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Sleeping Beauty #3
Beauty's Release
From Anne Rice, author of Beauty's Kingdom, the third book in the erotic Sleeping Beauty series
Before E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey and Sylvia Day's Bared to You,, there was Anne Rice’s provocative take on the timeless fairy tale “Sleeping Beauty. “ In the final volume of Anne Rice's deliciously tantalizing erotic trilogy, Beauty's adventures on the dark side of sexuality make her the bound captive of an Eastern Sultan and a prisoner in the exotic confines of the harem. As this voluptuous adult fairy tale moves toward conclusion, all Beauty's encounters with the myriad variations of sexual fantasy are presented in a sensuous, rich prose that intensifies this exquisite rendition of Love's secret world, and makes the Beauty series and incomparable study of erotica. In it, Anne Rice, writing as A.N. Roquelaure, makes the forbidden side of passion a doorway into the hidden regions of the psyche and the heart.
Before E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey and Sylvia Day's Bared to You,, there was Anne Rice’s provocative take on the timeless fairy tale “Sleeping Beauty. “ In the final volume of Anne Rice's deliciously tantalizing erotic trilogy, Beauty's adventures on the dark side of sexuality make her the bound captive of an Eastern Sultan and a prisoner in the exotic confines of the harem. As this voluptuous adult fairy tale moves toward conclusion, all Beauty's encounters with the myriad variations of sexual fantasy are presented in a sensuous, rich prose that intensifies this exquisite rendition of Love's secret world, and makes the Beauty series and incomparable study of erotica. In it, Anne Rice, writing as A.N. Roquelaure, makes the forbidden side of passion a doorway into the hidden regions of the psyche and the heart.
238 pages, Paperback
First published June 3, 1985
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December 23, 2010Disclaimer: I read the 1st book on a dare and the 2nd one out of curiosity - you can read my status updates and my reviews here and here, if you're interested. I have no plausible excuse for reading this last book. I just had to read it. After everything I had to endure during the previous books, I deserved to know Beauty's ultimate fate. Sure, I could have simply skipped ahead and read the last pages, but I made myself go through the whole enchilada - and that's why I said I had no plausible excuse to justify my reading it, LOL. Once again, I'm not rating this read for the same reasons I stated in my reviews on the previous books.
Since this is the last book in the series, I can't do what I did previously and copy/paste the plot summary usually given at the beginning of the next book. Considering that my poor brain cells are still pretty damaged, I'm taking the easy path (again) and copying/pasting/editing the plot summary I found on Wikipedia:
Beauty's Release begins with the captured royal slaves' journey on the ship to the Sultan's realm, where they are to become mute sex toys or living sculptures to decorate the Sultan's gardens, bedrooms, bathrooms, hallways, doors, etc. After their arrival at the exotic land of the Sultan, the slaves are examined by Lexius, the Sultan's steward, and separated.
Beauty is taken to the harem, where she meets the Sultan's wives and experiences a new level of sexual humiliation, pleasure and pain. She is then greeted by Innana, one of the Sultan's wives, with whom she quickly falls in love.
Laurent and Tristan are taken to the Sultan's garden where they are to be mounted on crosses and whipped. But Laurent defies Lexius and the Sultan's steward takes Laurent to his private rooms, intent on giving a lesson to the rebellious slave. However, Laurent overpowers him and rapes him. Both are surprised to discover how much they enjoyed the experience, but that doesn't change the status quo... much. In public, Lexius is the powerful and unbending Master while Laurent is nothing but one of the Sultan's slaves. However, in private, Laurent and Tristan begin to train Lexius as their secret slave.
When Beauty, Tristan and Laurent start to feel comfortable and happy with their new lives, a rescue team led by the Captain of the Guard and Nicolas, Tristan's former Master and lover, arrives to take them back to the Queen's Court. Laurent convinces the Captain to take Lexius too, much to the Sultan's steward's delight. Near the end of their voyage, the Captain tells Beauty that she is to be released from the servitude because of her parents' demands and, to her great dismay, she is sent back home.
Back at the castle, the Queen agrees to take Lexius as her slave and sentences Laurent and Tristan to the Village stable, where they are made to live and work as ponies. With time, Laurent and Tristan find peace and happiness in the simple pony life, and Tristan falls in love with Nicolas again. However, Laurent's life takes another unexpected turn when his father dies: he is automatically released from the servitude and summoned back to his kingdom to become the new ruler. As every king needs to marry and produce heirs, Laurent goes in search of a princess to become his Queen. He wants a perfectly trained slave who will be more than happy to bow to her Master (aka him). Luckily for him, he just happens to know one that's available and eager: his precious Beauty. And as they ride off into the forest towards the future, they know they will live happily ever after - as the fairy tales say.
There! That's the whole plot, so you don't have to read the book anymore - unless you want to know in detail all the sexual antics that happens in this book, LOL.
Overall, I think this book was "better" than the previous in the series. The writing still sounded too simplistic and juvenile, which was odd considering the content of the book, but the characters were more intriguing. By "characters", I meant Laurent and Lexius, because Beauty was still a slutty moron and Tristan, who had caught my attention in Beauty's Punishment, was shoved into the background and had little to say. Laurent and Lexius' role reversal was interesting to follow, especially Laurent's easy ability to switch from Dom to sub and vice versa. He confused the crap out of me, but he was by far the most interesting character in the book. That doesn't mean that he was a fully-developed, 3-dimensional character, but he was one step above from being a cardboard figure.
As it happened in the previous books, secondary characters appeared and disappeared without notice and explanation. Princess Elena, Princess Rosalynd and Prince Dmitri, who were kidnapped along with Beauty, Tristan and Laurent, were sent to be and do only the gods know what as soon as they reached the Sultan's land and were quickly forgotten. What happened to them? Quite frankly, I didn't know and didn't care.
What about the sex scenes? I've got to address that, since this is an erotic book, right? Well, they were completely out of my comfort zone, but they weren't boring like the ones in The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. They were scarier than the ones in Beauty's Punishment, though. I don't feel like revisiting them in this review, so take a look at my status updates to know what I'm talking about. *shudders*
The HEA was unexpected and as random as the whole story. Laurent and Beauty had sex only once during the whole series! Considering the fact that they pretty much humped (and were humped by) everyone and everything in their vicinity, their "one-night stand" turning into everlasting love was a shock. True love comes when you least expect it, I guess.
Among all that "craziness", there were glimpses of a deeper insight into the characters' psych, but they were too few and far between to really amount to something. I wish they had been better explored, but that would have been too much to ask from an erotic book.
So, now that all is said and done, what's my final verdict? Did I enjoy reading this series? Hell no! Do I regret reading it? No. It was an experience and, as that, it was interesting. Am I interested in trying other erotic books? Not really.
And just to show that I haven't been psychologically damaged by this series, here's a nice pic to close my review:
Since this is the last book in the series, I can't do what I did previously and copy/paste the plot summary usually given at the beginning of the next book. Considering that my poor brain cells are still pretty damaged, I'm taking the easy path (again) and copying/pasting/editing the plot summary I found on Wikipedia:
Beauty's Release begins with the captured royal slaves' journey on the ship to the Sultan's realm, where they are to become mute sex toys or living sculptures to decorate the Sultan's gardens, bedrooms, bathrooms, hallways, doors, etc. After their arrival at the exotic land of the Sultan, the slaves are examined by Lexius, the Sultan's steward, and separated.
Beauty is taken to the harem, where she meets the Sultan's wives and experiences a new level of sexual humiliation, pleasure and pain. She is then greeted by Innana, one of the Sultan's wives, with whom she quickly falls in love.
Laurent and Tristan are taken to the Sultan's garden where they are to be mounted on crosses and whipped. But Laurent defies Lexius and the Sultan's steward takes Laurent to his private rooms, intent on giving a lesson to the rebellious slave. However, Laurent overpowers him and rapes him. Both are surprised to discover how much they enjoyed the experience, but that doesn't change the status quo... much. In public, Lexius is the powerful and unbending Master while Laurent is nothing but one of the Sultan's slaves. However, in private, Laurent and Tristan begin to train Lexius as their secret slave.
When Beauty, Tristan and Laurent start to feel comfortable and happy with their new lives, a rescue team led by the Captain of the Guard and Nicolas, Tristan's former Master and lover, arrives to take them back to the Queen's Court. Laurent convinces the Captain to take Lexius too, much to the Sultan's steward's delight. Near the end of their voyage, the Captain tells Beauty that she is to be released from the servitude because of her parents' demands and, to her great dismay, she is sent back home.
Back at the castle, the Queen agrees to take Lexius as her slave and sentences Laurent and Tristan to the Village stable, where they are made to live and work as ponies. With time, Laurent and Tristan find peace and happiness in the simple pony life, and Tristan falls in love with Nicolas again. However, Laurent's life takes another unexpected turn when his father dies: he is automatically released from the servitude and summoned back to his kingdom to become the new ruler. As every king needs to marry and produce heirs, Laurent goes in search of a princess to become his Queen. He wants a perfectly trained slave who will be more than happy to bow to her Master (aka him). Luckily for him, he just happens to know one that's available and eager: his precious Beauty. And as they ride off into the forest towards the future, they know they will live happily ever after - as the fairy tales say.
