Review of Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales by Soman Chainani
Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales contains stories about characters we have all read about growing up, Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood, Snow White are just a few of the characters whose names grace the pages of this book. The author’s name of this book might look familiar to you other readers. That’s because Soman Chainani also wrote another series based on fairytales called The School for Good and Evil which is currently being made into a film by Netflix.
But unlike that series, this book contains short stories about fairytales in a new type of light. Each story in the book has a twist to it, each story makes you think this would make a much better ending. You as the reader might end up liking Soman Chainani’s version of say, little Red Riding Hood better than the adaptations you have heard over the course of your life.
One of the things that I really like about this collection of stories is that the characters in this book are strong diverse characters. The first story of the book is Little Red Riding Hood the main girl character finds out a solution to defeating the wolf all on her own, no hunter needed, and she continues so to save others after her story is done, But I don’t want to say the how or why, because Spoilers, and I am not one to ruin a book for others.
Now if you are looking for Disney-like fairytales this book won’t give you that feel, This is an adaptation that is a little bit more gruesome but the characters still come out with a happy ending. But it is not The brothers Grimm either there is still that sense of childlike wonder that Disney has but also has more detailed descriptions but unlike The Brothers Grimm this set of stories won’t make you question your entire childhood.
Now another thing, while it is a chapter book, the book is beautifully detailed. The book has few pictures here and there that correlate with the stories that are being focused on in that section. These illustrations were drawn by Julia Iredale, This illustrator has also done other illustrations like in the book titled The Legend of the Christmas Witch by Dan Murphy, and Aubrey Plaza, and Amber and Clay by Laura Amy Schiltz. While I have not had a chance to read those other works, I have seen and touched the pages of what Julia Iredale drew and illustrated for Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales, in this book she put a very vibrant and colorful touch to fairy tale stories that are almost generations or decades-old.
This book helped me feel more relaxed during these stressful days of being a college student. Plus, the stories also addressed two things in each and every story that is shown in this book. That is how can this story possibly get better than the last one I just read? And the author makes the characters a little bit more thick-skinned and cleverer in figuring out the solutions to their problems.