Name: The Beast Within
ISBN: 9781423159124

Serena Valentino

A cursed prince sits alone in a secluded castle. Few have seen him, but those who claim they have say his hair is wild and nails are sharp--like a beast's! But how did this prince, once jovial and beloved by the people, come to be a reclusive and bitter monster? And is it possible that he can ever find true love and break the curse that has been placed upon him?

A Tale of Beauty's Prince

The Beast Within

I honestly still think this book series is pretty mid. I did think this one was a bit better than the first one, as I felt like we could connect more with the beast. I also really enjoyed reading from the sisters' perspective and learning about what they were doing behind the scenes. It was interesting reading about how he kind of deteriorated over time and that he and Gaston were friends. This was honestly just a pretty easy read. 

Maggie Hotmer

Riley Bell

I feel like I enjoyed this book more than the first one of the series. We got more of a glimpse into the Beast’s past as the Prince and his life and attitudes that caused him to be cursed. Most people seem to hate that the parts we recognize from the original movies are rushed through and wished there was more spin. I have to disagree because we love the stories for what they are and I don’t think the goal was to add or create more for the parts we already know. I believe the goal is give us their past so we can see the thoughts and actions that lead up to the beginnings of the stories we know.

So I do like that we see how truly horrible the Prince was and I really liked the twist that he and Gaston were bffs. They were perfect for each other. And it is a great contrast to who the Prince becomes after living as the Beast. I really love the three sisters and Circe that have been added to the known fairytales, I just want to know more about them like where they come from and why they meddle like they do. Of course we know for this story they only meddled on Circe’s behalf but they know more than they let on about all the kingdoms. 

I do feel like there could be so much more to the story rather than rushing through ~200 pages that could be devoted to other characters like Gaston’s views. Gaston could be said to be the true villain of the story and we don’t ever get to know much about him other than his friendship with the Prince and his deal with the sisters. I never really viewed the Beast as the villain, but this story has proven that he most certainly was one as the Prince and learned a valuable lesson through his curse. It’s also nice that this story ended happily which is not the case for most of our villains, including the Queen in the first book and Gaston of course. I can’t wait to read Ursula’s.

Melissa Palmer

Book #3 Read in 2017
The Beast Within by Serena Valentino

This is the second book in the villain origin trilogy. This book focuses on the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. It shows how he was, how he was cursed and how he connects with Belle. The weird sisters from book 1 reappear in this book and play an evil role in the cursing, of course. This is a recommended read for middle school and high school readers. I borrowed this book from the town library.

Courtney

I have never read a retelling from more of the Beast's perspective! This was a quick and charming little read with an intriguingly and alternately expansive approach to the Beast's story! 

Only 4 stars because I felt like some of the scenes were too quick and could have been written out a bit more.

Full review at thelittlestbookelf.com

This one was just okay. It was hard to be happy for the Beast as this entire book was him being a colossal jerk. This book didn't really stand out for me.

Sasha Mann

Roxanne Mohr

To start off, this was a very fast paced read, which is always nice if you so me. I read this book, from start to finish in about 4 hours. It was an easy read but honestly, the story itself was confusing. Obviously, it’s based on the original Beauty and the Beast story line. But there are several differences as well. 

Some of these differences were easily understood, like added characters, a little background story, some Personal experiences the Beast went through, etc. Other differences from the original story were... out there? They were very vague or left completely and utterly unexplained so it didn’t make a lot of sense. Like the people of the castle. Did they turn to stone for everyone? Did only the beast see them as stone? Did they turn into figurines like in the original story? It wasn’t explained and the author left it vague to the point of confusing.

The entire book had the very minimal amount of dialogue possible. The book explored the Beast’s feeling and experiences regarding previous relationships, but it didn’t explain or go into detail regarding Belle at all. The author didn’t explore this relationship at all in the book. It was as if Belle and his psychological growth because of her were merely afterthoughts. It was very disappointing. 

My first impression of the book when I picked it up was that it would explore the mind and feelings of the Beast as a human, then as the beast, when he met Belle, and as it changed after meeting Belle. It explored him as a human and changing into the beast but that’s it. It fell short in his transition and change with Belle. It was just completely left out.

Over all, I found the book very disappointing and just lacking. The characters were all underdeveloped, the story line was there but it felt very unfinished, and it felt as if many of the ideas were just kind of thrown in there without much thought.

In the end, I’m glad that I only borrowed this book from the library instead of buying it. I would have been upset if I’d bought it.

Kirsten Simkiss

Honestly, I had hoped for better. When I picked up this book, like most of us probably did, I was fully aware that the story was modeled after Disney's Beauty and the Beast. It's evident from the cover art and the Disney Press brand that that was what I was signing myself up for.

What I was NOT signing myself up for was a full rewrite of the movie. And that's exactly what I got. I read through about page 50, trying to muscle through, but ultimately I wound up just skimming over the rest of the book, hoping it might improve. It didn't.

For one thing, this series is the Villains series, where you hear the villain's side of the story. However, this book is told from the perspective of the Beast/the Prince. While he was a horrible person at the start of the story and was cursed for it, that doesn't really qualify him as a villain. The villain in this story really should have been Gaston, though I'm not sure anyone would want to read a book from the perspective of such a narcissist.

