...
Show More
Oh, Anne. I knew you were a freak, but you really impressed me this time.
Ease Reading-Find Your Next Favorite Book
Community Reviews
Rating(4.2 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
39(39%)
4 stars
37(37%)
3 stars
24(24%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews
...
Show More
On re-reading this is still as obnoxious as when I read it as a teen. However, at least this time it made me realise a few things for which I have to be thankful in a way. I need to preface my review with that I'm in the lifestyle, and unlike the majority of women, and readers, I'm no submissive. I'm a sadistic Top.
This book is in all reality a more literate, concededly much more literate, version of what EL James wrote with FSoG. It's an idea of BDSM or sadomasochism based on a distinctly American concept and conditioning of female sexuality. It's not even watered down, the way FSoG is, because James was fangirling "Twilight", which is just as much an epitome of American female sexuality. No, Rice is giving you the full dose here. And I simply can't identify or associate with it. Cannot. At all. I fail to share any of these traits. I could elaborate on that now, but the list would reach from Land's End to John o' Groats and back. Suffice it to say that I wasn't socialised as an American woman, none of the pressures and behaviourisms so ubiquitous to the American culture make any sense to me. Heh, not even many of my own do. So the end-all of this is that to me most erotica/BDSM-erotica penned by American women read like medical case studies. Not the nice and acceptable (to me) cases either. It's definitely nothing I'd wish to emulate, and all my reactions are either awry or reversed when compared to the typical reactions of female American readers.
When reading BDSM or a book containing sadomasochistic practices which is supposed to excite me, I need to identify with THE TOP. I need to experience what he or she experiences, I need to feel their glee and enjoyment. I also need to sense the emotions of the bottom, however not in any way getting off a submissive reader, no, the sadistic Top in me needs to get off on what the literary Top incites in that bottom! As Rice however states already in her recently written foreword, this book is written for and from the perspective of the submissive. And that was a lightbulb-moment for me! Yes-yes-yes! Thank you lady! Every bloody damn BDSM book I read these past months was geared to get off a submissive reader. Which meant regularly a female submissive reader, an American female submissive reader. No wonder I dislike so many books. I've a reaction which is probably very similar to that of a gay man who reads same-sex erotica, and all he can buy are lesbian erotica and erotic romances, and not even of lesbians of his own country, no, of some society which has wholly different sets of behaviours and taboos. Even the very few Femdom books do not feel right, because they do not feast the male submissive, or give insight into the female Top, they again are written to satisfy American female (submissive) readers who rarely understand what is attractive in a male bottom.
Finally, I am sick, sick to my back-teeth of authors of whatever kind for trying to paint D/s or M/s, especially the TPE variants, as being the top of the pops, the absolute pinnacle of BDSM, outshining everything else, while deriding and belittling, or downright vilifying S & M and all the other tastes. No. NO. D/s is not better than S & M, it's not saner, not more humane, not some sort of needlepoint to the coarse stitching of the cobbler. No single taste of the BDSM alphabet is in any way better or more acceptable than the other. Sadism isn't simply kicking or beating the poop out of a bottom either, it's not gross or an insult to the finer roads of life. No, stop that shaming already! Because that's what so many writers do, they shame whole sub-segments of the lifestyle. Which is what this book does to the nth degree. I find that particularly unacceptable.
So, insofar re-reading this was helpful enough.
This book is in all reality a more literate, concededly much more literate, version of what EL James wrote with FSoG. It's an idea of BDSM or sadomasochism based on a distinctly American concept and conditioning of female sexuality. It's not even watered down, the way FSoG is, because James was fangirling "Twilight", which is just as much an epitome of American female sexuality. No, Rice is giving you the full dose here. And I simply can't identify or associate with it. Cannot. At all. I fail to share any of these traits. I could elaborate on that now, but the list would reach from Land's End to John o' Groats and back. Suffice it to say that I wasn't socialised as an American woman, none of the pressures and behaviourisms so ubiquitous to the American culture make any sense to me. Heh, not even many of my own do. So the end-all of this is that to me most erotica/BDSM-erotica penned by American women read like medical case studies. Not the nice and acceptable (to me) cases either. It's definitely nothing I'd wish to emulate, and all my reactions are either awry or reversed when compared to the typical reactions of female American readers.
