SSR Book Review

     The book I have chosen for this quarter of SSR is Roses written by Rose Mannering, which is a dark, and powerful retelling of Beauty and the Beast. The book's main protagonist bears no name, at the very moment of her birth she was abandoned by her mother left with only an amulet. The amulet is then discovered by the doctor, and leaves her on the steps of the House Of Rose in Sago. The mistress living there takes in the child but is horrified due to the fact that the young infant shows resemblance to someone who had abandoned her. The girl's freakish silvery skin, white hair, and amethyst eyes make others fear her. The poor thing is punished for everything she does all because she is different, her very existence is a crime to some people. She can no longer bear the abuse she receives and runs away and comes across a circus, as she enters the magic-beings claim that she is a true beauty, they then name Little Beauty. The cruel Mistress has found out about her whereabouts and goes to retrieve her, and succeeds. Tauntingly called Beauty she leaves Sago in a violent uprising that has been set to massacre all Magics and flees to the farthest point of the Western Realm. However Beauty cannot hide in the country any more, the State Officials find her and threaten to take her back. During a midnight blizzard she escapes and comes across an enchanted castle and a terrible beast who will bargain for her life. At first I had mixed feeling about the book, because I've read retelling's of other stories that weren't so great. In the end I am very pleased with the book, and I really enjoyed the fact that the author made the story of this fairytale their own version while they still incorporated elements from the original story such as they characters. Throughout reading this entire book I challenged myself to see how many similarities between the original and this version of the story I could find. I definitely recommend reading this book.