The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty

Disclaimer: I read this book on a dare. I'm not a fan of pure erotica and I'm no expert in BDSM, so it was pretty much obvious from the start that I wouldn't enjoy this read. That's why I'm not rating this book, as it wouldn't be fair to lower its average rating "on purpose" - not that I think one rating would cause such "damage", but anyway...

So, how should I start this review ranting of mine? ;) Okay, how about the plot? Plot?!? Yes, dear friends, this book has a plot - an absurd and underdeveloped one, but a plot nonetheless. I don't feel like giving away any more of my damaged brain cells to this nightmare, so I'll just copy/paste the plot summary given at the beginning of the 2nd book, Beauty's Punishment:

After her century-long slumber, the Sleeping Beauty opened her eyes at the kiss of the Prince, to find her garments stripped away and her heart as well as her body under the rule of her deliverer. At once, Beauty was claimed as the Prince's naked pleasure slave to be taken to his Kingdom.
With the grateful consent of her parents, and dazed with desire for the Prince, Beauty was then brought to the Court of Queen Eleanor, the Prince's mother, to serve as one of hundreds of naked Princes and Princesses, all playthings of the Court until such time as they should be rewarded and sent home to their Kingdoms.
Dazzled by the rigors of the Training Hall, the Hall of Punishments, the ordeal of the Bridle Path, and her own mounting passion to please, Beauty remained the undisputed favorite of the Prince and the delight of her sometime Mistress, the lovely young Lady Juliana.
Yet she could not ignore her secret and forbidden infatuation with the Queen's exquisite slave, Prince Alexi, and finally the disobedient slave, Prince Tristan.
After glimpsing Prince Tristan among the disgraced of the castle, Beauty, in a moment of seemingly inexplicable rebellion, brings upon herself the very same punishment destined for Tristan: to be sent away from the voluptuous Court to the degradation of harsh labor in the nearby village.

That doesn't sound too bad, does it? Well, if you think so, just read my status updates to get a "tastier" insight into the extremely kinky, painful and humiliating sex antics Beauty and the other love slaves go through over the course of this book. I gasped, I frowned, I cringed and I gagged - oh boy! - but I also rolled my eyeballs and laughed hysterically at what was supposed to be erotic and thrilling. I "blame" Ms. Rice's juvenile writing for that: it was wordy and redundant, the story didn't flow effortlessly and all characters were one-dimensional and unlikable - in summary, this book became downright boring after the initial shock provided in the 1st chapters. I had to drink myself into almost oblivion to finish this read.

Now, how can an erotic story be boring? One word: repetition. Every other page, there was someone being spanked. Beauty and any other (un)fortunate love slave in sight got spanked for everything, over and over again. Oh, you bad girl, you need to be punished... Spanked! Very good, my girl... Spanked! I'm not amused. Spanked! You're so exquisitely beautiful!... Spanked! Are those tears of joy I see running down your face?... Spanked! I love you so much!... Spanked! Spanked! Spanked! Gaaaaah!

All things considered, I can't say I hated this book. I was irritated and coudn't wait to be done with it, but that wasn't out of utter disgust. It was out of sheer boredom. Even though this book is definitely out of my comfort zone, it could have kept my interested if Ms. Rice had filled its pages with all sorts of kinky stuff. Like I said above, I'm not familiar with the BDSM scenario and I could have been easily thrilled (in a good or bad way, it doesn't matter) by whatever "novelty" she wrote. Alas, all the excitment died after the 1st chapters and I didn't "learn" anything new... Disappointing!

Started skimming at 38% just to see how it ended. Definitely not picking up the rest of this trilogy. Maybe it's just that this is exceptionally dated erotica, but I found it boring and lacking any real sense or plot. There was just too much sex (I can't believe I'm saying that about an erotica read). No character development and no real story, just lots of sex and degrading/humiliating situations. Also, just to clarify, this is NOT a retelling. The first chapter is basically a retelling, when Beauty is awaken by the Prince, the rest is liberties on what maybe could've happened after she woke up.

AND!!!! I can't handle how many times sentences started with this word in the story, it drove me absolutely nuts! I can maybe handle it for some sentence starts but I really don't ever see a reason it should be used as a start to a paragraph. I'm so glad I got this from the library and didn't spend $10 on the Kindle version from Amazon!!