When reading BDSM or a book containing sadomasochistic practices which is supposed to excite me, I need to identify with THE TOP. I need to experience what he or she experiences, I need to feel their glee and enjoyment. I also need to sense the emotions of the bottom, however not in any way getting off a submissive reader, no, the sadistic Top in me needs to get off on what the literary Top incites in that bottom! As Rice however states already in her recently written foreword, this book is written for and from the perspective of the submissive. And that was a lightbulb-moment for me! Yes-yes-yes! Thank you lady! Every bloody damn BDSM book I read these past months was geared to get off a submissive reader. Which meant regularly a female submissive reader, an American female submissive reader. No wonder I dislike so many books. I've a reaction which is probably very similar to that of a gay man who reads same-sex erotica, and all he can buy are lesbian erotica and erotic romances, and not even of lesbians of his own country, no, of some society which has wholly different sets of behaviours and taboos. Even the very few Femdom books do not feel right, because they do not feast the male submissive, or give insight into the female Top, they again are written to satisfy American female (submissive) readers who rarely understand what is attractive in a male bottom.
Finally, I am sick, sick to my back-teeth of authors of whatever kind for trying to paint D/s or M/s, especially the TPE variants, as being the top of the pops, the absolute pinnacle of BDSM, outshining everything else, while deriding and belittling, or downright vilifying S & M and all the other tastes. No. NO. D/s is not better than S & M, it's not saner, not more humane, not some sort of needlepoint to the coarse stitching of the cobbler. No single taste of the BDSM alphabet is in any way better or more acceptable than the other. Sadism isn't simply kicking or beating the poop out of a bottom either, it's not gross or an insult to the finer roads of life. No, stop that shaming already! Because that's what so many writers do, they shame whole sub-segments of the lifestyle. Which is what this book does to the nth degree. I find that particularly unacceptable.
So, insofar re-reading this was helpful enough.
...
Show More
The Prince wakens Beauty from her century of sleep--and then, as his reward for saving the castle, takes her as his prize. He leads Beauty back to his kingdom, where foreign princes and princesses are trained to be sexual slaves, willingly submitting to the most "depraved" desires. The fairy tale premise strips the story of characterization and justifies an unbelievable land where Beauty and a hundred other royals undergo public and state-sanctioned humiliating display, oft-repeated spankings, and sexual encounters which never require consent. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty has a few darkly erotic moments but quickly disintegrates into repetition, and lacks character growth which might grant it some sense of purpose. I do not plan to read the sequels, and I do not recommend this book.
Initially, the premise of Claiming appears to have beautiful simplicity, but this simplicity is its biggest downfall. An untouched Beauty, woken from endless sleep into vivid life by a Prince--the concept leads easily into sexual overtones. However, fairy tales are brief and reiterative, and trade character for archetype: the sleeping Beauty, the warrior Prince. Rice maintains both aspects. She cannot sustain the simple concept over a novel's length, and the story quickly becomes repetitious: humiliation, spankings, sex, humiliation, spanking, sex. Beauty believes that each instance is worse than the last, but it's hard for the reader to agree. Not much varies besides the order of events, and sometimes a slave is tied up for a while or there's a bit of sodomy, but other than that the book drives in the same circle until the end. Beauty and Prince have little characterization outside of their titles, and while Beauty eventually encounters characters with names and the ghost of an identity, on the whole characterization is kept to a minimum. Without characterization, there is no character growth and no one for the reader to identify with and care about, stripping the story of any sense of purpose.
To be fair, the whole book is not a cycle of simple repetition. Claiming has a few moments of dark eroticism, where the encounter is conceived in such a way that it is appealing to the sympathetic mind (which is to say that the content tends towards idealized sexual violence not unlike BDSM, and may not suit all readers). Such moments, however, are the exception rather than the rule. The number of spankings, each one just like the one before, is so exaggerated that one begins to wonder if Rice has a fetish. On a less humorous note, the variations on sex and punishment tread on the edge of objectionable--not because the two can't be intermixed, but because Rice intermixes them without stopping for consent. To a certain extent, the fairy tale setting justifies this: the Prince's kingdom is an absurd land stripped of characters and run on fetishized sex, wholly unbelievable and therefore excused from rational details like reasonable doubt and sexual consent. But the setting can't excuse the fact that the book begins when the Prince rapes Beauty to wake her and then orders her into slavery against her will. Nevermind the fact that Beauty is forever aroused by her trails--the fantasy of the entire book is still tainted.
