST STOP doing that.
Stop portraying abusers as misunderstood people who just hurt others because of their bad tempers or fucked up pasts. Abuse is not acceptable, in any form shape or way.

Anyways,
After than part I lost interest in the book in general but as I mentioned I did continue reading it, but from the moment Beauty decided to go back to the Beast's valley everything just got so mixed up and it was quite confusing at some parts.

Another thing that really bothered me was the fact hat when her father was alive and we got to see him and read conversations that included him, he talked normally and had no special word he repeated that may hint an accent or whatever. BUT when Yeva is remembering him, he speaks like a bloody pirate! Saying "aye" every two seconds!

The whole ordeal with the Firebird felt like an afterthought that got added just to throw in some action and magic and shit.

I personally found the first 90% of the book written better than the last 10%
Which was a mess.

All in all this was not for me that's for sure. But if it wasn't for the abusive relationship thing I might have given it a better rating, but as it is I was really annoyed by this and I truly hope authors would stop romanticizing abusive relationships. show less