Sweet dreams are made of this, who am I to disagree?

Although I personally found this novel to be more holocaust than erotica, I appreciate that Anne Rice was brave enough to put it all out there--especially in 1983. Even in a post-Fifty Shades society, it's edgy and shocking. The fantasy world she creates is captivating. I think it is meant to be both grotesque and sensual. I happened to view it only as grotesque, but even still it kept my attention. Not enough to read the rest of the series, but I didn't feel as if I wasted my time. A decent read if you're looking for something very, very different.

Sleeping Beauty was not awoken with a kiss. Story of O, eat your heart out! I admit my daughter woke me up at 3.30am today and had trouble settling back down, so instead of attempting sleep between noises I finished this little gem. Smoothly written, easy to read erotica, yes, but somehow passionless with plenty of bondage, degradation, non-consensual acts and punishment. There is so much of it that it does become tedious in places, "spanking, again?". It is a deviant little world that has been created, and one wonders if anyone in the land has heard of the missionary position.

It's been a long time that I'd read this book that I forgot the year when I read it. But I do know that I've read all three books of this series at the same year.

I was curious as to why the title was related to Sleeping Beauty. Knowing Anne Rice works, I was expecting a different kind of thriller or possibly a romance novel since it was written in a pen name AN Roquolaire.

I was surprised when I finaly read this book, the first chapter, I can say, have shocked me. Well, not really shocked me, but it wasn't what I was expecting. Anne Rice has written something that most people or individuals who doesn't want to divulge to anyone that they read this kinds of materials.

But this book or rather series, was written artfully. Although it was full of sexual acts, masochism, pain and whatever you may want to call it, I find the books very pleasant to read (do not be dirty minded people, i meant it artfully not physically (,") ) and very educational.

It wasn't morally uplifting, although showing how much you can give to a person, how much humility one can achieve, well... its just in the story. but then again, Anne Rice has brought forth her sexuality into this books. It doesn't mean that she's a masochist but passionate and a woman who needs. The book has shown how much a woman and men a like can thrist for something they knew not existed due to laws, close mindedness perhaps, or even social misconceptions or beliefs.

Apart from knowing how sexual this book is, it made me think that anyone can find what they need deep in themselves if they throw away pretensions and simply reflect on what they have in their hearts and soul regardless if it is degrading, physically immoral (as they say) or pleasure.

This is how I saw it. For all the three books, that is. I hope you find it as entertaining as I had.

I've heard lots about this trilogy, good and bad. It's been touted as great BDSM fic, an erotic fairytale and a great read. There were voices that said it's vile and horrible. There seemed to be no middle ground

Curious, I requested the books on Netgalley when Penguin made them available as a re-release.

Curiosity killed the cat. I should have remembered that old adage.

Despite my usually high tolerance for kinky stories, I struggled through this book, with my teeth clenched and my fists balled in anger. I felt sick to my stomach on many occasions, especially when Prince Alexi tells the tale of his own abuse and degradation.

Whoever claimed that the story told in this book has anything to do with BDSM ought to look up the term and learn that one of the key elements of BDSM is the ability to make it stop, with a safeword that ends either the scene or the relationship. It's also supposed to be sane, safe and consensual.

None of the slaves in this book gave their consent for the treatment they received, nor was it sane or even safe. No thought was given to the fact that injuries would occur, especially if someone is sodomized repeatedly without lube, or proper preparation.

No, this book is about abuse, repeated rape degradation, humiliation, breaking the spirits of young, innocent boys and girls and spanking. It describes the pain, horror and fear these boys and girls experience at the hands and tools of their masters, after having been thrust into this world of sexual sadism without an explanation and being simply expected to obey, in all things, no matter how abusive and humiliating those things are.

Did I mention spanking? Spanking, as punishment or for the amusement of the vile people who are in charge. Spanking with bare hands and paddles and leather covered sticks. Spanking while strung up like a roast pig, spanking while scurrying on hands and feet to pick up things, spanking while bridled (incl. bit) and wearing hoof-like shoes, running for your life. Spanking while having a rod inserted into your anus to hold you up. Spanking, spanking, spanking. Spanking until your behind is welted and bruised (which isn't spanking but beating, but let's not split hairs).

I can't even call this a rape fantasy, because that still would require that the slaves in this book have any kind of recourse to stop the fantasy.