There! That's the whole plot, so you don't have to read the book anymore - unless you want to know in detail all the sexual antics that happens in this book, LOL.
Overall, I think this book was "better" than the previous in the series. The writing still sounded too simplistic and juvenile, which was odd considering the content of the book, but the characters were more intriguing. By "characters", I meant Laurent and Lexius, because Beauty was still a slutty moron and Tristan, who had caught my attention in Beauty's Punishment, was shoved into the background and had little to say. Laurent and Lexius' role reversal was interesting to follow, especially Laurent's easy ability to switch from Dom to sub and vice versa. He confused the crap out of me, but he was by far the most interesting character in the book. That doesn't mean that he was a fully-developed, 3-dimensional character, but he was one step above from being a cardboard figure.
As it happened in the previous books, secondary characters appeared and disappeared without notice and explanation. Princess Elena, Princess Rosalynd and Prince Dmitri, who were kidnapped along with Beauty, Tristan and Laurent, were sent to be and do only the gods know what as soon as they reached the Sultan's land and were quickly forgotten. What happened to them? Quite frankly, I didn't know and didn't care.
What about the sex scenes? I've got to address that, since this is an erotic book, right? Well, they were completely out of my comfort zone, but they weren't boring like the ones in The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. They were scarier than the ones in Beauty's Punishment, though. I don't feel like revisiting them in this review, so take a look at my status updates to know what I'm talking about. *shudders*
The HEA was unexpected and as random as the whole story. Laurent and Beauty had sex only once during the whole series! Considering the fact that they pretty much humped (and were humped by) everyone and everything in their vicinity, their "one-night stand" turning into everlasting love was a shock. True love comes when you least expect it, I guess.
Among all that "craziness", there were glimpses of a deeper insight into the characters' psych, but they were too few and far between to really amount to something. I wish they had been better explored, but that would have been too much to ask from an erotic book.
So, now that all is said and done, what's my final verdict? Did I enjoy reading this series? Hell no! Do I regret reading it? No. It was an experience and, as that, it was interesting. Am I interested in trying other erotic books? Not really.
And just to show that I haven't been psychologically damaged by this series, here's a nice pic to close my review:
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 24, 2010
I guess, in their own way, these three books really are like a fairy tale. Completely unreal. Amidst all the every day fetishistic debauchery, torture, gang rape, buggerization and constant whippings - it's the lifestyle - there is something missing. Blood. Snot. Fecal matter. A break for menstrual cycles. It is all so very clean. I mean, even going back to the very first book, where Beauty is rudely awakened by the priapic Prince - lets face it, she's been asleep for 100 years, surely she should be lying in a pool of dried and drying menstrual blood, amongst other bodily waste matter!? And the weather. There isn't any! It's obviously a constant balmy temperature with no precipitation of any kind, which is lucky for the slaves who are naked. Permanently. I guess it would be inconvenient if any of them caught a cold, because then snot would definitely get involved. Oh yes, it's a fairy tale. It doesn't have to make sense.
In this last installment of The Sex Slave Adventures of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty is kidnapped by some passing Arabs along with a few other choice love slaves and spirited off over the sea to wallow in a whole new level of debasement and animalisation. It is interesting to note that for the first time in the entire series, the word rape is used with regularity. It's not like it didn't happen before, but it is the first time it is described as such. Of course the slaves enjoy and even crave it so it doesn't matter much to them how it is defined. Lucky for Beauty she is in a constant state of sexual agitation, everything is a turn on. Nipple clamps? No problem. Whipping? Bring it on. Dildos up every orifice, even while horseriding? No sweat.
I have to admit, this series was kind of fun and easy to read, and even somewhat titillating, but beware to those with more refined tastes, you will be shocked.
In this last installment of The Sex Slave Adventures of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty is kidnapped by some passing Arabs along with a few other choice love slaves and spirited off over the sea to wallow in a whole new level of debasement and animalisation. It is interesting to note that for the first time in the entire series, the word rape is used with regularity. It's not like it didn't happen before, but it is the first time it is described as such. Of course the slaves enjoy and even crave it so it doesn't matter much to them how it is defined. Lucky for Beauty she is in a constant state of sexual agitation, everything is a turn on. Nipple clamps? No problem. Whipping? Bring it on. Dildos up every orifice, even while horseriding? No sweat.
I have to admit, this series was kind of fun and easy to read, and even somewhat titillating, but beware to those with more refined tastes, you will be shocked.
July 20, 2016
A fitting end to this High-Fantasy erotic series complete with HEA for all the characters we’ve come to love.
A Note on this Series:
I’ll not go so far as to pretend that these books represent some sort of hallmark for the genre (or of the D/s Lifestyle in general), but they are a journey worth taking if you have the metaphorical balls for it.
I’m not even going to try and pretend that I don’t wield these books as a weapon against those who are ignorant enough about the D/s Lifestyle to call Fifty Shades of Grey and its fuzzy handcuff contemporaries BDSM… Not that those books aren’t entertaining for what they are (Modern Romance with a slightly erotic, slightly kinky kick)… But let’s endeavor to call a spade a spade, people… Before someone gets their feelings hurt…
These books are completely over-the-top graphically sexual & and descriptive to the point of making the reader squirm… However, I find the psychology of the submissive much more accurate in Anne Rice’s fantasy land than it is often portrayed in the soft-core BDSM-light Erotic Romances which come across my path more frequently.
"Yes," I thought, “Do it harder. Whip me soundly for what I have done. Let the blaze of pain grow brighter, hotter.” But it was not coherent, what I thought. It was like a song in my head, made up of rhythms – The strap, my cries, the creak of the wood…I actually enjoyed this much more than the other two books which preceded it. I was particularly pleased with the way that the Sultan’s castle was described, as well as all the luscious debauchery contained within.
A Note on this Series:
I’ll not go so far as to pretend that these books represent some sort of hallmark for the genre (or of the D/s Lifestyle in general), but they are a journey worth taking if you have the metaphorical balls for it.
I’m not even going to try and pretend that I don’t wield these books as a weapon against those who are ignorant enough about the D/s Lifestyle to call Fifty Shades of Grey and its fuzzy handcuff contemporaries BDSM… Not that those books aren’t entertaining for what they are (Modern Romance with a slightly erotic, slightly kinky kick)… But let’s endeavor to call a spade a spade, people… Before someone gets their feelings hurt…
These books are completely over-the-top graphically sexual & and descriptive to the point of making the reader squirm… However, I find the psychology of the submissive much more accurate in Anne Rice’s fantasy land than it is often portrayed in the soft-core BDSM-light Erotic Romances which come across my path more frequently.
“…I felt as I always did at the core of punishment: The coming of a tranquility, a quiet place in the very center of frenzy, in which I could surrender all the parts of my being.”
June 22, 2015
I am finally done with this series!!
This was by far one of the most painful reading experiences I've ever had. As if getting taking from the castle and sold at a slave auction in the "village" wasn't enough, why not add kidnapping by a Sultan? Sure...sounds legit. Oh, and every two seconds someone was in love with someone else.
It was just the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. There was no character growth, hell, there was hardly a plot. I felt nothing for any of these characters. I literally just didn't care for them. There were parts I just skimmed because there's only so many spankings and phallus impalements that I can take. Not to mention taking what was one person's journey and turning into a multiple character story. Guess she realized Beauty just wasn't interesting enough. Problem was, neither were Tristan and Laurent.
And for the love of a higher power, don't switch from 1st person to 3rd person. It's unnecessary and takes the reader out of the story (not that there was much of one here).
I get that a lot of people like this series, and more power to them. This just wasn't for me.
This was by far one of the most painful reading experiences I've ever had. As if getting taking from the castle and sold at a slave auction in the "village" wasn't enough, why not add kidnapping by a Sultan? Sure...sounds legit. Oh, and every two seconds someone was in love with someone else.
It was just the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. There was no character growth, hell, there was hardly a plot. I felt nothing for any of these characters. I literally just didn't care for them. There were parts I just skimmed because there's only so many spankings and phallus impalements that I can take. Not to mention taking what was one person's journey and turning into a multiple character story. Guess she realized Beauty just wasn't interesting enough. Problem was, neither were Tristan and Laurent.
And for the love of a higher power, don't switch from 1st person to 3rd person. It's unnecessary and takes the reader out of the story (not that there was much of one here).
I get that a lot of people like this series, and more power to them. This just wasn't for me.
January 19, 2013
Review of the first book.
Review of the second book.
WARNING: Disturbing stuff ahead.
And here is where we hit the rock bottom.
As in, mass nonconsensual permanent genital mutilation.
I know there are some people out there that like it, but I daresay it's one kink that doesn't need pandering to. Otherwise we might just as well have Gilles de Rais erotica.
Or was it not supposed to be a kink?
It's at this point where I started to wonder if Beauty series were supposed to be erotica in modern narrow sense of the word - titillating - or just an exploration of extreme? It doesn't work well in either capacity. I daresay pacing problems and digressions would pose a problem even to people who enjoy the subject matter. Maybe even overload - there is always something sex-related going on. If it's meant to be an exploration of controversial matters - it fails to include any liquids or soft solids. (Not a fan of those, either, but as long as they are among consenting adults, I'm cool.)
