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I finished reading The Misadventures of an Amateur Naturalist by Ceinwen Langley, a sapphic retelling of Beauty & the Beast. Overall: An enjoyable retelling with emphasis on the historical context and some gritty realism.
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At the end, I was surprised to discover it was a self-published book! I had noted like, two typos as I read along, but aside from that I thought it was very well constructed. Self publishing is a mixed bag, but it makes me happy when someone takes a risk and ends up bringing something lovely like this into the world.
Retellings of classic stories I think are both easy and tricky--easy in that the reader is usually already invested, and you can trust them to expect/anticipate/accept certain things, but tricky in that you need to be doing something NEW to not bore the reader. I think this story found a good balance by making the main character an intent naturalist and really digging into the historical time period and some queer themes, while maintaining the arcs of the original story with a more gritty mood. I certainly enjoyed it!
( More details )
At the end, I was surprised to discover it was a self-published book! I had noted like, two typos as I read along, but aside from that I thought it was very well constructed. Self publishing is a mixed bag, but it makes me happy when someone takes a risk and ends up bringing something lovely like this into the world.
Retellings of classic stories I think are both easy and tricky--easy in that the reader is usually already invested, and you can trust them to expect/anticipate/accept certain things, but tricky in that you need to be doing something NEW to not bore the reader. I think this story found a good balance by making the main character an intent naturalist and really digging into the historical time period and some queer themes, while maintaining the arcs of the original story with a more gritty mood. I certainly enjoyed it!
