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The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty (Sleeping Beauty #1)

3.31 of 5 stars 3.31 · rating details · 23,987 ratings · 2,247 reviews

From bestselling author Anne Rice, writing as A.N. Roquleaure. In the traditional folktale of 'Sleeping Beauty,' the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a Prince. It is an ancient story, one that originally emerged from and still deeply disturbs the mind's unconscious. Now Anne Rice's retelling of the Beaut...more

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Published (first published 1983)

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May 30, 2012 Nataliya rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Perhaps, people who enjoy terrible books and awful erotica? Otherwise, nobody.

Recommended to Nataliya by: A so-called 'friend' with obviously a very questionable taste in books

Shelves: this-was-quite-bad, first-in-a-series

I want to bleach my brain after reading this. No, I'm not a prude (I'm a gynecologist, I've seen and heard EVERYTHING). It's just THAT BAD.

Public service notice: This book has been brought to you thanks to the generous sponsorship by the word 'spanking'. Which is repeated so many times it almost does not look like a real word anymore. A drinking game with taking a shot every time spanking is mentioned would not last long (that is, unless you have truly remarkable alcohol-digesting enzymes and a...more

181 likes · like · see review

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Sara You are right Megan, we are obviously being so sensitive not liking rape (not "might" there, I'm quite sure). I realise now, how uptight of us.

There i...more
Apr 19, 2013 03:42am

Nataliya @ Megan: 'nonconsensual rape' (and that in itself is a tautology as rape happens with the lack of consent) presented as ultimately being a good thing...more
Apr 20, 2013 11:27am

Feb 09, 2013 Dd rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oh no,no,no,no,no,no......NO!!

What in the name of Holy Mother was that???

Because seriously,if it is then call me dumb but I don't get it!!

I would like to show you what exactly happened....

Need me to show you a little more graphically???

Yeah,that's it!!

Now first of all,let me clarify that I love erotica and the fact that this story was supposed to be an erotic-retelling of Sleeping Beauty, captured my attention.

My heartfelt apology to all those other reviewers who warned Readers away.I did not h...more

159 likes · like · see review

Jul 08, 2011 UniquelyMoi *Dhestiny* BlithelyBookish rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: donate-sell-trade, reviewed-by-me, 1-stars, historical-erotica, genre-erotica-bdsm

I was hoping for a more grown up version of the classic Sleeping Beauty tale. Holy Moly! This isn't at all what I expected, and while I am not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, this book was way too intense for me.

According to some, I'm not open minded or enlightened enough to appreciate its value. To them I say... well hell, I'm still too stunned to say anything.

99 likes · like · see review

Sep 17, 2012 Kay rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, myths-and-tales, roflcopter, smutsicle

WARNING: ANIMATED .GIF DUMP, just because I can't take this book seriously.

Finished, and I am so glad that this book is now out of my life and hidden away. This book elicited very strong emotions from me, from disbelief to WTF to OMG enough with the spanking already! in as little as 30 pages.

I've mapped out my emotional progression from the beginning to end:

Pre-read with high expectations:

Pages 1 - 100:

Pages 100 - 200ish:

Page 200 - end:

This book is absurd. I know this is supposed to be some...more

131 likes · like · see review

Dec 01, 2009 I ♥ Bookie Nookie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-bdsm, genre-taboo, tone-dark-or-not-fluffy, zz-reviewed, theme-held-captive

I am not sure how I feel about this book. On PAGE 3 the sex and degradation begins and it continued-page after brutal page. I am not a prude by any stretch, I just think this is not the book or subject matter for me. The sub/dom theme is just a little much for me as it is presented in this book--especially since there seems to be little to no relief for the submissives.

To answer the review question, "What I Learned from this book"--Well, I learned that being a submissive 24-7 seems to really su...more

39 likes · like · see review

Dec 14, 2009 Kasia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Kasia by: Photojim

Shelves: recommended-by-others, sex-and-erotica, fairytales, bdsm, 1st-in-series

If you're looking for a good BDSM fiction, this is it. Otherwise - stay away. And I mean it!!! BDSM is an acquired taste and if you're not really into it, you'll find the book repulsive.