It could be that this is meant to present their current captors - Turks - as evil. Unlike their kind noble masters from book one. I daresay that when put like that, it seems like horrors of book second might have been staged to show princes and princesses were better off as slaves to the nobility than roaming around. It makes even more sense given the ending.
Consequently, this is probably the least sexy of books, since the author now has to wrap up the plot somehow.
So, how does it end? We had one prominent "prince" in book one - he was ignored in book two. We had another in book two - and he is ignored here. Both of them, particularly the first one, were the only characters in their respective books that showed discontent with the whole concept. But neither of them is the one. Beauty, instead, gets raped (and I don't even mean technically as part of the games or orders - he comes to her on his own volition, no spectators, and the way the scene was written, she doesn't seem willing at all) by a newcomer. (He is not content with his situation either, but that's because he prefers to be the aggressor.) Then Beauty gets released back to her kingdom. But she is dissatisfied with her suitors because none can give her what she wants. She even starts torturing some as the test, but finds them wanting. Then, aforementioned rapist gets released early - unwillingly - because his father is dead and he is the only heir. He is grumpy because he cannot harrass any more newbie princes. But then he hears his old acquaintance is available. So he comes in to sweep her off her feet, put some genital clamps on her and ride off into sunset. They lived abusively ever after, and author gave up on any pretense of moral dilemma and kissed it goodbye, then swatted it with a carved jewel-encrusted paddle a few times for a good measure.
Review of the second book.
WARNING: Disturbing stuff ahead.
And here is where we hit the rock bottom.
As in, mass nonconsensual permanent genital mutilation.
I know there are some people out there that like it, but I daresay it's one kink that doesn't need pandering to. Otherwise we might just as well have Gilles de Rais erotica.
Or was it not supposed to be a kink?
It's at this point where I started to wonder if Beauty series were supposed to be erotica in modern narrow sense of the word - titillating - or just an exploration of extreme? It doesn't work well in either capacity. I daresay pacing problems and digressions would pose a problem even to people who enjoy the subject matter. Maybe even overload - there is always something sex-related going on. If it's meant to be an exploration of controversial matters - it fails to include any liquids or soft solids. (Not a fan of those, either, but as long as they are among consenting adults, I'm cool.)
It could be that this is meant to present their current captors - Turks - as evil. Unlike their kind noble masters from book one. I daresay that when put like that, it seems like horrors of book second might have been staged to show princes and princesses were better off as slaves to the nobility than roaming around. It makes even more sense given the ending.
Consequently, this is probably the least sexy of books, since the author now has to wrap up the plot somehow.
So, how does it end? We had one prominent "prince" in book one - he was ignored in book two. We had another in book two - and he is ignored here. Both of them, particularly the first one, were the only characters in their respective books that showed discontent with the whole concept. But neither of them is the one. Beauty, instead, gets raped (and I don't even mean technically as part of the games or orders - he comes to her on his own volition, no spectators, and the way the scene was written, she doesn't seem willing at all) by a newcomer. (He is not content with his situation either, but that's because he prefers to be the aggressor.) Then Beauty gets released back to her kingdom. But she is dissatisfied with her suitors because none can give her what she wants. She even starts torturing some as the test, but finds them wanting. Then, aforementioned rapist gets released early - unwillingly - because his father is dead and he is the only heir. He is grumpy because he cannot harrass any more newbie princes. But then he hears his old acquaintance is available. So he comes in to sweep her off her feet, put some genital clamps on her and ride off into sunset. They lived abusively ever after, and author gave up on any pretense of moral dilemma and kissed it goodbye, then swatted it with a carved jewel-encrusted paddle a few times for a good measure.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 30, 2012
I read the first book in this trilogy about four years ago, which appropriately demonstrates how well the triptych held my interest.
Truth be told, I only bothered to pick this up because my mother-in-law (who is an otherwise fabulous person of mostly sound judgement) is eating up those goddamn "50 Shades" books and asked if I had "anything like that" she could borrow. I assumed "like that" meant "erotica in three parts" rather than "steaming pile of badly written horse apples," so I figured I ought to see how this series ends because Lord knows the woman will want to talk about nipple clamps and tidal waves of man juices and human ponies with dildo tails and fully exposed pleasure-statue-people. As I found out when last year's well-attended Christmas dinner involved her asking me if I shave "down there," it's best to be ready for invasive questions asked in earnest.
Yeah, so I can't take erotica seriously. There are only so many ways you can say "penis" before you should realize that exhausting its limited clinical synonyms means that you're talking about it too much to expect anyone to maintain their Serious Face; there are only so many paradigm-shifting orgasms a human being can physically sustain. Also, I feel that sex is too easy of a sell because it's such a polarizing topic: People either want to diminish its societal-taboo status by being more open about it or they're so puritanically afraid of it that their reproductive organs have been just for show since that one confusing adolescent moment in the gym-class locker room.
This was written as well as everything else that Anne Rice has ever penned and I've read, which is to say that at least the words she overuses are pretty. But the repetition of weep/fuck/silently pontificate/lust makes the characters so flat and interchangeable. There's potential to use the story as a vehicle for accepting all gender pairings, for sexually empowering women, for exploring the nature of love and loyalty and whether the two are mutually dependent forces, but it's all lost in a flurry of people chowing down on their partners' lower halves and having an entire subcontinent of things introduced to their anal cavities. There's obvious affection or attraction warming each sexual encounter, sure, but I didn't really care because everyone would SUDDENLY! be overcome with a shattering new emotion motivated by some life-changing banality in five paragraphs anyway. There's being erotic to achieve some end, and then there's mashing together sexually charged scene after sexually charged scene to the extent that it grows boring well before it's all over.
I'm going to clean my house now because that and how I should have gone for Anais Nin instead were all I thought about for the last 50 pages of this book.
Truth be told, I only bothered to pick this up because my mother-in-law (who is an otherwise fabulous person of mostly sound judgement) is eating up those goddamn "50 Shades" books and asked if I had "anything like that" she could borrow. I assumed "like that" meant "erotica in three parts" rather than "steaming pile of badly written horse apples," so I figured I ought to see how this series ends because Lord knows the woman will want to talk about nipple clamps and tidal waves of man juices and human ponies with dildo tails and fully exposed pleasure-statue-people. As I found out when last year's well-attended Christmas dinner involved her asking me if I shave "down there," it's best to be ready for invasive questions asked in earnest.
Yeah, so I can't take erotica seriously. There are only so many ways you can say "penis" before you should realize that exhausting its limited clinical synonyms means that you're talking about it too much to expect anyone to maintain their Serious Face; there are only so many paradigm-shifting orgasms a human being can physically sustain. Also, I feel that sex is too easy of a sell because it's such a polarizing topic: People either want to diminish its societal-taboo status by being more open about it or they're so puritanically afraid of it that their reproductive organs have been just for show since that one confusing adolescent moment in the gym-class locker room.
This was written as well as everything else that Anne Rice has ever penned and I've read, which is to say that at least the words she overuses are pretty. But the repetition of weep/fuck/silently pontificate/lust makes the characters so flat and interchangeable. There's potential to use the story as a vehicle for accepting all gender pairings, for sexually empowering women, for exploring the nature of love and loyalty and whether the two are mutually dependent forces, but it's all lost in a flurry of people chowing down on their partners' lower halves and having an entire subcontinent of things introduced to their anal cavities. There's obvious affection or attraction warming each sexual encounter, sure, but I didn't really care because everyone would SUDDENLY! be overcome with a shattering new emotion motivated by some life-changing banality in five paragraphs anyway. There's being erotic to achieve some end, and then there's mashing together sexually charged scene after sexually charged scene to the extent that it grows boring well before it's all over.
I'm going to clean my house now because that and how I should have gone for Anais Nin instead were all I thought about for the last 50 pages of this book.
August 15, 2007
This sleeping beauty trilogy is the porniest book I have ever read, it is so porny it transcends its form as a book and breaks through into being a porn movie. All your categories of porn are here: straight, bi, lez, gay, threesome, foursome, orgy, s and m. This book involves so much leather and phallic shaped fruits its funny, accounting for the two stars. And don't anyone tell me I just didn't get it--this book has no literary merit no matter what anyone says.
August 4, 2010
I am not writing a review for all three books..or maybe I will just copy and paste this post to all three.
My title says is it all. These are Adult FairyTale FANTASY books. Please do not read these books and base them on real life. I need to make that clear. I LOVE these books and think about them often. They are mind blowingly wonderful but fully fantasy. I chuckle when people review "that could never happen" or something like that because, UHM YEAH! not real life. Be warned, there is major kink and lots of spanking.
Pretty much everyone in this world is bi-sexual.
The naked slaves never get cold.
Seems to skip right over winter.
No woman's periods, no STI's or STD's and constant intercourse without protection doesn't seem to result in pregnancy.
This is not a manual of the BDSM lifestyle.
There seems to be hundreds and hundreds of princes and princesses and of course, they are all beautiful.
This is out and out a full on fantasy world and it is wonderfully erotic. I am sure that these books are not everyone's cup of tea but I was very much taken in with this fantasy world.
