The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty’s Prince (Villains #2) by Serena Valentino
215 pages
3/5 stars
While Beauty and the Beast shows us that the Beast was cursed, The Beast Within gives us an insight into how the Beast really came to be. Vain, arrogant, and selfish, the Prince seeks to find marriage to a woman who is meek, quiet, and beautiful. When events transpire that leave the woman he thought he loved spurned for her apparent poverty, the Prince finds himself on the receiving end of a curse. In addition to the curse only being broken by mutual love and a kiss, it also transforms the Prince into the beast his soul really is.
I found The Beast Within to have an interesting plot. Gaston is brought into the story as the Prince’s best friend and they both share a love of hunting and beautiful (yet simple minded) women. The curse also is intricately done and I thought it was clever that it affected the servants and the Prince differently. I also really loved that the story of the odd witches was fleshed out more and that Valentino seems to be developing their story concurrently with each book (I accidentally started book 3 and read the first few chapters before I decided that I wanted to read them in order precisely for the witches’ story).
What I found lacking was that, for all the intricacy and depth the story touched on, it didn’t delve into that depth and explore it. It suggested depth without fleshing it out, so I was left wanting to know more. Additionally, for as much as I enjoyed the witches’ story, I felt that it took up a good portion of the book, which left the Beast’s story even shorter. I gave the first book (Fairest of All) 4 stars, but I’m only giving The Beast Within 3 stars at most because I feel it could have been more detailed and focused on the Beast. I’m going to keep going with the series because I really want to get to Maleficent (she’s my favorite!).
Pick this up if you’re looking for an interesting retelling or a quick fantasy or YA read.
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