Rose Daughter

Possibly even more boring than McKinley’s first go at the Beauty and the Beast story, Beauty, which was a dull enough read. There was far too much housekeeping, and gardening for my tastes.

I can’t understand the impetus to return to the same fairy story for a second time, but still hew so close to both the tradition version and your own first version. It can’t help but feel redundant. I had assumed this was going to take something different from the original inspiration, but I was disappointed. We can’t all be Angela Carter, but a little more interrogation of the previous texts would have been nice.

I also don’t really see the need to set a fairytale in a fantasy landscape where magic is mundane, merely in order to explain its existence. It’s not really true to fairy stories, and I feel like it reduces the impact of the appearance of an enchanted beast in the story if the characters already live a life where ‘greenwitches’ are everywhere and it’s quite normal to have a dragon as a pet.

Also, the phrase ‘greenwitch’ replaces the name ‘Ger’ from the previous book in being the word used 3 or 4 times a page. Not only is this gratuitous, but every time it appeared I briefly read it as Greenwich. Which was a bit annoying.

This was really lovely. I read this immediately after reading Beauty and it was pretty cool to see how McKinley was able to re-weave and bolster this story twenty years later. I liked the way she deepened the backstory for Beauty's sisters and gave them story lines of their own (I kinda want a book about Lionheart). The town they moved to was really cool and full of interesting characters. I loved the rippling background of the curse and the green witch and Beauty's mother. It was all really good stuff.

Again, I did think the ending was a little too abrupt. There was one big info dump and a really swift wrap-up. It was better than Beauty in that respect, but I still could have used a little more time to reveal so much.

But oh, man. The roses didn't super get to me, but the little animals definitely did. The hedgehogs!!! <3

Robin McKinley's Rose Daughter tells the story of Beauty and the Beast, which she has already told before, and in my opinion, better, in [Book:Beauty]. She claims she felt she had to retell the story when she learned more about roses, after cultivating them. Never have I read a book before where I felt so much like the author was simply marking time until she got to the bit with the compost. Manure provides an important climactic moment. She certainly manages to convey what roses mean to her, but sadly, I'm afraid they don't have quite that importance to me.

Not to say this is a bad book. I'd loan it to a friend without qualms, but I wouldn't let anyone buy it new. The plot is a bit of a mess; it feels like she wasn't quite sure what was happening herself, so she threw in a lot of details in the hope that some of them would fall in a story-shape. There's no attempt at a real explanation for any of what happens, which to me is sort of the point of retelling fairy tales.

It is, however, remarkable for being a book that addresses one of the most common complaints about Disney's Beauty and the Beast. But telling you that complaint might constitute a minor spoiler, so stop reading now if that is a concern for you: in the end, the interesting beast is not substituted for the boring prince.

I've read two other McKinley books and picked up this book because I've enjoyed her writing thus far. I didn't realize that Rose Daughter was another re-telling of Beauty and the Beast. I was into the book, quite enjoying it right up until the part where the merchant father got word that one of his ships had made it back to port. Immediately I thought, oh no!

I only thought this because I'd already read McKinley's previous Beauty and the Beast re-telling entitled Beauty. In comparison, I liked Beauty a lot better than I liked Rose Daughter.

Rose Daughter is...complex. That's the only word that comes to mind. I won't bore anyone reading my review on what the book is about. If you've read any of the non-Disney versions of Beauty and the Beast, you'll know how this story goes.

I was reading a few reviews before I sat to write my own. I was glad to see that one reviewer said exactly what I had wanted to say on this book.

Number one complaint is that this book has absolutely, positively no conflict. Naturally, there is potential for conflict throughout the story. For example, Beauty's sister, Lionheart, dresses as a boy and gets a job as a stablehand. Certain individuals guess her identity, but keep it secret for their own purposes. In my humble opinion, I thought that McKinley could've done more about this and added something here to give the story a little kick.

Other than that, there are pages and pages of Beauty waking up. She tends the roses. They bloom. She trims dead branches away from the Beast's dying rose bushes. She encounters interesting things and creatures around the Beast's home. And so on, and so on. By the time I hit page 90 of this book, I must confess I was already getting a little bored. I was waiting for something to happen. And even when something finally did, it was already anticipated. The father takes the Beast's rose. Beast demands Beauty come in her father's place. Beauty stays with the Beast...

*Yawn.*

The only thing I have left to say is that if you decide to read McKinley's re-telling of Beauty and the Beast, pick Beauty or Rose Daughter, but not both. I've already stated I preferred her first re-telling. However, maybe you're one of those readers that like books with a lot of fluff and simple conflict. If that's the case, read this book.

This author's style is consistent and engaging, the plot well thought through. May not have enough action for kids. Also, I liked McKinley's other adaptation of Beauty and the Beast better than this one.