My title says is it all. These are Adult FairyTale FANTASY books. Please do not read these books and base them on real life. I need to make that clear. I LOVE these books and think about them often. They are mind blowingly wonderful but fully fantasy. I chuckle when people review "that could never happen" or something like that because, UHM YEAH! not real life. Be warned, there is major kink and lots of spanking.
Pretty much everyone in this world is bi-sexual.
The naked slaves never get cold.
Seems to skip right over winter.
No woman's periods, no STI's or STD's and constant intercourse without protection doesn't seem to result in pregnancy.
This is not a manual of the BDSM lifestyle.
There seems to be hundreds and hundreds of princes and princesses and of course, they are all beautiful.
This is out and out a full on fantasy world and it is wonderfully erotic. I am sure that these books are not everyone's cup of tea but I was very much taken in with this fantasy world.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 9, 2011
It's nice to have finally completed this trilogy. As imaginative as they are, you really do have to brace yourself when reading these books. Since erotica is much more important than the plot in this trilogy, I'll divulge a little on this final book.
The Queen sends a rescue squad to recapture Beauty and her fellow slaves Tristan and Laurent, but not before Laurent secretly teaches the Sultan's steward Lexius what it feels like to be a slave... which, of course, Lexius very much enjoys and finally succumbs to. Tristan and Laurent are punished for a year as ponies in the stable while Beauty is sent back to her land, being reluctantly relieved of her enslavement.
I won't go into how the story ends, but it does end rather perfectly for such a twisted little series of books. So, you do walk away from the series feeling good about how things turned out.
If you're into S&M erotica, this is certainly a series to add to your collection. However, if you're a "completionist" like me and are looking to read each and every book Anne Rice has written... you may want to weave other books into your reading routine when working through these.
The Queen sends a rescue squad to recapture Beauty and her fellow slaves Tristan and Laurent, but not before Laurent secretly teaches the Sultan's steward Lexius what it feels like to be a slave... which, of course, Lexius very much enjoys and finally succumbs to. Tristan and Laurent are punished for a year as ponies in the stable while Beauty is sent back to her land, being reluctantly relieved of her enslavement.
I won't go into how the story ends, but it does end rather perfectly for such a twisted little series of books. So, you do walk away from the series feeling good about how things turned out.
If you're into S&M erotica, this is certainly a series to add to your collection. However, if you're a "completionist" like me and are looking to read each and every book Anne Rice has written... you may want to weave other books into your reading routine when working through these.
November 22, 2011
The first book was shocking. The second installment was more than shocking. Then the final book… I think I got used to these naked people walking around and having sex ALL THE TIME (they need to find a new hobby… like paint) that it got pretty boring. I had to skip pages and pages of BDSM just to find the direction of this story. It was twisted, weird and gay. I just don’t understand why Ann Rice had to shift point of views. And for my first erotic trilogy, I think I handled it well. LOL!
July 12, 2018
The last book of this trilogy begins with a strong dose of Oriental sensuality as we move into a fantastic version of the Middle East. Something very nice, as this sensuality of the East is arousing the imagination of the West for centuries, leading, of course, to many misconceptions and countless bad romantic novels, but setting the scene of erotic fantasies that the writer brings to the extreme with some very sensual scenes. The problem, however, is that while there is this interesting setting, the author does not explore it sufficiently and quickly return to the same things that she has presented to us in the first two books, repeating the same thoughts, especially in the part of male homosexuality. The only thing that changes from one point onwards is the fairy tale ending of the story, which although it was certainly expected was very nice. Sure and this is an interesting book while I did not like as much as the previous two and for this I have to rate it lower.
Το τελευταίο βιβλίο αυτής της τριλογίας ξεκινάει με μία γερή δόση ανατολίτικου αισθησιασμού καθώς μεταφερόμαστε σε μία φανταστική εκδοχή της Μέσης Ανατολής. Κάτι πολύ ωραίο καθώς αυτός ο αισθησιασμός της ανατολής εξάπτει τη φαντασία των δυτικών εδώ και αιώνες, οδηγώντας βέβαια σε πολλές παρανοήσεις και αμέτρητα κακά ρομαντικά μυθιστορήματα, στήνοντας, όμως, το σκηνικό ερωτικών φαντασιώσεων, τις οποίες οδηγεί στα άκρα η συγγραφέας, με μερικές πολύ αισθησιακές σκηνές. Το πρόβλημα, όμως, είναι ότι ενώ υπάρχει αυτό το ενδιαφέρον σκηνικό η συγγραφέας δεν το εξερευνεί επαρκώς και γρήγορα επιστρέφει στα ίδια πράγματα που μας παρουσίασε στα πρώτα δύο βιβλία, επαναλαμβάνοντας ίδιες σκέψεις καταστάσεις, ειδικά στα σημεία που αφορούν την ανδρική ομοφυλοφιλία. Το μόνο που αλλάζει από ένα σημείο και μετά είναι το παραμυθένιο τελείωμα της ιστορίας, που αν και σίγουρα ήταν αναμενόμενο ήταν πολύ ωραίο. Σίγουρα και αυτό είναι ένα ενδιαφέρον βιβλίο αλλά δεν μου άρεσε τόσο όσο τα δύο προηγούμενα, για αυτό πρέπει να βάλω χαμηλότερη βαθμολογία.
Το τελευταίο βιβλίο αυτής της τριλογίας ξεκινάει με μία γερή δόση ανατολίτικου αισθησιασμού καθώς μεταφερόμαστε σε μία φανταστική εκδοχή της Μέσης Ανατολής. Κάτι πολύ ωραίο καθώς αυτός ο αισθησιασμός της ανατολής εξάπτει τη φαντασία των δυτικών εδώ και αιώνες, οδηγώντας βέβαια σε πολλές παρανοήσεις και αμέτρητα κακά ρομαντικά μυθιστορήματα, στήνοντας, όμως, το σκηνικό ερωτικών φαντασιώσεων, τις οποίες οδηγεί στα άκρα η συγγραφέας, με μερικές πολύ αισθησιακές σκηνές. Το πρόβλημα, όμως, είναι ότι ενώ υπάρχει αυτό το ενδιαφέρον σκηνικό η συγγραφέας δεν το εξερευνεί επαρκώς και γρήγορα επιστρέφει στα ίδια πράγματα που μας παρουσίασε στα πρώτα δύο βιβλία, επαναλαμβάνοντας ίδιες σκέψεις καταστάσεις, ειδικά στα σημεία που αφορούν την ανδρική ομοφυλοφιλία. Το μόνο που αλλάζει από ένα σημείο και μετά είναι το παραμυθένιο τελείωμα της ιστορίας, που αν και σίγουρα ήταν αναμενόμενο ήταν πολύ ωραίο. Σίγουρα και αυτό είναι ένα ενδιαφέρον βιβλίο αλλά δεν μου άρεσε τόσο όσο τα δύο προηγούμενα, για αυτό πρέπει να βάλω χαμηλότερη βαθμολογία.
June 13, 2008
WARNING - ADULT CONTENT
So, if you got this far into the series, you know that nothing is sacred. Men with men, women with men, women with women and sometimes several at a time. This is the final book in a trilogy penned by Anne Rice (A. N. Roquelaure).
All of them are very well written for what they are - Erotica. Some are getting hung up on the literary worth, but if you are in the market for this type of book... you can't really go wrong with this series.
After Beauty is awakened by the Prince, she is taken to his kingdom for an education of sorts in BDSM. Something that seems to be a rite of passage for nobility. After some rebellion, her punishment is to be sent to the village where the education is not in as comfortable a setting. In this final book, Beauty is actually taken prisoner by a Sultan and confined to his Harem.
These books are a version of the BDSM world. Master and slave, punishment and reward. The ultimate reward to these characters comes in learning how not to lead an ordinary, mundane life. The ending is sweet while still remaining true to the kink factor.
Leave your inhibitions at the door and these books might just surprise you.
If you like the world of the Sultan, there is another book I would recommend - "The Seraglio." It is a look at life in the harems of Turkey(?) It is not sexually explicit, but it is an interesting read. Additionally, if the sexual concepts here appeal to you - check out the movie "Secretary" with James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhall.
So, if you got this far into the series, you know that nothing is sacred. Men with men, women with men, women with women and sometimes several at a time. This is the final book in a trilogy penned by Anne Rice (A. N. Roquelaure).
All of them are very well written for what they are - Erotica. Some are getting hung up on the literary worth, but if you are in the market for this type of book... you can't really go wrong with this series.
After Beauty is awakened by the Prince, she is taken to his kingdom for an education of sorts in BDSM. Something that seems to be a rite of passage for nobility. After some rebellion, her punishment is to be sent to the village where the education is not in as comfortable a setting. In this final book, Beauty is actually taken prisoner by a Sultan and confined to his Harem.
These books are a version of the BDSM world. Master and slave, punishment and reward. The ultimate reward to these characters comes in learning how not to lead an ordinary, mundane life. The ending is sweet while still remaining true to the kink factor.
Leave your inhibitions at the door and these books might just surprise you.
If you like the world of the Sultan, there is another book I would recommend - "The Seraglio." It is a look at life in the harems of Turkey(?) It is not sexually explicit, but it is an interesting read. Additionally, if the sexual concepts here appeal to you - check out the movie "Secretary" with James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhall.