There is ample room in literature for erotic fairy tales--especially for eroticism that reveals or revels in the darkness of human nature. (The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter is a breathtaking example of such, and I highly recommend it.) The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, bogged down by blank-faced characters and dozen of identical spankings, plummets where it should soar. The result is a novel with only moments of erotic interest, never thought-provoking or intriguing but instead unbelievable, repetitious, and slightly unsettling. Rice cannot maintain the concept over a mere 250 pages, and I doubt that the two sequels are any better--I don't plan to read them. I was disappointed by this book, and I don't recommend it.
For interested readers, there is also a glorious, spoiler-and-sex heavy review by Yahtzee (of Zero Punctuation) of the entire Sleeping Beauty series. It's much funnier than my review and also entirely accurate, and I recommend it even if you never plan to read the books.
Initially, the premise of Claiming appears to have beautiful simplicity, but this simplicity is its biggest downfall. An untouched Beauty, woken from endless sleep into vivid life by a Prince--the concept leads easily into sexual overtones. However, fairy tales are brief and reiterative, and trade character for archetype: the sleeping Beauty, the warrior Prince. Rice maintains both aspects. She cannot sustain the simple concept over a novel's length, and the story quickly becomes repetitious: humiliation, spankings, sex, humiliation, spanking, sex. Beauty believes that each instance is worse than the last, but it's hard for the reader to agree. Not much varies besides the order of events, and sometimes a slave is tied up for a while or there's a bit of sodomy, but other than that the book drives in the same circle until the end. Beauty and Prince have little characterization outside of their titles, and while Beauty eventually encounters characters with names and the ghost of an identity, on the whole characterization is kept to a minimum. Without characterization, there is no character growth and no one for the reader to identify with and care about, stripping the story of any sense of purpose.
To be fair, the whole book is not a cycle of simple repetition. Claiming has a few moments of dark eroticism, where the encounter is conceived in such a way that it is appealing to the sympathetic mind (which is to say that the content tends towards idealized sexual violence not unlike BDSM, and may not suit all readers). Such moments, however, are the exception rather than the rule. The number of spankings, each one just like the one before, is so exaggerated that one begins to wonder if Rice has a fetish. On a less humorous note, the variations on sex and punishment tread on the edge of objectionable--not because the two can't be intermixed, but because Rice intermixes them without stopping for consent. To a certain extent, the fairy tale setting justifies this: the Prince's kingdom is an absurd land stripped of characters and run on fetishized sex, wholly unbelievable and therefore excused from rational details like reasonable doubt and sexual consent. But the setting can't excuse the fact that the book begins when the Prince rapes Beauty to wake her and then orders her into slavery against her will. Nevermind the fact that Beauty is forever aroused by her trails--the fantasy of the entire book is still tainted.
There is ample room in literature for erotic fairy tales--especially for eroticism that reveals or revels in the darkness of human nature. (The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter is a breathtaking example of such, and I highly recommend it.) The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, bogged down by blank-faced characters and dozen of identical spankings, plummets where it should soar. The result is a novel with only moments of erotic interest, never thought-provoking or intriguing but instead unbelievable, repetitious, and slightly unsettling. Rice cannot maintain the concept over a mere 250 pages, and I doubt that the two sequels are any better--I don't plan to read them. I was disappointed by this book, and I don't recommend it.
For interested readers, there is also a glorious, spoiler-and-sex heavy review by Yahtzee (of Zero Punctuation) of the entire Sleeping Beauty series. It's much funnier than my review and also entirely accurate, and I recommend it even if you never plan to read the books.
...
Show More
don’t look i’m being horny on main
...
Show More
I was all for reading a little naughty fairy-tale erotica from an author I liked - but wow. The whole sub/dom theme (the title really should be "The Spanking Of Sleeping Beauty") was funny at first, then ridiculous, and eventually just tedious. Meh.
...
Show More
One of the worst books I've ever read in my life.
...
Show More
Warning - ADULT CONTENT
This book was really my introduction into Erotica and is definitely an eye opener. I agree with one of the other reviewers in that this is so well written by Anne Rice (Pen Name A. N. Roquelaure) that you may be ruined for other Erotica - I was.
