Ummm...I don't even know where to start. This book was definitely a far cry from the 'Sleeping Beauty' I remember from childhood. LOL! I love a good, dark, erotic story, but this was just bizarre. I had to create a new shelf for this one, named 'WTF did I just read'.

Aside from the overzealous paddle-wielding, the story wasn't really particularly "dark". Nope, the shocking nature of this tale seemed to come from it's complete and total strangeness. It was just so damn weird!

I mean, who the hell administers a rudimentary enema in a kitchen, anyway! I'm surprised the castle's resident perverts didn't all die of foodbourne illnesses with some of the nasty things going on in the kitchen. Yuck! I wasn't turned on, I wanted to file a complaint with OSHA or the Department of Health. Again, not sexy at all!

To top it all off, none of the characters were the least bit appealing. I didn't feel even the slightest connection with any of them. The blurb sounded promising, but unfortunately, the execution left much to be desired.

I'm a firm believer in "different strokes for different folks". Hey, some people like to be defecated on. Whatever. Sounds pretty disgusting to me, but who am I to judge! So if this book does it for you, then more power to you. For me, this book sucked in a big way!

This is a very disturbing read.

I thought, right! 2019 was my resolution to read some books from my backlist AND to read a couple of books out of my comfort zone.

I wish I hadn’t had read this!

I’m no prude. I’ve read erotica in the past but this was NOT erotica, this was sadistic and utterly appalling.

A retelling of Sleeping beauty......
WTF
She wasn’t woken with a kiss, oh no, she was raped as she woke. WTF was up with this author?!

Then he claims her as his sex slave. This crossed the line.

It wasn’t consented sex, it was demeaning and degrading to women. Unless you are some sort of fiend and sadistically warped individual.

Then.....
To “punish” certain ones, let’s cover them in sweet syrup, on their genitals.....
Have them get bitten by insects.

I am at a loss to even get into this authors mind......I DON’T WANT TO....

There’s sensual erotica.

Rape
Demeaning sexual acts performed on females
Sex slaving


Remember.......this is a retelling of sleeping beauty.

Well, go.......FY

I have never given such a review as this.

Smut is one thing
This is quite beyond sexual fantasy my dear author.

I can’t help comment/review this book from the perspective of someone who has read it before and has recently read it again.
As a whole I like to think of the trilogy like a flower. The first novel is the bud and then by the time you get to the end of the third novel it’s in full bloom.
Claiming starts of with innocent little Beauty being “awakened” by the Prince. I like how innocent Beauty is because as the reader you’re innocent to this new world she is introduced to as well, this being a fairy tale after all, and you get to warm up to it like she does as if this is the setting stage for what is to come. By the end of it Beauty is still innocent but she’s really only touched the surface and so has the book so the ending isn’t really all that surprising and I think the perfect prelude to the next one.
I highly recommend this for anyone into the SM genre or if you are an erotic lit reader but want some shock value then by all means read it. Mind you, if you’re narrow minded forget about it because the “shocks” (when I say shocks I mean for vanilla people) start right from the beginning and become more intense, imaginative and descriptive as the Rice delves further into the psychological factors of it.

Many years ago, as rumor has it, Anne Rice set out to prove that the world of erotica was not limited to male writers. It was her contention, so the story goes, that a women could contribute to this genre just as well, if not better.

And so, under the pen name A. N. Roquelaure, Anne created a trilogy of intense sado-masochistic erotic novels loosely based on the fairytale "Sleeping Beauty."

To say that these books are overwhelmingly intense is not to state the case. It is possible to read them without having a predeliction toward the acts that are graphically described on almost every page, but be warned that Anne, aka Roquelaure, pulls no punches, and there is absolutely nothing subtle or hinted at in these books.

In the traditional folk tale "Sleeping Beauty," the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a Prince. Anne Rice's retelling of the Beauty story probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire.

Here the Prince reawakens Beauty, not with a kiss, but with sexual initiation. His reward for ending the hundred years of enchantment is Beauty's complete and total enslavement to him…as Anne Rice explores the world of erotic yearning and fantasy in a classic that becomes, with her skillful pen, a compelling experience.

Keep in mind that this book will put off anyone who does not see romance and sensuality in a power exchange. If you can't tolerate the idea that a woman, or man, may actually wish to submit to another person because they wish to please the Dominant then the concepts will probably seem too far fetched to keep your attention. Also, if you are put off by homo-erotic concepts then you'd best keep a distance. It's not for everyone, but for those open to the above mentioned "flavors" then the book will probably be entertaining at the very least.