September 16, 2012
Copy received from Plume through NetGalley
Warning: this is a review of a work of erotica that should not be read by anyone under the age of 18 or easily offended. It also contains possible spoilers.
This, the third and final part of Anne Rice’s Sleeping Beauty trilogy kicks off exactly where the second book, Beauty’s Punishment, ended. Beauty, Laurant, Tristan and three other slaves find themselves captive on a ship, bound for foreign lands and the court of an Eastern Sultan. While some things are exactly the same as they were when they were slaves at the Queens court – they have to obey orders and are subject to punishment both when they break the rules and when they don’t – other things are very different. The royal slaves are now in a position where they are being treated as little better than animals. Speaking, or even making loud sounds is strictly forbidden, which brings a new level of submission to their experience.
Initially the new surroundings and rules scare and upset the captives, but it isn’t long until they realise that losing even the last little bit of their own will makes it easier for them to surrender to the experience of submission. And new surroundings allow Laurant and Beauty to discover new levels of erotic satisfaction. While Laurant indulges in a dangerous came with his master, Beauty spends time in the royal harem where her eyes are opened to shocking facts as well new forms of pleasure. When they are unexpectedly rescued from the foreign court Beauty, Laurant and Tristan find themselves strangely reluctant to return to the Queen’s lands. A return that will separate Beauty from everything she’s come to treasure while Tristan and Laurant will experience yet new ways of submissiveness.
This is a fairy-tale yet we’ll have to wait until the very last lines on the very last page before we come to the familiar and expected ending:
“And we shall live happily every after,” I said through my kisses, “as the fairy-tales say.”
“Yes, happily every after”, she answered, “and a good deal happier, I think, than everyone else could ever guess.”
In many ways this third book in the Sleeping Beauty series is more of the same; more captivity, more punishment, more sex and more unexpected and surprising revelations for Beauty, Laurant and other characters. Having said that, these books are more than a collection of erotic scenes; the characters grow, learn things about themselves and change as a result of what they experience. The learning experiences the royal slaves go through mean different things for the various characters. For some it means coming to the realisation that without submission they can’t be happy while others discover that they derive as much, if not more, pleasure from being in a dominant position then they do from submitting to others. Love is lost and rediscovered and role-reversal opens new and unexpected worlds; few characters end this trilogy in the same way they started it, but none resent their discoveries or the road that brought them there.
Anne Rice is a wonderful author. She manages to make a trilogy that could easily have been boring due to repetitiveness into an intriguing study of (a form of) human sexuality. Her writing is fluent and while most of the narrative concerns itself with a variety of sexual exploits, she takes the time to explore the internal thoughts and feelings of her characters. I feel that in the hands of a lesser author this story could easily have turned into a sordid work of pornography (as I’m sure some people will view it anyway). For me though, Mrs. Rice managed to stay just about on the right side of decency thanks to the fact that the reader is never allowed to forget that (s)he is reading a fairy-tale and the detailed exploration of the character’s inner lives.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: this is a work of erotica in its purest form. Nothing is cushioned or padded here, all descriptions are raw, descriptive and to the point. This is not a book for those who will allow a sex-scene in their stories provided it fits the story-line. In this trilogy sex is the story as it causes the development of characters. In short this is not a work of fiction with (some) erotic scenes. No, these are three books of pure and at times hard-core erotica. Or, as the author herself said on Facebook:
“I believe in erotica, and the freedom of men and women to enjoy their S&M sexual fantasies. I realize the Beauty Trilogy shocks some people. That’s because it is extreme, excessive and true erotica, and I understand. Not for everyone. But for those who share the fantasy.”
Warning: this is a review of a work of erotica that should not be read by anyone under the age of 18 or easily offended. It also contains possible spoilers.
This, the third and final part of Anne Rice’s Sleeping Beauty trilogy kicks off exactly where the second book, Beauty’s Punishment, ended. Beauty, Laurant, Tristan and three other slaves find themselves captive on a ship, bound for foreign lands and the court of an Eastern Sultan. While some things are exactly the same as they were when they were slaves at the Queens court – they have to obey orders and are subject to punishment both when they break the rules and when they don’t – other things are very different. The royal slaves are now in a position where they are being treated as little better than animals. Speaking, or even making loud sounds is strictly forbidden, which brings a new level of submission to their experience.
Initially the new surroundings and rules scare and upset the captives, but it isn’t long until they realise that losing even the last little bit of their own will makes it easier for them to surrender to the experience of submission. And new surroundings allow Laurant and Beauty to discover new levels of erotic satisfaction. While Laurant indulges in a dangerous came with his master, Beauty spends time in the royal harem where her eyes are opened to shocking facts as well new forms of pleasure. When they are unexpectedly rescued from the foreign court Beauty, Laurant and Tristan find themselves strangely reluctant to return to the Queen’s lands. A return that will separate Beauty from everything she’s come to treasure while Tristan and Laurant will experience yet new ways of submissiveness.
This is a fairy-tale yet we’ll have to wait until the very last lines on the very last page before we come to the familiar and expected ending:
“And we shall live happily every after,” I said through my kisses, “as the fairy-tales say.”
“Yes, happily every after”, she answered, “and a good deal happier, I think, than everyone else could ever guess.”
In many ways this third book in the Sleeping Beauty series is more of the same; more captivity, more punishment, more sex and more unexpected and surprising revelations for Beauty, Laurant and other characters. Having said that, these books are more than a collection of erotic scenes; the characters grow, learn things about themselves and change as a result of what they experience. The learning experiences the royal slaves go through mean different things for the various characters. For some it means coming to the realisation that without submission they can’t be happy while others discover that they derive as much, if not more, pleasure from being in a dominant position then they do from submitting to others. Love is lost and rediscovered and role-reversal opens new and unexpected worlds; few characters end this trilogy in the same way they started it, but none resent their discoveries or the road that brought them there.
Anne Rice is a wonderful author. She manages to make a trilogy that could easily have been boring due to repetitiveness into an intriguing study of (a form of) human sexuality. Her writing is fluent and while most of the narrative concerns itself with a variety of sexual exploits, she takes the time to explore the internal thoughts and feelings of her characters. I feel that in the hands of a lesser author this story could easily have turned into a sordid work of pornography (as I’m sure some people will view it anyway). For me though, Mrs. Rice managed to stay just about on the right side of decency thanks to the fact that the reader is never allowed to forget that (s)he is reading a fairy-tale and the detailed exploration of the character’s inner lives.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: this is a work of erotica in its purest form. Nothing is cushioned or padded here, all descriptions are raw, descriptive and to the point. This is not a book for those who will allow a sex-scene in their stories provided it fits the story-line. In this trilogy sex is the story as it causes the development of characters. In short this is not a work of fiction with (some) erotic scenes. No, these are three books of pure and at times hard-core erotica. Or, as the author herself said on Facebook:
“I believe in erotica, and the freedom of men and women to enjoy their S&M sexual fantasies. I realize the Beauty Trilogy shocks some people. That’s because it is extreme, excessive and true erotica, and I understand. Not for everyone. But for those who share the fantasy.”
July 5, 2009
Każda kolejna część serii jest lepsza od poprzedniej :) choć wszystkie trzy są bardzo dobre (no może po przeczytaniu całości poprzednie nie wydają się aż tak, ale w miarę czytania jak najbardziej się podobają).
Takie śliczne zdanie: "Obrócił moją twarz ku sobie i pocałował mnie mocno w usta. W ten sam sposób pocałował Tristana, a ja popatrzyłem na te dwie złączone nie ogolone twarze, splątane blond włosy i półprzymknięte powieki. Mężczyźni podczas pocałunku. Jakiż to piękny widok."
zgadzam się ;)
I jeden interesujący fragment: "To wszystko skłoniło mnie do refleksji na temat miłości. Czy kiedykolwiek kochałem któregoś z moich panów? Może jestem zdolny kochać jedynie niewolników? (...) Kochałem go tym mocniej, im bardziej zawzięcie go biłem. Może tak będzie ze mną już zawsze? Czyżby stało się regułą, że w chwilach, gdy ulegam duszą, staję się panem"
ciekawe...
Dodane po przeczytaniu kilku komentarzy: to fakt, że książka to takie tekstowe porno, w którym jest wszystko: hetero, bi, gay, les, trójkąty, czworokąty, orgie i sado-maso i tylko nie ma za dużo treści poza tym :D ...ale co z tego, to właśnie o to chodzi :D
Takie śliczne zdanie: "Obrócił moją twarz ku sobie i pocałował mnie mocno w usta. W ten sam sposób pocałował Tristana, a ja popatrzyłem na te dwie złączone nie ogolone twarze, splątane blond włosy i półprzymknięte powieki. Mężczyźni podczas pocałunku. Jakiż to piękny widok."
zgadzam się ;)
I jeden interesujący fragment: "To wszystko skłoniło mnie do refleksji na temat miłości. Czy kiedykolwiek kochałem któregoś z moich panów? Może jestem zdolny kochać jedynie niewolników? (...) Kochałem go tym mocniej, im bardziej zawzięcie go biłem. Może tak będzie ze mną już zawsze? Czyżby stało się regułą, że w chwilach, gdy ulegam duszą, staję się panem"
ciekawe...
