The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
by Anne Rice
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Book Reviews of The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
Book Review: Disappointed! Thought it was going to be a love story.
Summary: 3 Stars
Being a submissive female myself, I was really excited when I first started reading this book, thinking it was going to be a bdsm love story between the Prince and Beauty. Boy was I wrong. Now the first three chapters didn't dissapoint in this respect; the early scenes with the Prince and Beauty were sexy and romantic. But as soon as they arrived at the castle, the Prince just sort of left the picture. And that was pretty much the end of any semblance of a male dom/female sub focus.
I kept waiting for him to reappear in the book, but he never did. Also, his character seemed changed after he arrived at the castle...much weaker and very pathetic...no guts to stand up to his mother and protect Beauty. All the characters seemed really shallow too, with no real concept of what love is.
The rest of the book was basically just just about spankings, and punishment, and humiliation...which really isn't erotic at all to me without the context of a loving relationship between the participants. Needless to say, I was very disappointed with the way this book turned out. If the focus had stayed on Beauty and the Prince, I think it would have been great. But as it is, it was a major disappointment. So if you're looking for some romantic, sexy, male dom/female sub bdsm, you'd be much better off reading [...] than this one.
Book Review: Way beyond ridiculous.......
Summary: 1 Stars
This book was nothing like its advertisement. I thought it was going to be a new take on the sleeping beauty fable, but it wasn't. It took the fabled character Beauty and made her a sexual slave at the mercy of a medival sex ring. All the surrounding kingdoms sent beautiful princes and princesses to this castle as a tribute. This young royals were subjected to horrific tortures and were treated worse than livestock. The characters who led this sex ring claimed it made these spoilt royals better people and better rulers when they were returned.
As I read this book, I figured there had to be a deeper meaning behind the ridiculous and unbelievable toture scenes, mind games, and Anne Rice's strange obsession with spanking. No matter how demoralized Beauty became, she never tried to fight back or escape. Just cried. Apparently, this was her becoming a good slave. The characters were boring. Probably because it must be difficult to properly develop character growth when you are so obsessed with spanking...
I tried very hard to finish it hoping for a reason for such an awful and tiresome tale. There was no deeper meaning behind such a horrible story. All there was at the end....was a sequel. Um....not a chance. I'm glad I didnt pay 14 bucks for this book, I read it in a bookstore for free. I am sorry enough for that.
Book Review: No sort of erotica here
Summary: 2 Stars
Alright I'll admit this. I was a little unkowing of much BDSM when I picked up this book. Someone had recomended it to me to read since I liked Rice's vampire cronicles so much.
I was horribly disapointed when I read this. There is little character development what so ever and the amount of sheer humilitaion for Beauty is digusting. It seemed to be everyone's highlight in every village and in the queen's castle. This book contained nothing except spanking and spanking and raping and more spanking. I had to force myself to finish this.
We meet Prince Alexi a few chapters into the story and after only a few days of seeing him, Beauty becomes obessed with the prince, and he with her. You don't get to see much of the Prince who claimed her until the end, where he becomes a weak character. Then for two chapters we only get to hear about Prince Alexi and the exploits in the kitchen. Again it was just the same thing page after page.
At the end we meet Tristian who Beauty had only seen the day before and when they are put into the cart to go to the village, he mounts her and she's fine with it. She appears to have forgotten Alexi all together. And why is she going to the village!?
Overall I'm very disapointed with Rice here. Because of this I'm not reading the next two in the series.
Book Review: Amusing or arousing?
Summary: 3 Stars
There is really no depth to the story, but that doesn't spoil it at all, just as long as you read it in the right spirit. I don't think that the author ever intended it to be serious. The whole book is dedicated to sado-masochism.
There is a slight reversal of society, as the Princes and Princesses from surrounding kingdoms become sex slaves to the Queen, her Crown Prince and the Lords and Ladies of the land. The slaves are kept naked, and are continually beaten, and punished in many other ways, for the amusement of the Lords and Ladies. There are strict rules to stop the beatings short of the drawing of blood or the burning of skin. There is plenty of bondage, and much agony is imposed on the slaves by bringing them close to sexual satisfaction, but refusing to allow them that final climax.
It is a lot of fun, and I am left full of anticipation to discover how the commoners of this land conduct themselves and how they interact with the slaves, who are, when all is said and done, foreign royalty.
Personally, I did not find the story very arousing, but it is clear that some readers did. I found it amusing, and it is a good, light read. For you, it could be amusing or arousing, or both. It takes no effort to read this book, so I recommend that you make the effort, and decide for yourself.
Book Review: Wet hair, wash, and repeat...and repeat...and repeat...repeat...
Summary: 3 Stars
While this story is incredibly engaging going in, it quickly gets tiresome. I don't complain that Mrs. Rice isn't imaginative enough (quite the contrary), it's that she shows us the best of her imagination right up front, and then proceeds to repeat it until the reader can hardly stand it any more. I think at least %20 of the manuscript was comprised of the words "spank" and "paddle". What little hint there is of a real story is constantly set into confusion by the behavior of the characters. Does the Prince "love" her, or he just possessive? Will it turn into a First Knight kind of thing with Prince Alexi, or is that absurd? Who knows? Who can remember after their attention span has been drawn to the limit by yet another overly elaborate scene of sexual slave depravity (which in most cases turns out to be more awkward and bizarre than arousing).
The sheer amount of sex in this book is almost gluttonous...and I mean to the point when you swear you'll never eat again. There's no anticipation, no seduction, no time for the reader to ponder or wish on what will happen next, because before they know it, there it is! There are two more books that follow this one and I'm half tempted to take them up just to see if there's any change. In that case, I'll look over them at the book store...before purchase.