McKinley's second retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story. This version is a lot more introspective than her earlier version, and a lot more surreal (more like Cocteau's film than Disney's). There are also echoes of other stories like The Frog Prince.

The elements of the story remain the same: Beauty goes to live with the Beast to save her beloved father), and is asked to marry him on a daily basis. Here though on finally agreeing to do so, the choice is to restore the Beast to what he was and Beauty's family to their former state, or to remain in humble circumstances with the Beast remaining in monstrous form.

Recommended.

A retelling of beauty and the beast. Absolutely outstanding. One of my favourites from one of my favourite authors. ( )

One of the best [b:Beauty and the Beast|41424|Beauty A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast|Robin McKinley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1169613617s/41424.jpg|2321285] adaptations. ( )

As Beauty and the Beast retellings go, this one is pretty good; it stays fairly traditional but adds a few little twists to make it inventive. And the writing’s good (It’s McKinley, so of course), but I did feel that it got sloggy in the middle and that the ending could have been edited some. Overall, though, a solid effort. ( )

Beauty and her sisters Jeweltongue and Lionheart have to restart their lives after their merchant father loses everything and they move to Rose Cottage, outside a small town. They begin to rebuild their lives as one sister discovers a talent for sewing, the other for horses, and Beauty herself brings back the garden - and the roses - of the cottage. But then their father leaves on a journey and, on his return, gets caught in a storm where he finds shelter in a castle. And... well, you know the rest, don't you?

A delightful retelling of Beauty and the Beast, one of my favorite fairy tales, and not the first time McKinley has tackled it (indeed, I read Beauty back in 2008, but alas, I wasn't writing reviews for every book at the time and I don't remember it). Some of McKinley's style is lost on me, unfortunately, because I don't picture what I read clearly, and she writes with intricate detail about the castle and garden and... it kept slowing me down and made it hard for me to follow when I just wanted to know what would happen next. But I did love the sisterly bonds, and the way in which Beauty makes friends at the castle with the animals and roses. ( )