This book basically picks up on the fairy tale where the Prince awakens Sleeping Beauty with a... He then takes her back to his kingdom where she is basically a slave along with many others that are being groomed for nobility. The BDSM life that they lead there is basically a rite of passage for most before they become full noble men and women. A kind of finishing school, if you will.
This book is the introduction to a series of three books. It really initiates you into the fantasy. Spankings and various other acts that you wouldn't necessarily dream up on your own abound... You must be able to completely give yourself over to the fantasy - leave your inhibitions and women's empowerment at the door and enjoy.
This book was really my introduction into Erotica and is definitely an eye opener. I agree with one of the other reviewers in that this is so well written by Anne Rice (Pen Name A. N. Roquelaure) that you may be ruined for other Erotica - I was.
This book basically picks up on the fairy tale where the Prince awakens Sleeping Beauty with a... He then takes her back to his kingdom where she is basically a slave along with many others that are being groomed for nobility. The BDSM life that they lead there is basically a rite of passage for most before they become full noble men and women. A kind of finishing school, if you will.
This book is the introduction to a series of three books. It really initiates you into the fantasy. Spankings and various other acts that you wouldn't necessarily dream up on your own abound... You must be able to completely give yourself over to the fantasy - leave your inhibitions and women's empowerment at the door and enjoy.
...
Show More
I read this series when I was a rebellious teenager. I picked it up again as an adult and didn't make it through the first book. It's more shocking than anything else, and IMO it was more about creating an image of the lifestyle than telling a story.
...
Show More
immediately no
...
Show More
First off: Are reviewers here doing their job when reading? Aren't we supposed to abandon our preconceptions when opening a book? On that note, this is one of those books. In order to fully enjoy it, I have some recommendations:
1) This series IS NOT EROTICA. This is full blown pornography. If we define erotica as the mere suggestion of the sex act, whereas pornography comprises descriptive and graphic depictions of sex scenes, then this book is pornography. And, if your religious, republican, right-wing, or "bug-crawled-up-your-arse" sensibilities are easily offended by pornography, then this book is not for you and you should refrain from reviewing it.
2) On that note, this book deals with the BDSM (Bondage and Sado Masochism)brand of sex. If you're not even curious about it, refrain from reading and reviewing this book. If you're not open to freeing your mind or opening it a bit to other possibilities, by all means, refrain from reading at all, and just go to your farm.
3) This book deals witha fairy tale, namely Sleeping Beauty, but it touches upon other fairy tale archetypes, namely the Arabian Nights. It doesn't deal with history, real or fictionalized, and it should never be read as such.
Having dispersed some doubts, let me now proceed to make my point.
The author cleverly aims to bisexualize the reader. The scenes depicted in the books are either heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual or homosexual. There are other practices, such as dildo utilisation, fisting, ben wa balls, as well as a "garden of torture" meant to teach imprudent slaves. The dregrees of torture range from slapping the buttocks to public gang bangs. The narrator tells us that the raison d'etre behind this feast of flesh, vaginal juices and cum, is to humilliate the would-be rulers of the world, humanize them into becoming wise. As a man who has been at the receiving end of responsible BDSM, I can attest to the truth of these words. Humility is a value that has been lost to many movements, namely the Illustration, it was rescued again by the Romantics, honoured by the Modernists and altogether dropped by Postmodernists. And some feminists, mainly ultrafeminists, in their quest for egalitarian power, also forgot about it.
The series is not about a woman who is taught the arts of the flesh and how to command. The story is about a woman who revels in serving others, even while being a highborn princess. In that sense, this series rivals Machiavelli's "Il Principe", inasmuch as the story spins around the teaching of how to properly serve the people. That is wisdom. And in that sense, this series can even be read as a political treatise.
So, if you're a woman bored with your life, sick of being a maid, in search of becoming a maneater, this book is definitely not for you. It is on a whole other level. However, if you're willing to delve into the most traumatic process of skin delayering, until you see the darkest and most beautiful part of the human soul in a character, then you've come to the right place. Some parts of the books are brutal, some even downright violent. Yet there is a beauty in the whole process of becoming less in order to be more that is enticing and even healthy -in the long run- for the soul.
1) This series IS NOT EROTICA. This is full blown pornography. If we define erotica as the mere suggestion of the sex act, whereas pornography comprises descriptive and graphic depictions of sex scenes, then this book is pornography. And, if your religious, republican, right-wing, or "bug-crawled-up-your-arse" sensibilities are easily offended by pornography, then this book is not for you and you should refrain from reviewing it.