Dodane po przeczytaniu kilku komentarzy: to fakt, że książka to takie tekstowe porno, w którym jest wszystko: hetero, bi, gay, les, trójkąty, czworokąty, orgie i sado-maso i tylko nie ma za dużo treści poza tym :D ...ale co z tego, to właśnie o to chodzi :D
March 27, 2011
This was probably my least favorite of the 3 books, though probably the hottest. I found my mind wandering at the "sameness": punishment, confusion, fear, acceptance. I didn't feel liked I gained anything new here, but still enjoyed this final book. Again we see differing pov and not really as much of Beauty as we did in the past. The slaves go on a whole new adventure here, and discover many interesting aspects of their characters they never knew before.
At first I was frustrated with the indecision, the seemingly strong affection for one person that is immediately replaced by another. But emotions here are not quite as clear to define in a slave/Master relationship. There are many rules and certain protocols that cannot be ignored. It isn't until the end that Beauty finds the loving Master she so longs for.
Again there is a mixture of fascination and sadness when I think of submission. One I intend to continue to explore to get a better understanding. This series gave me a lot to think about.
At first I was frustrated with the indecision, the seemingly strong affection for one person that is immediately replaced by another. But emotions here are not quite as clear to define in a slave/Master relationship. There are many rules and certain protocols that cannot be ignored. It isn't until the end that Beauty finds the loving Master she so longs for.
Again there is a mixture of fascination and sadness when I think of submission. One I intend to continue to explore to get a better understanding. This series gave me a lot to think about.
September 15, 2013
Una trilogía difícil de puntuar, no necesariamente agradable para cualquier lector. Es por eso, y teniendo en cuenta las opuestas reviews que encontré sobre ella, que decidí esperar a leer sus tres partes para analizarla con un poco más de "completitud". En conjunto se llevan sus tres estrellas, aunque el segundo me resultó mejor que los demás, quizás por la introducción de otros personajes, que modifican, en cada capítulo, los puntos de vista. Pasamos armoniosamente de la tercera persona de Bella, a la primera de Laurent o Tristan. Cada libro transcurre en un ambiente diferente (el elegante castillo, el rudo pueblo, y el seductor sultanato) para culminar en un esperable final feliz, como cualquier cuento de hadas que se precie de tal.
Anne Rice toma el mito de La bella Durmiente como punto de partida para tejer un relato que es mucho más que una obra de erotismo con temática BDSM. La autora vampírica (me niego a asociarla a su reciente despertar chupacirio) toma los elementos eróticos presentes en el originario cuento de hadas, que forman parte de un variado cúmulo de interpretaciones que se hicieron, y los vuelve explícitos, literales. Pero este es sólo el puntapié inicial para construir un universo de seducción, batallas con uno mismo, y riquísimos análisis sobre la naturaleza del ser humano que incluso echan por tierra las críticas feministas que se le ha hecho a la Bella Durmiente primigenia. Acá los "amos" son hombres y también mujeres; los "esclavos" también son hombres y mujeres. Pero todos son príncipes, o sultanes; todos son hombres libres en igualdad de condiciones. No hay palabras de seguridad, pero sí hay una voluntad explícita y clara de someterse.
Vuelvo a aclarar que no es una obra para cualquiera. Se entiende que a muchos les haya resultado chocante. Hay escenas de violencia, agresión, masoquismo y humillación, pero todo dentro de un clima cuasi poético y de un ambiente prácticamente inverosímil. Es imposible tomárselo literal, meterse en la historia como si de verdad fuera posible plantarse frente a una trama racional, real, factible, terrenal. Anne Rice se permite explorar ciertos límites, reflexionar sobre la capacidad del ser humano para someterse y dejarse llevar por los deseos, aun a costa de la posición social, del "qué dirán", del poder, en un terreno donde eso es más creíble. Ella parece decirnos "ok, olvídense de las reglas y los preceptos, en este universo eso no vale". Ni la literatura clásica, ni creo yo la pornografía tradicional, puede permitirse plantear las cosas con las reglas de esta trilogía. Sería un espanto, moralmente rechazable para cualquiera. El discurso políticamente correcto, lo que la propia moral nos dice que debe gustarnos u horrorizarnos, hubieran puesto el freno. Pero La trilogía de la Bella Durmiente, con el rapto, el castigo y la liberación, sigue siendo un Cuento de Hadas, esos donde pasan cosas imposibles pero que de niños capturaban nuestra atención, y que siempre terminan teniendo finales felices, y en donde "la maldad" tiene hasta su encanto. La diferencia es que acá hay otras reglas.
Anne Rice toma el mito de La bella Durmiente como punto de partida para tejer un relato que es mucho más que una obra de erotismo con temática BDSM. La autora vampírica (me niego a asociarla a su reciente despertar chupacirio) toma los elementos eróticos presentes en el originario cuento de hadas, que forman parte de un variado cúmulo de interpretaciones que se hicieron, y los vuelve explícitos, literales. Pero este es sólo el puntapié inicial para construir un universo de seducción, batallas con uno mismo, y riquísimos análisis sobre la naturaleza del ser humano que incluso echan por tierra las críticas feministas que se le ha hecho a la Bella Durmiente primigenia. Acá los "amos" son hombres y también mujeres; los "esclavos" también son hombres y mujeres. Pero todos son príncipes, o sultanes; todos son hombres libres en igualdad de condiciones. No hay palabras de seguridad, pero sí hay una voluntad explícita y clara de someterse.
Vuelvo a aclarar que no es una obra para cualquiera. Se entiende que a muchos les haya resultado chocante. Hay escenas de violencia, agresión, masoquismo y humillación, pero todo dentro de un clima cuasi poético y de un ambiente prácticamente inverosímil. Es imposible tomárselo literal, meterse en la historia como si de verdad fuera posible plantarse frente a una trama racional, real, factible, terrenal. Anne Rice se permite explorar ciertos límites, reflexionar sobre la capacidad del ser humano para someterse y dejarse llevar por los deseos, aun a costa de la posición social, del "qué dirán", del poder, en un terreno donde eso es más creíble. Ella parece decirnos "ok, olvídense de las reglas y los preceptos, en este universo eso no vale". Ni la literatura clásica, ni creo yo la pornografía tradicional, puede permitirse plantear las cosas con las reglas de esta trilogía. Sería un espanto, moralmente rechazable para cualquiera. El discurso políticamente correcto, lo que la propia moral nos dice que debe gustarnos u horrorizarnos, hubieran puesto el freno. Pero La trilogía de la Bella Durmiente, con el rapto, el castigo y la liberación, sigue siendo un Cuento de Hadas, esos donde pasan cosas imposibles pero que de niños capturaban nuestra atención, y que siempre terminan teniendo finales felices, y en donde "la maldad" tiene hasta su encanto. La diferencia es que acá hay otras reglas.
February 6, 2013
In the final volume of Anne Rice's deliciously tantalizing erotic trilogy, Beauty's adventures on the dark side of sexuality make her the bound captive of an Eastern Sultan and a prisoner in the exotic confines of the harem. In "Beauty's Release", Anne Rice makes the forbidden side of passion a doorway into the hidden regions of the psyche and the heart.
Part of the allure of this version for me was a release from the utter crudity of the European castle and village. Religious and philosophical thoughts of the region combine to show them that they are simply cogs in a grander scheme, and they take pleasure and freedom in this anonymity.
The first moment of their sultanic experience is to be degraded even more. Their being transformed into sexual toys is considered by their captors as destroying their intellect. They thus become mute animals that have no other level of existence than this very sexual drive and desire to satisfy all sexual and also cruel pulses in the sultan and his court.
But this third volume shows the metaphoric or even allegorical dimension of the trilogy. Beyond the erotic speculation in the book, Anne Rice shows how degrading a human being leads to the discovery she says, the building of a new consciousness that will have a lasting existence. Human beings are emerging in their humanity or even humaneness through the difficulties and the challenges they encounter, and first of all the degrading and enslaving situations. The more overpowered one is, the greater his psychological strength. This is kind of optimistic because many human beings are destroyed through these experiences and experiments. But it is based on the concept of resilience in human beings : their capacity to resist degredation, not by rebelling, but by reinforcing their psyche.
Upon completing the series, it helped to think of it anthropologically as if these strange undercurrents were the results of a completely different culture. In that respect it was quite interesting to observe the push for control, compliance, dominance, and love, and question whether that can be squared with ideas of entwined aggression and tenderness. Anne Rice provides the framework and fairy tale, but readers must ultimately decide that answer for themselves.
Book Details:
Title Beauty's Release (Conclusion of the Erotic Adventures of Sleeping Beauty, 3)
Author Anne Rice writing as A. N. Roquelaure
Reviewed By Purplycookie
Part of the allure of this version for me was a release from the utter crudity of the European castle and village. Religious and philosophical thoughts of the region combine to show them that they are simply cogs in a grander scheme, and they take pleasure and freedom in this anonymity.
The first moment of their sultanic experience is to be degraded even more. Their being transformed into sexual toys is considered by their captors as destroying their intellect. They thus become mute animals that have no other level of existence than this very sexual drive and desire to satisfy all sexual and also cruel pulses in the sultan and his court.