The biggest and most egregious difference is that rather there being one offended enchantress, there are three witches and one enchantress who dated the prince. The witches appear continually throughout the book, trying to further attack the prince for breaking their sister's heart. The witches send the wolves. They make her father sick. They torture the Beast for no reason than to be spiteful. It's very far from the normal story that Disney created and, frankly, it annoyed me to no end.

The only reason I didn't give it one star was that, barring the fact that it should be closer tied in to the world of the movie, the Prince's back story really wasn't that bad in terms of writing from what I could tell. Putting aside the fact that the entire castle slowly devolved into the state you see it in in the movie rather than it happening all at once, it was really interesting to see his life change as the curse took hold. I wouldn't say it was great writing, but it was passable.

I don't recommend this book and I especially don't recommend it to people who really love the animated Beauty and the Beast because this book kind of walks all over it.

Destiny Martino

It was not terrible, but neither was it great. I think a better story could be told, better fitting with the existing story...and using his damn name rather than calling him "Beast" or "Prince."

Ana V. 

I never thought of the Beast as a villain, but this was a great take on explaining his curse. Almost a portrait of Dorian G. in reverse. It was great to revisit so many characters too.

Alexis Schwulst 

** spoiler alert **
           The second book in the villain Tales, I found to be a lot easier to read. Had starting book 3 before this one (not yet finished), it is clear that although the original Disney stories are not linked (unless you follow conspiracy theories). The odd sisters are instrumental so far in the series. The only downside to this tale is that the beast was not the true villain of the original movie, however through the eyes of the odd sisters he is. 
I enjoyed this tale and the events that lead up to the curse.

Áróra Lind 

Caitlyn DeRouin

I've been looking for some retellings of my favorite fairytales for a while now, and after seeing a lot of posts about these books on bookstagram when I saw that it was in the Kindle store for free I thought that I would check it out.

I'm glad that I did. While there were some things that bothered me - mostly some of the formatting and sometimes the language sounded a bit too modern - there were things that I enjoyed as well. I really liked the author's idea behind how and why the Beast became cursed. It was interesting and I liked reading about how he became to be the Beast that we know. I liked that while she kept the main Beauty and the Beast storyline, she didn't keep everything the same. She added in new characters and new story elements that I enjoyed. I also liked how she tied other Disney villains into the story.

It was a nice, easy and enjoyable read. I plan on checking out the other books in this series, and I'm looking forward to the book on Mother Gothel that is being released later this year.

The tale is as old as time: a cruel prince is transformed into a beast. A lovely maiden comes into this monster's life. He is transformed by her compassion, and the love he feels for her in return. The two live happily ever after. But any tale, especially one as storied as Beauty and the Beast's, has been told many different times, and in many different ways. No matter which version one hears, the nagging question remains: what was it that transformed the prince into the beast we are introduced to? This is one version, pulled down from the many passed down through the ages. It's a story of vanity and arrogance, of love and hatred, of beastliness, and, of course, of beauty.

Madi Stokes

I think it’s a great kids book! Very easy to read!

Charlot van Dijk

Deel 2 van deze serie is ook zeker een prachtboek. Een van mijn favoriete sprookjes, verteld op een heel andere manier. Ik ben verliefd geworden op Serena haar schrijfstijl, en ga zo veel mogelijk van dit soort boeken lezen.

Jesika

***SPOILERS***
This book did not make any sense to me! A perfect example of the book not making sense is in a chapter the Odd Sister's house is described as a gingerbread house and then a couple chapters after that it's described as a doll house. The Odd Sisters are also described multiple times throughout the book. The Odd Sisters are described more than Beast, Gaston, or Belle. I feel like I didn't need a backstory on Beast his character is pretty self explanatory. I would have preferred to read a backstory about Gaston and there would have been so much more the author could have done with his story and character arc. I felt that the book was really sexist with Beast loving certain qualities about women not wanting to reading or having their own opinions. (Ironic since he ends up with Belle who is the complete opposite of what he used to go for with his previous love interests.) This book is aimed for a young audience, but while reading it made me think this book should have been for a mature audience. 

I was also expecting this book to be in Beast's perspective, but instead kept changing to different POVs which I don't think fits the narrative of the story. The Beast also has two love interests before Belle and he was engaged to both of them as well. His first love interest was the Enchantress who curses him to become a beast. His second love interest tries to commit suicide because of how the Beast treats her and from breaking up with her.

Another weird aspect to this book is that the Beast and Gaston were friends and when they were kids Gaston actually saves Beast's life. Two things don't make sense about this: 
1) The story is never mentioned how Gaston saves Beast's life. So I have no idea what happened there.
2) The ending is the same of Gaston stabbing Beast and naturally Gaston falling from the castle. So these friends end up still killing each other. (I know Beast doesn't actually kill Gaston, but I'm sure you know what I mean by this).

I didn't like that the Beast and Belle's love story was glossed over. It's still the same love story, but feels really chopped up and not story telling. 
This was not the author's best work and I want to pretend this book doesn't exist!

The Beast Within A Tale of Beauty's Prince