2) On that note, this book deals with the BDSM (Bondage and Sado Masochism)brand of sex. If you're not even curious about it, refrain from reading and reviewing this book. If you're not open to freeing your mind or opening it a bit to other possibilities, by all means, refrain from reading at all, and just go to your farm.
3) This book deals witha fairy tale, namely Sleeping Beauty, but it touches upon other fairy tale archetypes, namely the Arabian Nights. It doesn't deal with history, real or fictionalized, and it should never be read as such.
Having dispersed some doubts, let me now proceed to make my point.
The author cleverly aims to bisexualize the reader. The scenes depicted in the books are either heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual or homosexual. There are other practices, such as dildo utilisation, fisting, ben wa balls, as well as a "garden of torture" meant to teach imprudent slaves. The dregrees of torture range from slapping the buttocks to public gang bangs. The narrator tells us that the raison d'etre behind this feast of flesh, vaginal juices and cum, is to humilliate the would-be rulers of the world, humanize them into becoming wise. As a man who has been at the receiving end of responsible BDSM, I can attest to the truth of these words. Humility is a value that has been lost to many movements, namely the Illustration, it was rescued again by the Romantics, honoured by the Modernists and altogether dropped by Postmodernists. And some feminists, mainly ultrafeminists, in their quest for egalitarian power, also forgot about it.
The series is not about a woman who is taught the arts of the flesh and how to command. The story is about a woman who revels in serving others, even while being a highborn princess. In that sense, this series rivals Machiavelli's "Il Principe", inasmuch as the story spins around the teaching of how to properly serve the people. That is wisdom. And in that sense, this series can even be read as a political treatise.
So, if you're a woman bored with your life, sick of being a maid, in search of becoming a maneater, this book is definitely not for you. It is on a whole other level. However, if you're willing to delve into the most traumatic process of skin delayering, until you see the darkest and most beautiful part of the human soul in a character, then you've come to the right place. Some parts of the books are brutal, some even downright violent. Yet there is a beauty in the whole process of becoming less in order to be more that is enticing and even healthy -in the long run- for the soul.
...
Show More
A princess is inflicted with a curse. One where she would sleep for eternity, unless the spell is broken by a kiss of a prince.
A prince comes and bestows his lovingly affections to the lovely princess. When I say lovingly affections, I mean, him ruining Beauty's dress with a sword, raping her(she was asleep, and she doesn't give permission, which I call rape) and then giving her a kiss.
The thought (aside from the rape part), is absolutely romantic for me. I could already imagine all that the prince had to endure to save the princess, which is absolutely amazing for my standards.
Anyway, despite the rape and all the nakedness Beauty had to endure, I had continued hoping that Anne Rice could offer me something sweeter.
But alas, my expectations were not met.
There is nothing sweet in this story. And I have no idea how I was able to finish this.
Thus I could say no more, because up to now, I am still having shivers just thinking of the cruelty every slave had to endure, and the taste of anus, which unfortunately, Anne Rice described in graphic detail.
A prince comes and bestows his lovingly affections to the lovely princess. When I say lovingly affections, I mean, him ruining Beauty's dress with a sword, raping her(she was asleep, and she doesn't give permission, which I call rape) and then giving her a kiss.
The thought (aside from the rape part), is absolutely romantic for me. I could already imagine all that the prince had to endure to save the princess, which is absolutely amazing for my standards.
Anyway, despite the rape and all the nakedness Beauty had to endure, I had continued hoping that Anne Rice could offer me something sweeter.
But alas, my expectations were not met.
There is nothing sweet in this story. And I have no idea how I was able to finish this.
Thus I could say no more, because up to now, I am still having shivers just thinking of the cruelty every slave had to endure, and the taste of anus, which unfortunately, Anne Rice described in graphic detail.
...
Show More
n n
Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Amazon || Pinterest
When I was a preteen, I was out with my mom having brunch or something, and I remember these two ladies sitting nearby trying reaaaalllly hard to speak quietly, so all I could really make out was "Pssst....did you hear about...psst-psst...Anne Rice...psst-psst...erotica...pssst-psst-psst...sleeping beauty...pssst...bondage." Then they noticed that I was there and doing whatever the middle school kid equivalent of a dog staring at you with one ear lifted is, and started talking about something way less interesting.