But this third volume shows the metaphoric or even allegorical dimension of the trilogy. Beyond the erotic speculation in the book, Anne Rice shows how degrading a human being leads to the discovery she says, the building of a new consciousness that will have a lasting existence. Human beings are emerging in their humanity or even humaneness through the difficulties and the challenges they encounter, and first of all the degrading and enslaving situations. The more overpowered one is, the greater his psychological strength. This is kind of optimistic because many human beings are destroyed through these experiences and experiments. But it is based on the concept of resilience in human beings : their capacity to resist degredation, not by rebelling, but by reinforcing their psyche.
Upon completing the series, it helped to think of it anthropologically as if these strange undercurrents were the results of a completely different culture. In that respect it was quite interesting to observe the push for control, compliance, dominance, and love, and question whether that can be squared with ideas of entwined aggression and tenderness. Anne Rice provides the framework and fairy tale, but readers must ultimately decide that answer for themselves.
Book Details:
Title Beauty's Release (Conclusion of the Erotic Adventures of Sleeping Beauty, 3)
Author Anne Rice writing as A. N. Roquelaure
Reviewed By Purplycookie
January 27, 2014
I found the first book to be exciting. Kinky. And yes, kinda arousing. I probably said so before.
Then came the second book, which was quite catastrophic, not as arousing and very disturbing.
And now this... which I have no words for.
It was disgusting in many occasions. The amount of rapings was ridiculous. The fairly common over-the-knee spankings from book one completely disappeared and gave way to people being bounded and gagged and then whipped. It stopped being kinky and went to disturbing.
The whole Sultanate was absurd, it had no sense, no structure. Truly no reason to be. There was a part were female genital mutilation was mentioned and I almost threw the book out the window.
And then is back to the village, just like that, and the story went on and on about ponies, which I hated since book two and didn't want to read about it. Laurent stroke me as completely insane. And we keep having random chapters with Beauty now as proper Princess wanting to go back to it. Really? How damaged are you that you actually want it? God...
And then the "end" to the supposed "storyline" was just as absurd as the rest of the book. How convenient it ended for all of them. Geez, seriously? So what about the Captain of the Guard? This woman has been had by every single man in the village... but she is marrying someone that had her once, someone she hasn't even talked to properly... just because his cock is big?! Argh!
I know there are many erotica books out there, probably infinitely better than this one. I might recommend the first of Beauty's trilogy, it's quite decent. It borders on masochism, but it's still ok. This one was not ok. Just... no!
One, it's gross to keep having people repeatedly raped, and they saying nothing. Or worse, actually liking it. It sets a bad image.
Two, I don't want to read about phalluses tightly going through someone's ass, every page! Yes, I get it, they use them. No, I do not need to be constantly reminded of the fact.
Three, of course there are no condoms whatsoever in this Sodoma and Gomorra of yours, so quick question. How is Beauty, and all other girls for that matter, not pregnant? She should've been. Looooong ago.
So I did not like the book. But I think that was clear enough.
Then came the second book, which was quite catastrophic, not as arousing and very disturbing.
And now this... which I have no words for.
It was disgusting in many occasions. The amount of rapings was ridiculous. The fairly common over-the-knee spankings from book one completely disappeared and gave way to people being bounded and gagged and then whipped. It stopped being kinky and went to disturbing.
The whole Sultanate was absurd, it had no sense, no structure. Truly no reason to be. There was a part were female genital mutilation was mentioned and I almost threw the book out the window.
And then is back to the village, just like that, and the story went on and on about ponies, which I hated since book two and didn't want to read about it. Laurent stroke me as completely insane. And we keep having random chapters with Beauty now as proper Princess wanting to go back to it. Really? How damaged are you that you actually want it? God...
And then the "end" to the supposed "storyline" was just as absurd as the rest of the book. How convenient it ended for all of them. Geez, seriously? So what about the Captain of the Guard? This woman has been had by every single man in the village... but she is marrying someone that had her once, someone she hasn't even talked to properly... just because his cock is big?! Argh!
I know there are many erotica books out there, probably infinitely better than this one. I might recommend the first of Beauty's trilogy, it's quite decent. It borders on masochism, but it's still ok. This one was not ok. Just... no!
One, it's gross to keep having people repeatedly raped, and they saying nothing. Or worse, actually liking it. It sets a bad image.
Two, I don't want to read about phalluses tightly going through someone's ass, every page! Yes, I get it, they use them. No, I do not need to be constantly reminded of the fact.
Three, of course there are no condoms whatsoever in this Sodoma and Gomorra of yours, so quick question. How is Beauty, and all other girls for that matter, not pregnant? She should've been. Looooong ago.
So I did not like the book. But I think that was clear enough.
August 20, 2012
Stockholm syndrome. That's what all these "slaves" have. It's the only explanation for why they don't want to leave their captivity. Or else Anne Rice is just f'ed up. There is so much wrong with these books I really don't know why I read them all. I have the same problems as many other reviewers had, that everything is so clean, where are the body fluids? I'm not sure how much anal probing people can be put through without some damage going on. Also apparently they have built in birth control and STD control, or I guess it's a fairy tale and disease doesn't exist because I can't imagine this society isn't rife with gonorrhea and syphilis. It's also interesting (or not) that they kept getting warned that the village is terrible then the Sultanate was even worse when they kept getting treated at least slightly better.
This installment also inexplicably tells us Laurent's story mostly and almost ignores Beauty. This could have been a whole new series. Also someone should tell Rice that ponies get treated better than her human "ponies" do.
So I do get BDSM but I've always understood it to be consensual nothing in this series is consensual which is why it wasn't very erotic at all. Rape isn't erotic and in this book unlike the others they are all of a sudden "raped" especially in the Arabic land, which kind of bordered on racist. I hate to tell her that all of these sexual encounters were raped which brings us back to my original statement. Stockholm syndrome. Rubbish.
This installment also inexplicably tells us Laurent's story mostly and almost ignores Beauty. This could have been a whole new series. Also someone should tell Rice that ponies get treated better than her human "ponies" do.
So I do get BDSM but I've always understood it to be consensual nothing in this series is consensual which is why it wasn't very erotic at all. Rape isn't erotic and in this book unlike the others they are all of a sudden "raped" especially in the Arabic land, which kind of bordered on racist. I hate to tell her that all of these sexual encounters were raped which brings us back to my original statement. Stockholm syndrome. Rubbish.
January 28, 2008
When I was child, I was sort of disappointed with the endings of fairytales. But I got my answer and yes I liked it. Sleeping Beauty ends with kiss, right? Prince reached the tower and kissed the sleeping virgin to wake her up. This is considered as highly non practical. See you got nearly killed during the journey, you were thirsty and hungry not mention horny. The first logical choice was to satisfy at least one of those craving and the third seems as the most logical thing to do. The prince found Beauty and kissed her little bit later and than he introduced her to the queen who ruled over his country. All good things must end somehow and Beauty was again back at the queens country and she is finally free but her education pushed her to think over hersefl very hard until she found unexpected solution with certain prince and believe me or not that prince is better kisser then previous one, at least he knew how to spank propertly.
February 26, 2011
So once I read the first and second book in this set I was commited to finish the third. It was like a pull that called to me, you read the others now see how it ends.... Call it odd that I liked the books but I did over all if you can get past all the smut, and weird the WTF moments it's good. And to this day my best friend and I who told me to read this set still have moments in conversations where I turn to her and say, "You told me to read it, and I should kick you for it!" Or other words not meant for others to hear. True it not meant for all but it was a great set it's just not something I'd want to share with everyone. You have to prepare for it, that's for sure.
January 16, 2024
3.8/ 5 ⭐
February 6, 2013
In the final volume of Anne Rice's deliciously tantalizing erotic trilogy, Beauty's adventures on the dark side of sexuality make her the bound captive of an Eastern Sultan and a prisoner in the exotic confines of the harem. In "Beauty's Release", Anne Rice makes the forbidden side of passion a doorway into the hidden regions of the psyche and the heart.
Part of the allure of this version for me was a release from the utter crudity of the European castle and village. Religious and philosophical thoughts of the region combine to show them that they are simply cogs in a grander scheme, and they take pleasure and freedom in this anonymity.
The first moment of their sultanic experience is to be degraded even more. Their being transformed into sexual toys is considered by their captors as destroying their intellect. They thus become mute animals that have no other level of existence than this very sexual drive and desire to satisfy all sexual and also cruel pulses in the sultan and his court.
But this third volume shows the metaphoric or even allegorical dimension of the trilogy. Beyond the erotic speculation in the book, Anne Rice shows how degrading a human being leads to the discovery she says, the building of a new consciousness that will have a lasting existence. Human beings are emerging in their humanity or even humaneness through the difficulties and the challenges they encounter, and first of all the degrading and enslaving situations. The more overpowered one is, the greater his psychological strength. This is kind of optimistic because many human beings are destroyed through these experiences and experiments. But it is based on the concept of resilience in human beings : their capacity to resist degredation, not by rebelling, but by reinforcing their psyche.
