Beauty and the Beast: The Beast's Tale - Mallory Reaves

-

Author: Mallory Reaves

Illustrator: Studio Dice, Gianluca Papi
Genre: Manga, Retelling.
Rating: 3.75 stars.

This is better than Belle’s version but it is still not as satisfying as I had expected.

The story is based on Disney’s 2017 live action movie of “Beauty and the Beast”. While the story is faithful to the movie, it doesn’t include all the scenes but covers the events that happen from Beast’s perspective. This lends the story a novelty that was missing in the other book that contains Belle’s version of events. After all, hers is the more popular narration so to see things through Beast’s eyes made a big difference. The story tries its best to help us understand Beast’s decisions. I loved Beast’s internal monologues in this book.

This book is part of a two-volume manga series which was originally released in 2017, just after the movie. This edition is the full colour version of the original B&W manga. While Belle’s book was full of bright and pastel-y colours, this one has more sombre and duller colour tones to match Beast’s “beastly” mood.

The illustrations are very nice, aptly manga in style. The manga order in this book is better than in Belle’s version but it is still not consistent throughout the story. Most of the pages follow the Western comic style of left-to-right panels, with only a few pages coming in the manga order of right-to-left. Either would have been fine, but having both isn’t good as it muddles things up.

Once again, there are jumps in the storyline, which I now realise were covered in Belle’s story. So the two books are like halves of each other but not exact semi-circular halves. Rather, they are more like two pieces with jagged edges but which fit into each other perfectly. This will create a problem if a reader chooses to go for one of the books and not the other. To get a complete experience, reading both the stories is a must. Perhaps, it would have been better to have the complete story in a single book than these two separate editions with partial narrations. (Then again, watching the movie too will provide the complete story.)

Basically, I enjoyed this graphic novel far better than Belle’s story, but it still left me wanting more.

My thanks to TOKYOPOP and NetGalley for the DRC of “Disney Manga: Beauty and the Beast – The Beast's Tale (Full-Color Edition)”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Comments

Post a Comment

Explore more posts from this blog:

Stormy Normy Finds His Forever Home - Leisa Fail - ★★★.½

-
Image
AUTHOR: Leisa Fail SERIES: The Adventures of Stormy Normy, #1 GENRE: Children's Fiction, Animals. PUBLICATION DATE: March 25, 2024 RATING: 3.5 stars In a Nutshell: A children’s chapter book about a young brumby horse named Stormy Normy. The author certainly knows horses! Recommended to young animal lovers looking for a sweet and easy-going story. Plot Preview: Outback Queensland, Australia. Young Stormy Normy was born, as his name suggests, on a stormy night. As his mother and he are returning to their herd, Stormy gets distracted and enters a farm with many horses. His mother, realising that he will have a better life there than in the wild pack, leaves him there with a heavy heart. Thus begins Stormy’s life, where he learns to navigate tricky situations, make new friends, and realises whom and how to trust. The story is written in Stormy’s first person perspective, with two brief interludes from his mother’s point of view in third person. I am not really a horse person, being
Read More»

Takeout Sushi - Christopher Green - ★★★★

-
Image
  AUTHOR: Christopher Green GENRE: Contemporary Short Story Collection, Japanese Fiction. PUBLICATION DATE:  May 2, 2024 RATING: 3.9  stars. In a Nutshell: An interesting collection of stories, with most of them set in Japan. Loved the writing style and enjoyed the diverse emotions. Much recommended! This story collection has, as the title suggests, a strong Japanese flavour. So let me begin by confessing that I am not a fan of Japanese literature. Most Japanese fiction that I tried hasn’t suited my reading tastes, so I generally keep away from this genre. The reason I picked this collection up is... No, no, the sushi had no role to play in my decision; I can’t stand even the thought of sushi! The reason I wanted to read this is that the author is NOT a Japanese! 😁 I know this sounds quite silly to declare, but had the author been Japanese, I would have resisted opting for this. But by virtue of his being an “outsider”, I thought it was a great opportunity to get a look at Japan witho
Read More»

Big Bad Wolf Investigates Fairy Tales - Catherine Cawthorne - ★★★★★

-
Image
AUTHOR: Catherine Cawthorne ILLUSTRATOR: Sara Ogilvie GENRE: Children's Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: April 25, 2024 RATING: 5 sparkly, scientifically accurate stars. In a Nutshell: This book and I were a match made in book heaven! Loved the approach that combines humour and logic to debunk the sillier elements of some fairy tales. Strongly recommended! I enjoy fairy tales. I love scientific thinking. I adore logic. I relish humour. Seeing all four of these together in a single work was almost a “bookgasmic” moment for me! 😆 Had the book not delivered on any of these factors, I might still have been happy reading it. But the content not only reaches but also surpasses the promise made by the title and cover. All of us know that there are several logically impossible elements in fairy tales. In childhood, we might have oohed and awwwed at the stories without overthinking the practicalities. In adulthood, we might have cringed at the gender bias, wealth bias, and the lack of conse
Read More»

Making Up the Gods - Marion Agnew - ★★★★.¼

-
Image
AUTHOR: Marion Agnew GENRE: Contemporary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: October 15, 2023 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: An indie drama with some quirky characters and a great setting in Lake Superior, Canada. Mellow in tone, genuine in content, thought-provoking in themes. I enjoyed this unusual novel. Plot Preview: Simone, almost 70, is a retired widow who lives an isolated life in her cottage on the banks of Lake Superior and still misses her husband, though he’s been dead for five years. While she is now active in her local church and finds solace in baking for those grieving, she is fiercely protective of her privacy. But when the local reverend asks her to take care of nine-year-old Chen while his widowed mother goes on a much-needed trip, Simone finds it tough to refuse a fellow-mourning widow. Just before Chen arrives, a stranger named Martin knocks at Simone’s door, claiming to be her cousin. Simone is suddenly handling two strangers at once, and she worries that they will dis
Read More»

Red Runs the Witch's Thread - Victoria Williamson - ★★★★

-
Image
  AUTHOR: Victoria Williamson GENRE: Historical Fiction, Horror. RATING:  4 stars. In a Nutshell: A psychological horror inspired by the last witch burning in Scotland in 1697. A disturbing yet compelling read. I wanted more closure at the end for my own peace of mind, but other than that, this was a satisfying book. Recommended! Plot Preview: 1722. Paisley, Scotland. Thirty-seven-year-old widow Christian Shaw is obsessed with perfecting her thread bleaching process. She wants to make the thread the purest white, so it can sell better and restore their family fortunes. In the absence of any male family members, it is up to her as the eldest daughter to ensure the security of their house, her mother and two younger sisters, and her late father’s social position as the laird (landowner.)  However, Christian’s mind is troubled. With the 25th anniversary of the witch burnings of 1697 approaching, Christian’s thoughts go frequently to the past, and to the role she played in the burning of s
Read More»