2.8
This was one of the weirdest journeys I have undergone in my reading career. I liked this story quite a lot, but it infuriated me in equal measure. My issue lies mainly with the prose which, ironically, was one of the core strengths of the novel as well.
My initial diatribe was a bit over the top, but I have since calmed down. The best and kindest way I can think to put it is this: can we encourage the use of periods once more? Have they gone out of fashion? How many ands could one justifiably use before we call it a day? All questions I continuously asked myself whenever a monstrous/clunky sentence (paragraph really) like the following appeared:
/
“She wept until her throat hurt and her eyes were sore and her head ached, and then she stopped because she was too tired to weep anymore. ”
/
“But then the world straightened out, with a lurch she seemed almost to feel, and there was a door to the outside, which opened for her, and she stepped through it and was in the courtyard she had seen from her balcony, and the glasshouse was in front of her.”
/
“She ran to watch them go and saw them briefly twinkling against the dizzy whiteness of the palace and the dazzle of the glasshouse, and then they disappeared round a corner, and she saw them no more.”
/
“She cut and lopped and hacked and sawed, and then she stopped long enough to water her cuttings and check her seedbed, and then her stomach told her it was lunchtime, and she went back to her bedroom balcony, and lunch was waiting for her.”
/
“She nodded against his breast and put her hands and feet on the rungs again, and he released her, and they started down the last part of their journey.”
/
“He stepped off it first and had his hands round her waist to steady her as her feet touched the wet pebbles of the courtyard, but she slipped and slithered on the suddenly treacherous surface, and her ankles twisted and her knees would not hold her, and she was so tired her mind played tricks on her, and she was not sure but what she was still alone on the top of the ladder and feeling it shifting under her as the wind prepared to throw it down.”
/
“And the smell, everywhere, was so rich and wonderful Beauty wanted to cup her hands to it and drink it, and yet it was not one smell, but all the rose scents discernible and individual as all the colours of roses: the spicy ones, and the ones that smelt of apples or grapes or of oranges and lemons, and the ones that smelt of almonds or of fine tea, and most particularly the ones that smelt only as certain roses smell, and they were the most varied and seductive of all.”
/
“She turned to examine her cuttings, and all the little bushes were knee-high, and all had flower-buds, and the first of these were cracking open, and at their feet an exuberance of heartsease foamed green and purple.”


Aside from the overly long sentences, the novel suffered some phrasing issues:
“…said Jeweltongue, who lay next to her and was awakened by Beauty’s violence.”
“the bright doorway was blocked by a Beast who stood there.”
“It was very splendid and very, very large, and she felt very small, and shy, and shabby…”


Truly lastly, I also disliked the ending very much. Not only for the twist, but the last 2 chapters were simply poor on a quality level. It felt rushed, confusing and left so many things up in the air. I was expected to shrug my shoulders and move on with my life, I guess. I am doing my best not to factor in the logistics of what the ending implies but it is very hard .


To list some positives (for there are many):
I really loved how the relationship between the sisters was portrayed. I am so happy that healthy female relationships took centre stage. Moreover, their love for each other felt believable which made it all the more touching.
The arc that both her sisters undergo was so unique and empowering. It made them so easy to root for.
I truly loved the magical and whimsical aspects of the book. They kept me interested and reading all the way through… till the last 2 chapters that is. The final “showdown” was written so confusingly and honestly made me cringe. Alas, I digress again.
The imagery was genuinely phenomenal at times. I would be remiss to omit my acknowledgment that most of the prose read lyrically and beautifully. The AND behemoths were not the standard, though they were hard to ignore and thoroughly soured any remaining goodwill I had.


The fairytale aspect, on its own, was a 4/5 for me and the relationships between the characters (including the buildup of the romantic relationship) was an easy 5/5. The resolution of the Beauty and Beast’s love for each other was reached within… 7 days?! PLEASE. Given more time, this would have been an absolute banger.

So yes, I would say: less ands and(

I enjoyed how Robin McKinley's second adaptation of this story makes more fine-tuned use of the enchanted setting – if Beauty was a straightforward retelling with comfy magical elements, Rose Daughter stirs the pot and adds sorcerers, greenwitches, magical salamanders, and spells, among many, many other charmed things.

The foremost word I'd have to describe book is cozy. Indeed there are a great deal of agreeably cozy tropes that I've by now come to recognize as the author's fingerprints: a heroine with great affinity for critters of all kinds, places that shift sometimes to your liking and sometimes to your great puzzlement, magic described as both slow-creeping but still hanging thick in the air at every turn... it was fun falling into them and just letting myself get enchanted. And then there's that trope that greatly pleases the inner child in me who fell in love with The Secret Garden: the protagonist bringing a seemingly-dead, overgrown wilderness of a place back to life. As usual, the author employs her particular skill of making me fall in love with what the protagonist loves – in this case, gardening and roses.

As a long time reader, I recognize the bones of the story, of course, and appreciated that the author, as usual, portrays Beauty's sisters as real and good-hearted people and that all sisters have a deep-seated sibling love for each other— no trace of the sibling villainy from the original tale here! Then there's the Beast himself. I like how the book actually touches on exactly what a lonely man-turned-monster does all by himself in his isolated castle, and how that exile has turned his heart stranger by the time Beauty comes along.

Now as for a certain aspect of the ending: honestly, I've never been a Team Stay Beastly person: it is not at all a trope that matches up to my id, and I never got into that whole Shape of Water thing, and all that. But it will work for the people who like the trope, I suppose, and I don't particularly mind the way it was executed here.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a good Beauty and the Beast retelling, if they're looking for a potential comfort-read take on a familiar story and especially if they're up for something a little more indulgent in magical aspect of the tale.

Robin McKinley writes very well indeed, but if this book is anything to judge by, her plotting is lackadaisical. This builds up slowly towards what should be a strong finish; the villain is revealed in all his blackguard villainy - and is then flicked out like a light - poof! After that, we meander to another climax, which is dealt with in an equally desultory fashion. A character who has been flitting in and out in mysterious ways since the beginning subsequently pops up to explain the whole intrigue behind the Beast's predicament, but the explanation seems contrived and unconvincing. We are left to understand that the real villain - not that one, another one - has in some way or another been hoist by his own petard.

I read this because Ursula Vernon recommended it, and found in it inspiration for her own retelling of the tale. Vernon's version is more vigorous and a lot more fun, McKinley's poised prose notwithstanding. Neither of them are able to shake off the bourgeois moralism of Mme Leprince Beaumont's tale. Vernon does catch the echoes of Bluebeard that are heard even more clearly in earlier versions, such as Straparola's Re Porco.