Alas, they have none. None whatsoever. NONE.

I don't understand why the author shrouded this as the retelling of a fairytale. There's nothing remotely romantic or erotic about any of the plot, contents, or characters. Nor does it have anything to do with awakening someone's sexuality.

There's not even much emotion in it. Sure, Prince Alexi confesses his love for Beauty, but I can't believe that he knows what it really means, considering his own story. I don't think any of the characters in this book know the true meaning of love.

The characters are one-dimensional, without any emotional depth. The only one that somewhat intrigued me was Prince Alexi, who then lost all points with me when he unemotionally recounted the tale of his own abuse.

The writing style, keeping it in the tone of a fairytale, also doesn't lend itself to showing. We're told of emotions, but I could never actually comprehend them in the given situations. Lady Juliana professes to 'love' Beauty, but does nothing to help her situation. The Prince who claims her professes to be obsessed with her, that he loves her like no other, yet is the one who begins the rape, abuse and humiliation.

And the Queen, his mother, is the vilest of them all. Her conduct is sadistic and cruel and utterly reprehensible, and her depravity knows no end.

Strangely enough, she doesn't seem to have a husband. I wonder if that means anything.

Perhaps I'm missing the point. There is a scene at the end of this book in which Beauty takes a stand and manipulates the situation to get an outcome she desires (albeit one that may not be in her best interest), which is the only time her character shows any kind of backbone. This is the only reason I will likely read the next book, because I'm curious enough to want to see what will happen next.

Cats have nine lives, right?

Also, if you decide to call a male penis an organ or a phallus throughout the entire book, then you probably don't want to call the matching female anatomy a vagina. That just didn't gel for me.

One positive thing I can say about this book is that Ms. Rice succeeded in keeping the writing tone (not the plot or the contents) to that of a fairytale.


I received a free ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

This is a scrumptious sexual feast from Anne Rice, writing under a pseudonym. It picks up the Sleeping Beauty tale from the moment the Prince kisses her and spins a three-book saga of what happens next. Beauty is whisked off to the Prince's kingdom, but discovers that before she can marry him, she must follow the laws of his land and do as the other princes and pricesses do. That is, she must surrender to several years of humiliating sado-masochistic sexual servitude at the hands of the aristocracy and become a sex slave! If she passes this test, she will be allowed to marry the Prince and regain her royal status.

This book is like porn. You don't need to read it cover to cover. The chapters are written from the points of view of Beauty and her male friends. Each chapter contains a delicious sex scene, and most are GAY! The chapters written from the perspective of Beauty's male friends are so astoundingly graphic I remember them to this day. In one, the hot prince Laurent is forced to become a "pony" after misbehaving. He and the other ponys must run around the village fully naked all day, linked to a carriage with harnesses, and sporting dildos with horsetails attached. If they ever lose their erections, the "ponys" are severly whipped, but they must never try to alleviate their boners by brushing against one another. Thus they spend their days in excruciating blue-balled agony until the special day when they are set loose inside a walled-in garden and allowed an hour to spend themselves. The ensuing orgy of dangerously horny ponies is a wonder to behold.

3.5 Stars



After a one hundred year slumber, Beauty is awakened by a handsome Prince who introduces her to his kinky kingdom. During this time, Beauty’s initiation to submission involves her own lessons, as well as, learning from others.

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“You’re mine. And you won’t find me such a hard master. Only a very thorough master. When you think night and day and every moment only of pleasing me, things will be very easy for you.”

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Told in third person, the story feels like naughty story time with the reader experiencing the unknown as Beauty is thrown into debauchery. Wanting to be the Prince’s treasured slave, Beauty tries to please and come to terms with how much she enjoys the pleasure of pain and humiliation.

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“You are a slave. The highest thing that you can do is please, so you sought to do it, and not only in response to her paddling and her commands, but in that moment of your own will.”
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This story is one that has different elements that pushes many boundaries. With this being the first volume about Beauty’s immersion, much still remains to be revealed about the landscape and integral characters. While I found this fairytale retelling quite intriguing, more of a connection with the characters and less telling would have been more effective for my preference. Nonetheless, I am curious about Beauty’s new journey.

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty is a fantastically erotic interpretation of a classic tale.

Sleeping Beauty series:
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*This was a (F)BR with Twinsie Hawkey!*



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