It is easy to understand the deep eroticism of Rice's witch and vampire books after sampling the Beauty chronicles. For many many years, I imagined Rice as a veritable cauldron of bubbling thoughts, erotic and otherwise, sane and otherwise, struggling to break free.

Anne knew what she was doing, and she did it, as only she can, in a spectacular manner. Again, be warned: If you are going to read the Beauty Chronicles, expect pure, savage erotica, with nothing hidden or explained away. I read these novels to gain more insight into what makes Rice tick. I did not come away unshocked or unscathed, but I certainly read her later works with a new understanding.


Book Details:

Title The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty (Erotic Adventures of Sleeping Beauty, 1)
Author Anne Rice writing as A. N. Roquelaure
Reviewed By Purplycookie

Oh no,no,no,no,no,no......NO!!

n  What in the name of Holy Mother was that???n

A JOKE???

Because seriously,if it is then call me dumb but I don't get it!!


Now first of all,let me clarify that I love erotica and the fact that this story was supposed to be an erotic-retelling of Sleeping Beauty, captured my attention.

My heartfelt apology to all those other reviewers who warned Readers away.I did not heed their warnings because I was too curious.

But I guess,in this case at least,the age old saying came pretty true....

Curiosity killed the cat!!!

---------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway,here we see the Prince(oh,my heroic prince),heroically scales the walls and bushes and thorns and all the other stuff to rescue Beauty(cursed to sleep with her kingdom). And then as soon as he sees her,he tears her gown with his sword wakes her up by having sex with her(she was still asleep by the way and woke up during the end) and then claims her.

By claiming her if you're thinking he claims her as his princess and they ride away to the sunset,you are very wrong.

He claims her as his SLAVE.


Now ever since I had read my first fairy tale,Cinderella,I had always dreamed of a Prince Charming,loved him,sighed with my friends over him,and just...LOVED him.

And look at this Prince Charming....


n  "Now everyone is going to want to have a look at Beauty," the Prince said to the Captain of the Guard. "Bind her hands over her head by a rope from the sign over the Inn gate,and let the people have their fill of her.But no one is to touch her.They can look all they like,but you stand guard and see that no one touches her."n


Now at this point I stopped to ask....

What the hell is happening???

I went through the blurb of this book again to see if this book was a parody of fairytales and BDSM.

It was not!!

Hence my original question....

IS THIS A JOKE???

And now Readers,the beginning where the Prince finds the princess and takes her (I'm not going into a discussion whether it was rape or not) and then wakes her up,was actually the best part of the story.Yes,you heard me right.The story became more and more ridiculous as it progressed.

And the worst part.....

Nowhere did I feel the urge to laugh!!


I am sorry,but I cannot tell you about it anymore!!**shudders**

Henceforth,I'm going to try my best to forget all about it......

------------------------------------------------------------------
n  Update---n

Okay,one more thing.As I was explaining to my friend,if these were meant to be taken as sick,twisted and dark things,it would have been different.I do love dark erotica and am currently reading one.

But here,it was presented as if these are our greatest fantasies come to life.Now,I do not know about fantasies,but definitely NIGHTMARES for me!!!


That's all for now,

Ta-Ta!!

3 Erotica stars

What's it about? A tale in which Sleeping Beauty's prince is more perverted than charming.

The best bit: A wonderful beginning. Terrific idea.

The worst bit: A strange middle which sets out more to shock than anything else.

Recommended for: Fans of bdsm/slave theme erotica with little character or plot development. However... I'd recommend the first chapter to most.

Well. I have finally managed to finish an Anne Rice book. Give this girl a cookie! I've tried to read Anne Rice in the past, and time after time, with book after book, I get bogged down in the details and the descriptions and the descriptions of the details and the details of the descriptions of the details... and then I just get annoyed with the amazingly intricate and beautifully molded front door (or whatever) she's describing and throw the book at the wall in aggravation.

So I think it's quite an accomplishment to have finally managed to finish SOMETHING Anne Rice has written. Unfortunately, I wish I hadn't. Or, more accurately, that I hadn't started it to begin with.

