Another repost. Again, I've improved greatly as a writer, and, since this is one of my favourite books, I will probably return to it at some point.
Tying together various fairy tales from through the ages in a way that is completely realistic and believable, 'Beauty' is a work of art.
Sheri S. Tepper has an odd gift of making the fantastic completely logical and believable. Beauty is a human girl, a normal girl, despite being a fairytale character. Nothing in the book seems far fetched or unbelievable, despite the nature of its inspiration.
The book is a good length (at 476 pages in the Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks edition), but nothing is stretched out more than it should be. Nor is it overly shortened. The pace is perfect.
As in all of her books, Sheri S. Tepper puts her characters in certain situations that give a lot of things for the reader to think about. Beauty travels to hell at one point; the people there are those who enjoyed horror and pain, and used it for amusement. The people in heaven are those who built beautiful things and tried to make the world better in their own way. That's an interesting definition of good and evil. Since this is set in our own world, the vision of the future that is given is fascinating and scarily plausible.
Yet despite the depth and complexities of the plot, the book is not at all difficult to read. It's the sort of book you'll finish reading, reflect on it for a moment, then turn back to the beginning and start again. All in all, fascinating.
Tying together various fairy tales from through the ages in a way that is completely realistic and believable, 'Beauty' is a work of art.
Sheri S. Tepper has an odd gift of making the fantastic completely logical and believable. Beauty is a human girl, a normal girl, despite being a fairytale character. Nothing in the book seems far fetched or unbelievable, despite the nature of its inspiration.
The book is a good length (at 476 pages in the Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks edition), but nothing is stretched out more than it should be. Nor is it overly shortened. The pace is perfect.
As in all of her books, Sheri S. Tepper puts her characters in certain situations that give a lot of things for the reader to think about. Beauty travels to hell at one point; the people there are those who enjoyed horror and pain, and used it for amusement. The people in heaven are those who built beautiful things and tried to make the world better in their own way. That's an interesting definition of good and evil. Since this is set in our own world, the vision of the future that is given is fascinating and scarily plausible.
Yet despite the depth and complexities of the plot, the book is not at all difficult to read. It's the sort of book you'll finish reading, reflect on it for a moment, then turn back to the beginning and start again. All in all, fascinating.
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