Review: The Prequel Was Better
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 11 14, 2010
As an avid lover of fairytales revamped for adults, I literally devoured "Mrs. Beast" in one sitting. I began reading it around 10p.m. and I stayed up until about 2 a.m. It was that good. I loved how Elora had her finger in every fairytale "pie" and her interactions with her poor, mistreated mutt.The sequel starts out strong, but as soon as the protagonist, Rune (the daughter of Beauty and the Beast) goes on a quest to find the Hedgehog turned Prince that she is infatuated with, the story rapidly begins to lose steam. I think the problem is Ms. Ditchoff used and elaborated on the backstory of so many better known, more interesting fairytale characters all the well known, more interesting fairytale heroines in her first book, leaving her to really scrape for more to use in this one and the characters are, for lack of a better word, lame and completely one-dimensional. Or perhaps she was rushed when she wrote the sequel and was not able to take the same amount of time and care she put into the first to really expand upon her characters.I found myself unable to connect or really care about Rune or all the characters in the story the way I did when I read Mrs. Beast. Plus, the characters who share their tales are so unfamilar to me, that I felt kind of lost and my interest wanned.For example, Rune meets the Bog King's daughter who takes FOREVER to tell her boring story which could have been summed up in a paragraph. Basically this is her backstory: Mom is raped by the Bog King, daughter is born and turns into a 80lb frog each night(sounds like Fiona from Shrek...). Priest comes to village, then Bog daughter escapes to Egypt with Mom, turns back into a princess, then goes to Heaven with the Priest, returns to earth and finds that 100 years have passed, so now she is a bolt of lightening for all eternity that works for Elora. Um...yeah...okay...Elora is a lot more subdued in the story and her interactions with her mutt don't sizzle with the same humor and irony. I forced myself to continue reading, but it was unenjoyable and a big let down.Because of the strength of Mrs. Beast, I would be willing to give a third book by Ms. Ditchoff a try, but if it dissapoints me as much as Princess Beast, then I won't be purchasing anymore.