Upon completing the series, it helped to think of it anthropologically as if these strange undercurrents were the results of a completely different culture. In that respect it was quite interesting to observe the push for control, compliance, dominance, and love, and question whether that can be squared with ideas of entwined aggression and tenderness. Anne Rice provides the framework and fairy tale, but readers must ultimately decide that answer for themselves.
Book Details:
Title Beauty's Release (Conclusion of the Erotic Adventures of Sleeping Beauty, 3)
Author Anne Rice writing as A. N. Roquelaure
Reviewed By Purplycookie
Part of the allure of this version for me was a release from the utter crudity of the European castle and village. Religious and philosophical thoughts of the region combine to show them that they are simply cogs in a grander scheme, and they take pleasure and freedom in this anonymity.
The first moment of their sultanic experience is to be degraded even more. Their being transformed into sexual toys is considered by their captors as destroying their intellect. They thus become mute animals that have no other level of existence than this very sexual drive and desire to satisfy all sexual and also cruel pulses in the sultan and his court.
But this third volume shows the metaphoric or even allegorical dimension of the trilogy. Beyond the erotic speculation in the book, Anne Rice shows how degrading a human being leads to the discovery she says, the building of a new consciousness that will have a lasting existence. Human beings are emerging in their humanity or even humaneness through the difficulties and the challenges they encounter, and first of all the degrading and enslaving situations. The more overpowered one is, the greater his psychological strength. This is kind of optimistic because many human beings are destroyed through these experiences and experiments. But it is based on the concept of resilience in human beings : their capacity to resist degredation, not by rebelling, but by reinforcing their psyche.
Upon completing the series, it helped to think of it anthropologically as if these strange undercurrents were the results of a completely different culture. In that respect it was quite interesting to observe the push for control, compliance, dominance, and love, and question whether that can be squared with ideas of entwined aggression and tenderness. Anne Rice provides the framework and fairy tale, but readers must ultimately decide that answer for themselves.
Book Details:
Title Beauty's Release (Conclusion of the Erotic Adventures of Sleeping Beauty, 3)
Author Anne Rice writing as A. N. Roquelaure
Reviewed By Purplycookie
October 14, 2011
"Beauty's Release is the final book in the Erotic Triology of Sleeping Beauty and I thought it was such a pleasant change of pace and direction for the entire series and when I write that, I mean more of a change of pace and direction than that from book one to two. The new setting gave more opportunity for newer endeavors for the story and I was hoping for a specific kind of delivery since this is the last book in the trilogy. What I got was something a little different from my hopes but it still delivered for what the novel was.
The biggest thing I noticed about this novel was the change in punishment from the pride-breaking and humiliating to the more emotional and sensual. The punishments seemed more of a personal level in this book and not to mention a bit more exotic just by the setting and how they are delivered. I say they are more exotic much to the character placement and setting but I also say more personal for each master is suffering a punishment just as much as the slave themselves and it is most noted with the relationship between Beauty and Inanna as well as the relationship between Laurent and Lexius.
Just like the other two books prior, I only would suggest this book underneath two conditions. The first condition is if the other two books have been read in series for a lot of the story may not make sense if the first two books aren't read especially the events that led to said events happening in the new land as well as the ending and two, if you have the stomach or should I say the understanding, open-mind, or tolerance to read an erotic novel which I think this book can qualify as written pornography. All in all, for the genre this novel is in and what it is, I found the novel entertaining to read and I even finished reading this novel at work.
"
The biggest thing I noticed about this novel was the change in punishment from the pride-breaking and humiliating to the more emotional and sensual. The punishments seemed more of a personal level in this book and not to mention a bit more exotic just by the setting and how they are delivered. I say they are more exotic much to the character placement and setting but I also say more personal for each master is suffering a punishment just as much as the slave themselves and it is most noted with the relationship between Beauty and Inanna as well as the relationship between Laurent and Lexius.
Just like the other two books prior, I only would suggest this book underneath two conditions. The first condition is if the other two books have been read in series for a lot of the story may not make sense if the first two books aren't read especially the events that led to said events happening in the new land as well as the ending and two, if you have the stomach or should I say the understanding, open-mind, or tolerance to read an erotic novel which I think this book can qualify as written pornography. All in all, for the genre this novel is in and what it is, I found the novel entertaining to read and I even finished reading this novel at work.
"
January 10, 2011
I'm a little sad to see this trilogy is over. It was a steamy little diversion for me the past few weeks, and I'll miss it. The 3rd book is not as delicious as the first, but I am satisfied with the ending. Happily ever after is different for everyone; Beauty's happens to include being whipped and dominated. Far be it for my incurable hopeless romantic streak to argue. Apparently, I still love it when the princess gets her king, nipple clamps and all. I saw the Beauty/Laurent connection a mile away, but I didn't care that it was predictable. That's the great thing about fiction; the characters really are made for each other.
I'll admit that I skipped several pages of Laurent's pony time. It just got to be more contortion, more stuff shoved up his butt, more harnesses, blah blah blah...boring. And AGAIN there was the repetitive use of the word 'ignominious/ignominy'! Here are a few other options, Mz. Rice: opprobrious, shameful, degrading, baseness, humiliation, mortifying, disgraceful, perverse. Please, for the love of god, pick one.
Erotica aside, this series has been an interesting lens through which to view power structures in romantic relationships and larger social structures. I find myself having more understanding for the 'weaker' people I know; allowing oneself to surrender power to others can give strength and control to the one who strives instead to master him/herself. That may be a basic dynamic of BDSM, and no great revelation to other people, but I have enjoyed the reminder that not every relationship has to work the way I like mine to work. That said, I pity the fool who ever hands me a lash...
I'll admit that I skipped several pages of Laurent's pony time. It just got to be more contortion, more stuff shoved up his butt, more harnesses, blah blah blah...boring. And AGAIN there was the repetitive use of the word 'ignominious/ignominy'! Here are a few other options, Mz. Rice: opprobrious, shameful, degrading, baseness, humiliation, mortifying, disgraceful, perverse. Please, for the love of god, pick one.
Erotica aside, this series has been an interesting lens through which to view power structures in romantic relationships and larger social structures. I find myself having more understanding for the 'weaker' people I know; allowing oneself to surrender power to others can give strength and control to the one who strives instead to master him/herself. That may be a basic dynamic of BDSM, and no great revelation to other people, but I have enjoyed the reminder that not every relationship has to work the way I like mine to work. That said, I pity the fool who ever hands me a lash...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2008
Well Well...I finally finished this series after waiting forever for it in the mail. Loved the first book, really loved the second book and now I'm back to just loving. This book wasn't as good as the second. I truly enjoyed the singling out of Tristan in the second book and I admit I became attached to him and his gentle and frail personality. I was broken hearted when he had to leave Nicholas. Now in this third book, we are taken away from Tristans thoughts and brought into Laurent's thoughts. Laurent is extremely interesting, but he is also mean and controlling. He put Tristan in the background and that upset me as a reader. As far as the story line goes I did love it. I love the way the slaves were treated at the sultan's palace, the way they were nothing more than animals. I found Lexius to be a weak character only added for Laurents amusement. I thought at the beginning he would be the love for beauty, but nothing ever came of it. Beauty finds love in Inanna and that was fine, but it was so brief. I enjoyed the end, only because the two of them fit so well. Beauty needed a master and Laurent simply needed a slave. Somehow an erotically scary love comes out of that. Not matter what most say, I'm a fan of these books, and I'm glad I've read them!
February 16, 2012
This is the third book in the trilogy, and I suggest saving it for last so that you know the history. If you've read the other two, then obviously you're not bothered by literature containing fantasy sexual violence, various BDSM and the like. Again, as with all three of the books, the spankings get monotonous, but there are less scenes of those in this book than in the prior two. This book has yet another change in locale as Beauty and a few others are kidnapped from the village and taken to an Arabian kingdom. By the end of the book, all of the primary characters have some sort of closure, and the loosest ends are nicely concluded.
January 12, 2014
The best in the series by far, simply because of the wonderful pov changes throughout. I started to lose interest in the first installment due to Beauty's insufferable tears that fell on every page. Thank you, Anne Rice, for letting the other characters narrate for awhile. In my opinion, this series turned out to be rather good for porn on paper. I hate to admit it, but oddly enough, my own tears hit the pages when Beauty was released. Predictable ending, but fairy tales are supposed to be predictable. I loved it, leather phalluses & all.
March 2, 2009
this book starts off all hot and interesting... taking the captives to another country to be sex slaves, and just when things are getting really good... everyone is rescued and she slaps a happy ending on to it. i think this is the worst thing about anne rice. she does this alot when she gets either bored or stuck... she'll just wrap it in a neat little package... brown paper of course, and then says "and they lived happily ever after". boo.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 15, 2012
This book was better than the first two. The first one had an intriguing premise, the second one was hard for me to finish but this one went by fast.
It is the first time you see a reversal in the characters. Some of them are no longer trying to find a way to rebel against being slaves or developping coping mechanisms and that's refreshing. It stops the monotony of the endless palace/village/palace punishments.
It is the first time you see a reversal in the characters. Some of them are no longer trying to find a way to rebel against being slaves or developping coping mechanisms and that's refreshing. It stops the monotony of the endless palace/village/palace punishments.
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