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Cruel Beauty & Crimson Bound – Rosamund Hodge


*These books are not translated to Dutch*

Cruel Beauty – Rosamund Hodge 
 This is my first retelling of  fairytale. I wasn’t what to expect. I knew it would be darker than the tale we’re used to. As in the Disney Beauty and the Beast story. I liked it. The first sentence was for me the trigger to read it. “I was raised to marry a monster”

In Arcadia the people live under the rules from the Demon Lord, The Gentle Lord. He strikes bargains. But with every bargain there is price you have to pay. 

Nyx’s father strikes a deal with the Gentle Lord as his wife couldn’t bear children. He wanted to make her happy and having children would make her more happy than anything else. The price to pay is his daughter to marry him when she’s 17 years old. 
Her sister Astria is the reason that her mother died at childbirth. Their father wants to keep her and loves her because she reminds her so much of his beloved wife. Nyx hates her. She doesn’t want to be the one who has to be sent away and she never wanted be raised as a killer. Nyx’s is supposed to kill the Gentle Lord as soon as she arrives at his castle. But when she arrives at the home of the Gentle Lord, it isn’t as she expected…
While reading this book you recognise a lot of names from the Greek Mythology, I really like that! I really think it’s nice when, while reading a story, you’ll learn about other stories too. Some stories don’t change, no matter what world you are in. 
I liked this book, as I said I liked the Greek Mythology aspect to the story and I like it that you don’t know more than Nyx does, you are Nyx while reading this book. Also I like that is a bit darker story, cause the original Grimm fairytales are dark too. The cover is beautiful and I also like the ending, maybe it was to be expected, but it had a different twist than I thought it would. 

Four stars.

Crimson Bound – Rosamund Hodge

This book is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, but much darker. When Rachelle was fifteen years old she was apprenticed to her aunt, training to protect her village from dark magic. Dark magic that will lead the world to eternal darkness. Fifteen years old and still reckless she strayed from the path in the forest. There she had a meeting with one of the most evil beings in the world. She made a deal that turned her in a Bloodbound (like a bloodhound) and now she works for the king. Killing the other Bloodbounds, to save the world from evil.

The king wants to travel to his summer estate and he wants to take his son with him. He puts his son under the protection of Rachelle. Together they want to defeat the dark, but at what cost? And will they be on time?


The story is set in France, as I read about how they dress I think it is set in the 18th century. And I like that, and I looked up where the story is set and it is origin form Italy, but it is told many times in different versions in Europe. ‘

In this version “Little Red” turns into a “wolf” and I like that aspect of it! In the TV-show Once Upon A Time she also turns into a wolf.

I had high hopes for this book, because I really Red Riding Hood story and I thought it would be a thrilling story. But it was kind of disappointing. I had thought that it would be more mysterious and more exciting. It started kind of slow and I had some trouble with that. I like to be dragged into a story and not so much leading to it.

Three stars

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