The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
by Anne Rice
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Book Reviews of The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
Book Review: Sleeping Beauty: Not your average fairy tale any longer
Summary: 3 Stars
I just finished Anne Rice's "Sleeping Beauty: The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty". The novel is very descriptive and not bad. I have to admit to there being little "developing" plot line to follow. The book is about the Princess Beauty's rough introduction to the world of submission. If one is indeed able to call it an "introduction". When I say submission I mean the following. Straps, ropes, spankings, bondage, plenty of humiliation, et cetera. Not that her submission was overly difficult as there was hardly a part where Beauty didn't just bend over and take it (pun obvious). The book is 253 pages of this girl who's rudely awakened and then slammed, crash course style, into the world of all of the above. I'll be blunt this book was flat out porn, not that I am complaining.
It's the first book of Rice's that I've ever read. I am thinking perhaps I probably should have started with a book that actually has a bit more "meat" to it (not what you are thinking, though there is plenty of that.) Something that displays her writing ability, and not her ability to turn one on and up.
While the book isn't a bad one, the internal dialog and glimpse into her characters' heads while they adjust and learn are often empathic. That is when she gets out of the details of the "acts" long enough to do so. Her characters are done well, hit or miss, but that is something I hear often in reference to Anne Rice's styling.
I have the Second book to read next, and I will read it. Because I at least want to find out what happens to Beauty.
This book has not reached my favourites list, but that's only because I approached it as a novel and not as what it actually is. Still a novel, but not what I expected.
So read it with an open mind, and one will find themselves okay.
Book Review: HUGE disappointment!
Summary: 1 Stars
I REALLY tried to like this book... but in the end, I wanted to give it zero stars!!! I mean seriously, Anne rice, WHY did you even bother? The first few pages intrigued me, but after that, this was, quite litereally, one of the WORST books I have ever read. The idea is great! Someone should actually write on this subject, but give the characters some personality, depth, and a plot would be nice too! I think I could do a better job... Watch out Anne Rice!
This was a poor excuse for a novel, and while we are on the topic of excuses, it was Anne Rice's excuse to delve into S&M. The entire novel has a sadist slant. Boring, monotonous, no real plot, just blathering on and on about how how they hate and love to be tortured and enslaved. Don't get me wrong, I like a good romance novel once in a while, but there was absolutely nothing behind her characters. Let me summarize:
Prince rapes her, she wakes up, and she spends the REST of the novel quite literally, naked... either crawling, or standing with her hands behind her head?!?! WTF? He kidnaps her and his entire kingdom is full of S&M loving sadists who whip slaves butts raw on a whim. Girl boy, boy boy, girl girl, blah blah blah. There is no rhyme or reason to all the plunging going on.. The love story isn't very interesting or sweet, then there are two chapters first person of another character, barely developed before this. It ends with her hooking up with some other random guy....
I have never read an Anne Rice novel, and I've been told her vampire series starts out VERY good, but I have serious doubts after reading this. The people who claim this to be a good book are seriously deranged, and suffer from serious over stimulation if this is what it takes to get them off.
Book Review: HOORAY - I'M NORMAL! - AND BORED!!
Summary: 2 Stars
THIS is erotic??
I've owned this book for several years, and have only gotten about 1/3 of the way through it.
Granted, I'm no connoisseur of Erotica, but it HAS to be better than this! I occasionally read a chapter or two, just to get a little charge, so to speak. But as a narrative, it's completely unreadable.
Some of the other reviewers are right: the problem with the book isn't that it's far-fetched. Come on, it's Sleeping Beauty - whattaya want, smallpox scars and authentic descriptions of medieval peasants' diets?
Or that the sex is too weird/implausible/dangerous - again, this is a fantasy. If you want pointers on safe SMBD, this is not intended as a manual.
Or even that the book - at least the 1st third of it - is ragingly sexist (though men are put in submissive roles, also). That can be fun in fantasy, if not in real life.
Quite simply, it's BORING after a few chapters. Spank and Rape; Spank and Rape - repeat ad nauseum. If there's one great truism about sex, it's this; to keep it interesting, you need variety. Especially when you're just reading about it, not experiencing it - you need variety.
I expected so much more from Anne Rice, who is usually an excellent writer. "Interview With the Vampire" teems with eroticism. Frankly, unless the other 2 books were much better, I don't know how she sold enough copies to manage to publish this trilogy. And I paid retail - that's the REAL torture! ;->
How I long for some really GOOD writing, with the erotic charge of the movie "The Company of Wolves", a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. Most people think it's just a horror movie; trust me, that's the least of it. It's dark, disturbing - and SEXY!
Book Review: A sensual experience...
Summary: 4 Stars
Okay, I read the other reviews place here before I began writing mine. I came by this book from a friend who informed me that if I'm sexually repressed, in any way, not to read it. That's the exact advice I will give anyone reading this review. In a bizarre twist, Rice creates a "grown up" version of what happened to Beauty when her prince came, no pun intended. As all fairy tales, this is from pure speculation and made up for pure enjoyment. Of course this story is not realistic, get real! But it is an intriguing read. I think Rice did a great job at creating a world where this type of "bondage" and slavery could exist. In the first book of this trilogy, Beauty is awaken from her 100 year sleep by her prince intuating sex. From there, her prince takes her as his slave, with her parents' consent, and brings her to his kingdom. From there the story takes many twist and turns that are sometimes hard to follow, but they also managed to grab your interest. I found this book erotic and gripping in the tale that is told. It is also very graphic, and at times, obscene. If you're looking for a romance with great sex scenes, pick up a Catherine Coulter book, but if it's raw sex and the darker side of the human nature you're looking for, this is the book you should read. For all of you who have read this book and found it disguisting and not at all what you expected, how about reading the writing on the back of the book? You know that thing that tells you what to expect out of the book, it gives you a brief description of the book? What do you think it's there for? Sheesh!!Book Review: A Fairy Tale Gone 2 Stars
In order to enjoy this fairy tale turned nightmare you have to remove your self from what is our societies reality. Consent, Freedom, Love as we accept it does not exist in the Adult Realm of Anne Rices vision of Sleeping Beauty.Beauty is awakened from her sleep to find her kingdom weakened and herself claimed by a Powerful Prince very different from herself. She is not his fairy tale love but simply a slave to his sexual perversion and the perversion his kingdom celebrates and exploits.
This book showcases BDSM in its purist form and this tale is not for everyone, not even an avid consumer of erotica. Anne Rice unveils her very sexually dark imagination and sets the stage for a tale that will arouse, shock, question, and make you draw lines with in your nature you choose not to cross.
As for the writing, I can not begin to tell you my disappointment. I expected her usually beautiful descriptives and more depth in her characters all of which this book lacked. There is no indepth knowledge of the characters, no beautiful prosaic, and no plot. I found this book simply written to describe horrendous acts of debauchery and depravity in a world where the word consent does not exist.
If you enjoy fantasy BDSM you might enjoy this but if your sensibilities are more reality based this might not be for you. In so many ways I found this book to be pornographic and shocking.
I could not give this book higher than two stars due to my great disappointment in the writing style and lack of depth in the characters. I found that I didn't care for any of the characters at the end of the book.