My adolescent trash senses were tingling, but this was before the internet was really an every day thing, so I put that convo on ice and years later, as an older teen on Goodreads casually looking up erotica books to read, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, I wonder what those two secretive ladies were talking about? I'M GONNA SEE IF I CAN FIND IT."
Moral of the story: erotica is NSFB (not safe for brunch).
Also moral of the story: probably not best to discuss such things in front of little pitchers with big ears and semi-eidetic memories (not that they could possibly know that - but hey, if you ladies happen to be following me now, please consider this review personally dedicated to you, mwah)
***WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AND INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT***
Tl;dr review
"You get a spanking! You get a spanking! You get a spanking! EVERYONE GETS A SPANKING!"
(I tried to find a funny spanking gif to put her but when I looked at Tumblr and typed in spank, everything was all porn - so no gifs for you today, sorry.)
I'm not even going to try to pretend that Amazon is going to let me get away with this posting this review to their site, so this is going to be one of those (rare) instances where I'm not going to self-censor. I'm sure somebody has managed to come up with a PG-rated review of this book, and I'm equally sure that review doesn't mention the people staked out in the gardens with sugar syrup smeared on their genitals and insects biting their flesh as "punishment," or the people being literally pushed around on the floor by their masters by giant butt-dildos on sticks. These are crucial bits of info that I feel the public should know prior to purchase.
I'm also not a sadist. The concept of sadism in and of itself frankly repulses me a little. I get that some people are into that, and if you find someone who would like to do that stuff with you and there's consent and that's your jam, then whatever, but I find it totally off-putting and do not enjoy reading about it. Especially when there is NOT consent. And not only is there sadism in this book, none of it is consenting. So that's doubly not fun for me.
The premise of this book is really strange. Only the first chapter really follows the fairytale. The prince finds Sleeping Beauty, rapes her, and then announces to her family that he's taking her as Tribute. Apparently his kingdom is notorious for this: they get attractive princes and princesses from other kingdoms to keep as slaves as "tithes." Which begs the question: why is everyone going along with this? They seem so busy investing their treasury in things like gold ben-wa balls, bejeweled fisting gloves, and silver paddles that I can't see them investing in things like a militia, so what's to stop one of those neighboring kingdoms from being all, "Hey, no, you know what? Fuck this, I see your paddle and raise you eight hundred gentlemen on horseback armed with rifles and cannons."
Beauty is subjected to multiple humiliations: paraded about naked, where she's molested by total strangers, raped again by the prince, spanked, spanked, spanked, and yes, spanked some more, paraded about in front of all the courtiers (naked) while bound and being humiliated and spanked and also yes groped and molested some more, then she's taken outdoors and given pony shoes and spanked up and down the gardens, then she's foisted off to the prince's mother to be sexually assaulted and spanked some more, and on top of this she's fed wine and food on the floor like a dog and is only allowed to dress and undress people with her mouth, and at the very end of the book she finally gets to sleep with the one guy she actually likes - a fellow slave - and the book ends with his recollections of his punishments which include, but are not limited to, being anally raped with a whip, having numerous ben-wa balls shoved up his butt which he is then instructed to poop out, being thrown in rotting garbage while being molested, groped, etc, and oh, yes, constant spankings and rape. (FYI: Breasts are spanked, butts are spanked, dicks are spanked, vaginas are spanked, et al.)
This really is the poor man's Marquis de Sade, because as much as I freaking hate de Sade, he did it first (or at least, most famously) and he shocked the hell out of everyone. Anne Rice tries to do the same, but it's mostly just gross and depressing and sad. Beauty spends most of the book in tears, and the people around her just bully her so ruthlessly, telling her that she deserves her punishments, but also that she'll be punished when she doesn't deserve it because they enjoy punishment, threatening her constantly but then praising her beauty and saying how good she is - this book shouldn't be called THE CLAIMING OF SLEEPING BEAUTY, no; it should be called THE GASLIGHTING OF SLEEPING BEAUTY. The entire book is literally all of these fucked up people telling her that they are making her better, that they are helping her, that they are giving her what she deserves.
If it were me, I'd be like, BITCH. GIVE ME THAT PADDLE. I'M GOING TO BEAT YOUR HEAD WITH IT. (But then, if I were a character in this book, I'd totally be one of those people saying, "Um, yeah, they're so busy doing all that crazy stuff right now, maybe we should bring in our military to free those people they are CLEARLY keeping as prisoners of war and not humanely, either!")