I know that Anne Rice can write beautifully and evocatively when she remembers that she's telling a story and isn't bogged down showing us every little blade of grass. I can see that much before the book becomes a Wallbanger of Frustration. But this one... My goodness. It was bad. It was like Rice dictated the book to a secretary, who had only marginal experience with the English language, and transcribed the book in their native language, afterwards rendering it back into English using nothing but an ESL phrasebook and a thesaurus.

There was no emotion in this book, no feeling, no plot, no point. It was like Rice set out to try to meld the Sleeping Beauty fairytale ending (where the prince comes to awaken her and happily ever after), with 120 Days of Sodom - only without any mutilation. It's like a 273 page pain fantasy with an emphasis (emphasis on emphasis) on spanking, which just happens to feature Beauty from the fairytale - only naked, humiliated, deflowered and spanked. How many different ways can one be spanked? Not that flippin' many. With a hand, with a paddle, with a strap, with a stick - it's spanking. I'm sure some people find it to be a turn-on, and I can maybe understand that even if I'm not one of those people, but when 1/2 of a book is nothing but spankings, that stops being anywhere near arousing, and starts being really boring and repetitive.

The main character, Beauty, is awakened by being raped by the Crown Prince, who then claims her as his sex slave and takes her back to his castle where she joins many, many others in this "service". There's no lack of imagination regarding the different trials that they slaves are put through, but there hardly seems a point to it either. There's certainly not a story here - it's just event after event after event. Beauty cries and cries and cries, but she loves her captors and wants to please - if only they would tell her how.

Hardly any sex at all occurs in this book, actually, and what is there seems barely worth mention. It's done, it's over. Occasionally, Rice would stack it up, so that they go 2, 3, even 4 times in a row, which is apparently so that she can get it over and done with and get back to the "story's" focus... This is all about the pain, the frustration, the humiliation, the domination and submission of people against their will.

I am no prude, but I don't get how this would do anything for anyone but those with a very specific set of fetishes which feature abuse and rape. Because that's really what this is about... repeated abuse and rape. And spankings. But OK - roleplay and dominance and submission is fun, sure. But eventually you get tired of the game and get down to business, right? There's some goal there, right? There's not in this book. These slaves are tormented and made to live in a constant state of arousal and pain and punishment without release. I don't know of any man who would be able to keep it fully locked and loaded 24 hours a day and still be able to walk, let alone crawl and serve in any capacity. Especially not under duress. It's completely unrealistic. So much of this was, but I want to try to keep this review NC-17 at least, so I won't go into specifics.

And then, as if that is not enough, Rice feels the need to philosophize on what it means to be a true submissive. On and on and on she has one character go, about the need to yield and submit and blah blah blah. He then goes on to say that after being molested and repeatedly anally raped by a rotating band of brutish kitchen hands, that he learned how to submit and how to please his masters appropriately and enjoy it. WTF?

Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed with this. I'm all for some naughty, rough, dirty or whatever books from time to time... But my gosh, even porn has a story - even if it's a stupid one. This was just an abduction with a string of varied abuses following it until the pointless end.

Do yourself a favor and give this one a pass.

n  n

Audio #24

This series was my introduction to erotica oh, about 25 years ago. I thought I'd revisit it, and it's still quite impressive.

This is the second classic erotica novel I've ever read and like the first, I'm at a loss for words. Which isn't helpful when you're trying to write a review.

Here's what I do know: You will never see me act as the moral authority on sexually explicit literature.

Moreover, if you consider yourself sex-positive, I caution you to keep in mind when reading other reviews that their biases, prejudices, and wilful misunderstanding of BDSM and kink are informing 90%+ of their reviews.

Let me sit with this one for a bit and I'll update it as my opinions coalesce.

I'm not rating this because I couldn't finish it, and I don't feel it's right to rate a book unless you've digested the entire thing. But I did want to make it clear why I gave up on this book. I'm not a prude, not real squeamish when it comes to sex, and have no problem with consensual BDSM. Key word there being "consensual". The sexual situations in this book are anything but consensual. The "Prince" regularly degrades, humiliates, and dehumanizes Beauty, and she never objects, never attempts to stand up for herself. The rest of the characters fall into one of the same two camps, as well, either callous, unfeeling rapists or horribly abused victims. The feeling this book incited in me was far from erotic. It felt closer to pure, unadulterated rage. I guess if you're into books where the author's sole purpose was to write about as much sex as possible, and you're OK with people treating each other worse than they would treat an animal, you might like this book. Otherwise, don't waste your time.

Tentacles, that's what this book was missing.