The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty's Prince (Villains) Hardcover – September 3, 2013

I bought The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty's Prince as a birthday gift for a coworker who’s really into Disney villains, and it was a hit. The story dives deeper into the Beast’s backstory in a way that’s darker and more layered than the classic tale, which she loved. It has that twisted fairy tale vibe that villain fans tend to appreciate. The book itself looks great too—nice cover design and a solid build. If you’re shopping for someone who enjoys the villain side of stories, this is a fun and thoughtful choice.

I love it !!

This story had a slow start for me but by the end I couldn’t put it down. It gave a great backstory of the prince before he turned into the beast and his life before Belle. I also loved how the first book in the series plays into this one.

Absolutely amazing! What a twist and a page turning definitely recommend! It gave me a much needed escape from the world around me!

After having read the one about the Evil Queen from Snow White, I had such high hopes for this book but was truthfully more than a little disappointed. I enjoyed the majority of the backstory given on the Beast, especially the segments regarding his former love and how his gradual transformation effected their relationship. It was interesting to see the contrast between this girl's character compared to what we know of Belle, but unfortunately, the story itself barely shows this contrast as Belle is hardly an active part of the story. The ending covered much of the events of the film but they were so rushed, and all seen from the perspective of three eavesdropping witches which were another issue I had with this story. Circe, the original enchantress, was a great character who I really enjoyed but her three meddling sisters were quite frankly just annoying. They reminded me of the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus except far less loveable. Plus, their presence pretty much took all of the meaning out of the story's character development. Instead of things happening due to the characters' own agency, these witches acted more like puppetmasters pulling the strings and making things happen which was outrageously unsatisfying. Another problem I had with this story was that part of the backstory involved the Beast and Gaston having grown up together and been best friends, only for the witches to cast a spell over everyone to forget any of that ever happened when the Beast begins to transform into the monster we know him as. This was also outrageously unsatisfying, and left me wondering what the point of that even was if it made no difference to the story? All in all, this book was decent and there were parts I did enjoy but the story in no way does justice to the original masterpiece of a film.

I love reading the tales of the villains! It is really neat to hear what made them who they are in the fairy tales!

"The Beast Within" by Serena Valentino is a captivating retelling of Disney's iconic villain, the Beast from "Beauty and the Beast." Valentino's writing explores the complexities of characters often dismissed as evil, revealing the Beast's transformation and the circumstances that led him to become the tragic figure we know. The novel weaves between the Beast's past and present, revealing his life as a prince before his curse and pivotal moments that shaped him. Valentino's writing captures the essence of both the fairy tale's magical elements and darker themes of redemption and self-discovery. It showed the growth that the beast had. The Odd Sisters had me laughing.

I absolutely love this book! I even just ordered “Kill The Beast”. It was hard to put down. And I’m reading it again. I love the backstory. I would 10/10 recommend this book to anyone who loves the movie “Beauty And The Beast”.