Given that I read bodice rippers, I know some people are going to be surprised at the low rating. I should note that I don't usually have issues reading about rape or dub/non-con in romance, as long as it isn't romanticized or gaslighting the audience into thinking this is normal/acceptable behavior. In this instance, it really bothered me because I felt like the rapes in this book were being roped off with the rest of "that BDSM stuff" as typical kinky nonsense, and no, real kink is all about consent.
The writing isn't so great, either. The word "little" is used every other page, it feels like, and the descriptions of sex themselves are kind of nauseating.
Beauty's breath became uneven, and she felt the moisture between her legs as though a grape had been squeezed there (146).
Leon's quick, graceful fingers had probed her navel, then smoothed into it a paste in which he set a glittering brooch, a fine jewel surrounded by pearls. Beauty had gasped. She felt as if someone were pressing her there, trying to enter her, as if her navel had become a vagina (117).
...with his left hand felt the soft hairy little pelt between Beauty's legs... (17)
...he suckled her breasts almost idly as though taking little drinks from them (17)
Now that I think about it, KUSHIEL'S DART and CAPTIVE PRINCE both had very similar premises to this book (fantasy kingdoms whose courts/culture revolve around BDSM-like goings-on), to the point where I can't help but feel that they were probably indirectly inspired by THE CLAIMING at the very least. The difference is that both those books actually made an attempt at world-building and character-building, and there was some court intrigue beyond "OH NO! TWO PEOPLE WANT TO SPANK ME TONIGHT - WHO WILL GET TO WIELD THE PADDLE?" I actually liked CAPTIVE PRINCE.
Somebody with the ebook version seriously needs to do a word count of how many times "little" was used in this book. I feel like it was probably 100+ times, it was so noticeable.
I can't believe there are 3 more books in this series.
1 star
Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Amazon || Pinterest
When I was a preteen, I was out with my mom having brunch or something, and I remember these two ladies sitting nearby trying reaaaalllly hard to speak quietly, so all I could really make out was "Pssst....did you hear about...psst-psst...Anne Rice...psst-psst...erotica...pssst-psst-psst...sleeping beauty...pssst...bondage." Then they noticed that I was there and doing whatever the middle school kid equivalent of a dog staring at you with one ear lifted is, and started talking about something way less interesting.
My adolescent trash senses were tingling, but this was before the internet was really an every day thing, so I put that convo on ice and years later, as an older teen on Goodreads casually looking up erotica books to read, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, I wonder what those two secretive ladies were talking about? I'M GONNA SEE IF I CAN FIND IT."
Moral of the story: erotica is NSFB (not safe for brunch).
Also moral of the story: probably not best to discuss such things in front of little pitchers with big ears and semi-eidetic memories (not that they could possibly know that - but hey, if you ladies happen to be following me now, please consider this review personally dedicated to you, mwah)
***WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AND INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT***
Tl;dr review
"You get a spanking! You get a spanking! You get a spanking! EVERYONE GETS A SPANKING!"
(I tried to find a funny spanking gif to put her but when I looked at Tumblr and typed in spank, everything was all porn - so no gifs for you today, sorry.)
I'm not even going to try to pretend that Amazon is going to let me get away with this posting this review to their site, so this is going to be one of those (rare) instances where I'm not going to self-censor. I'm sure somebody has managed to come up with a PG-rated review of this book, and I'm equally sure that review doesn't mention the people staked out in the gardens with sugar syrup smeared on their genitals and insects biting their flesh as "punishment," or the people being literally pushed around on the floor by their masters by giant butt-dildos on sticks. These are crucial bits of info that I feel the public should know prior to purchase.
I'm also not a sadist. The concept of sadism in and of itself frankly repulses me a little. I get that some people are into that, and if you find someone who would like to do that stuff with you and there's consent and that's your jam, then whatever, but I find it totally off-putting and do not enjoy reading about it. Especially when there is NOT consent. And not only is there sadism in this book, none of it is consenting. So that's doubly not fun for me.
