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A review by reaofsunshine28
As Old as Time by Liz Braswell
4.0
I’m gonna give this book a solid 3.5, but putting a four because of my bias for Beauty & The Beast as a story. This book has a really good solid concept — Belle’s mother being the Enchantress? I’m not only sold, I’m invested. The rudimentary writing style was my major struggle in getting through, but it is a Disney-produced story so I wasn’t expecting any exceptional, grab-your-thesaurus type prose.
My criticisms, however, lie in small details. There’s a lot of dialogue within the story, particularly from the second act onwards that reads far too modern for Belle. My obsessive self couldn’t imagine neither Paige O’Hara nor Susan Egan reciting the lines (all other Belle’s are wonderful, I’m just a bit of a purist) and there was some smart-assery and usage of “like” that, again, I cannot hear Belle saying. And the way this story is set up, it could’ve very easily read as a prequel or even a midquel to the movie — Belle’s Magical World, anyone? — but the fourth act took a sharp left into Okay, This Has Zero Chance of Being Canon. It didn’t totally bum me out, I know this is a “what if?” series and I read my fair share of fic. It just gives off a movie where they spent all their budget on the big names and had spare change for the costumes (coughtheliveactionremakecough).
Speaking of the live action remake, if you’re expecting everything to be frozen in time for this adaptation, nope. The Beast is indeed cursed at the age of eleven. Brutal, but also the tip of the iceberg when it comes to bonkers stuff that happens in this book.
On the flip side, some of my favorite things in this book are the small details! I love how much Rosalind resembles Belle (or Belle resembles Rosalind, either way), how movie scenes are delicately woven in to build a semblance of a timeline and just, again, overall, this is a great premise! It incorporates otherwise minute characters in the movie into lead roles; the bookshop keeper! The insane asylum doctor! Mrs. Potts (kinda)! They’re important!
Overall, this is very much a middle grade book Disney made to make more money but I had fun reading it and I think so will anyone else who enjoys the tale as old as time.
My criticisms, however, lie in small details. There’s a lot of dialogue within the story, particularly from the second act onwards that reads far too modern for Belle. My obsessive self couldn’t imagine neither Paige O’Hara nor Susan Egan reciting the lines (all other Belle’s are wonderful, I’m just a bit of a purist) and there was some smart-assery and usage of “like” that, again, I cannot hear Belle saying. And the way this story is set up, it could’ve very easily read as a prequel or even a midquel to the movie — Belle’s Magical World, anyone? — but the fourth act took a sharp left into Okay, This Has Zero Chance of Being Canon. It didn’t totally bum me out, I know this is a “what if?” series and I read my fair share of fic. It just gives off a movie where they spent all their budget on the big names and had spare change for the costumes (coughtheliveactionremakecough).
Speaking of the live action remake, if you’re expecting everything to be frozen in time for this adaptation, nope. The Beast is indeed cursed at the age of eleven. Brutal, but also the tip of the iceberg when it comes to bonkers stuff that happens in this book.
On the flip side, some of my favorite things in this book are the small details! I love how much Rosalind resembles Belle (or Belle resembles Rosalind, either way), how movie scenes are delicately woven in to build a semblance of a timeline and just, again, overall, this is a great premise! It incorporates otherwise minute characters in the movie into lead roles; the bookshop keeper! The insane asylum doctor! Mrs. Potts (kinda)! They’re important!
Overall, this is very much a middle grade book Disney made to make more money but I had fun reading it and I think so will anyone else who enjoys the tale as old as time.