The premise of this book is really strange. Only the first chapter really follows the fairytale. The prince finds Sleeping Beauty, rapes her, and then announces to her family that he's taking her as Tribute. Apparently his kingdom is notorious for this: they get attractive princes and princesses from other kingdoms to keep as slaves as "tithes." Which begs the question: why is everyone going along with this? They seem so busy investing their treasury in things like gold ben-wa balls, bejeweled fisting gloves, and silver paddles that I can't see them investing in things like a militia, so what's to stop one of those neighboring kingdoms from being all, "Hey, no, you know what? Fuck this, I see your paddle and raise you eight hundred gentlemen on horseback armed with rifles and cannons."
Beauty is subjected to multiple humiliations: paraded about naked, where she's molested by total strangers, raped again by the prince, spanked, spanked, spanked, and yes, spanked some more, paraded about in front of all the courtiers (naked) while bound and being humiliated and spanked and also yes groped and molested some more, then she's taken outdoors and given pony shoes and spanked up and down the gardens, then she's foisted off to the prince's mother to be sexually assaulted and spanked some more, and on top of this she's fed wine and food on the floor like a dog and is only allowed to dress and undress people with her mouth, and at the very end of the book she finally gets to sleep with the one guy she actually likes - a fellow slave - and the book ends with his recollections of his punishments which include, but are not limited to, being anally raped with a whip, having numerous ben-wa balls shoved up his butt which he is then instructed to poop out, being thrown in rotting garbage while being molested, groped, etc, and oh, yes, constant spankings and rape. (FYI: Breasts are spanked, butts are spanked, dicks are spanked, vaginas are spanked, et al.)
This really is the poor man's Marquis de Sade, because as much as I freaking hate de Sade, he did it first (or at least, most famously) and he shocked the hell out of everyone. Anne Rice tries to do the same, but it's mostly just gross and depressing and sad. Beauty spends most of the book in tears, and the people around her just bully her so ruthlessly, telling her that she deserves her punishments, but also that she'll be punished when she doesn't deserve it because they enjoy punishment, threatening her constantly but then praising her beauty and saying how good she is - this book shouldn't be called THE CLAIMING OF SLEEPING BEAUTY, no; it should be called THE GASLIGHTING OF SLEEPING BEAUTY. The entire book is literally all of these fucked up people telling her that they are making her better, that they are helping her, that they are giving her what she deserves.
If it were me, I'd be like, BITCH. GIVE ME THAT PADDLE. I'M GOING TO BEAT YOUR HEAD WITH IT. (But then, if I were a character in this book, I'd totally be one of those people saying, "Um, yeah, they're so busy doing all that crazy stuff right now, maybe we should bring in our military to free those people they are CLEARLY keeping as prisoners of war and not humanely, either!")
Given that I read bodice rippers, I know some people are going to be surprised at the low rating. I should note that I don't usually have issues reading about rape or dub/non-con in romance, as long as it isn't romanticized or gaslighting the audience into thinking this is normal/acceptable behavior. In this instance, it really bothered me because I felt like the rapes in this book were being roped off with the rest of "that BDSM stuff" as typical kinky nonsense, and no, real kink is all about consent.
The writing isn't so great, either. The word "little" is used every other page, it feels like, and the descriptions of sex themselves are kind of nauseating.
Beauty's breath became uneven, and she felt the moisture between her legs as though a grape had been squeezed there (146).
Leon's quick, graceful fingers had probed her navel, then smoothed into it a paste in which he set a glittering brooch, a fine jewel surrounded by pearls. Beauty had gasped. She felt as if someone were pressing her there, trying to enter her, as if her navel had become a vagina (117).
...with his left hand felt the soft hairy little pelt between Beauty's legs... (17)
...he suckled her breasts almost idly as though taking little drinks from them (17)
Now that I think about it, KUSHIEL'S DART and CAPTIVE PRINCE both had very similar premises to this book (fantasy kingdoms whose courts/culture revolve around BDSM-like goings-on), to the point where I can't help but feel that they were probably indirectly inspired by THE CLAIMING at the very least. The difference is that both those books actually made an attempt at world-building and character-building, and there was some court intrigue beyond "OH NO! TWO PEOPLE WANT TO SPANK ME TONIGHT - WHO WILL GET TO WIELD THE PADDLE?" I actually liked CAPTIVE PRINCE.
Somebody with the ebook version seriously needs to do a word count of how many times "little" was used in this book. I feel like it was probably 100+ times, it was so noticeable.
I can't believe there are 3 more books in this series.
1 star
Leave a Review