Now, if you're into love games and are fascinated by mild (or not so mild) pain in an erotic setting - you've got the right book. The fairytale, Sleeping Beauty, is used merely as a starting point, the story goes off on a tangent within the first few pages and then we're taken into the neighbouring kingdom with a...more

31 likes · like · see review

Jul 23, 2011 Dina added it · review of another edition

Recommended to Dina by: No one. I'm a perv, LOL.

Shelves: erotica-romantica, fiction, f-f, m-m, ménage, bdsm

Disclaimer: I read this book on a dare. I'm not a fan of pure erotica and I'm no expert in BDSM, so it was pretty much obvious from the start that I wouldn't enjoy this read. That's why I'm not rating this book, as it wouldn't be fair to lower its average rating "on purpose" - not that I think one rating would cause such "damage", but anyway...

So, how should I start this ~~review~~ ranting of mine? ;) Okay, how about the plot? Plot?!? Yes, dear friends, this book has a plot - an absurd and underdeve...more Disclaimer: I read this book on a dare. I'm not a fan of pure erotica and I'm no expert in BDSM, so it was pretty much obvious from the start that I wouldn't enjoy this read. That's why I'm not rating this book, as it wouldn't be fair to lower its average rating "on purpose" - not that I think one rating would cause such "damage", but anyway...

So, how should I start this ~~review~~ ranting of mine? ;) Okay, how about the plot? Plot?!? Yes, dear friends, this book has a plot - an absurd and underdeveloped one, but a plot nonetheless. I don't feel like giving away any more of my damaged brain cells to this nightmare, so I'll just copy/paste the plot summary given at the beginning of the 2nd book, Beauty's Punishment:

After her century-long slumber, the Sleeping Beauty opened her eyes at the kiss of the Prince, to find her garments stripped away and her heart as well as her body under the rule of her deliverer. At once, Beauty was claimed as the Prince's naked pleasure slave to be taken to his Kingdom.
With the grateful consent of her parents, and dazed with desire for the Prince, Beauty was then brought to the Court of Queen Eleanor, the Prince's mother, to serve as one of hundreds of naked Princes and Princesses, all playthings of the Court until such time as they should be rewarded and sent home to their Kingdoms.
Dazzled by the rigors of the Training Hall, the Hall of Punishments, the ordeal of the Bridle Path, and her own mounting passion to please, Beauty remained the undisputed favorite of the Prince and the delight of her sometime Mistress, the lovely young Lady Juliana.
Yet she could not ignore her secret and forbidden infatuation with the Queen's exquisite slave, Prince Alexi, and finally the disobedient slave, Prince Tristan.
After glimpsing Prince Tristan among the disgraced of the castle, Beauty, in a moment of seemingly inexplicable rebellion, brings upon herself the very same punishment destined for Tristan: to be sent away from the voluptuous Court to the degradation of harsh labor in the nearby village.

That doesn't sound too bad, does it? Well, if you think so, just read my status updates to get a "tastier" insight into the extremely kinky, painful and humiliating sex antics Beauty and the other love slaves go through over the course of this book. I gasped, I frowned, I cringed and I gagged - oh boy! - but I also rolled my eyeballs and laughed hysterically at what was supposed to be erotic and thrilling. I "blame" Ms. Rice's juvenile writing for that: it was wordy and redundant, the story didn't flow effortlessly and all characters were one-dimensional and unlikable - in summary, this book became downright boring after the initial shock provided in the 1st chapters. I had to drink myself into almost oblivion to finish this read.

Now, how can an erotic story be boring? One word: repetition. Every other page, there was someone being spanked. Beauty and any other (un)fortunate love slave in sight got spanked for everything, over and over again. Oh, you bad girl, you need to be punished... Spanked! Very good, my girl... Spanked! I'm not amused. Spanked! You're so exquisitely beautiful!... Spanked! Are those tears of joy I see running down your face?... Spanked! I love you so much!... Spanked! Spanked! Spanked! Gaaaaah!

All things considered, I can't say I hated this book. I was irritated and coudn't wait to be done with it, but that wasn't out of utter disgust. It was out of sheer boredom. Even though this book is definitely out of my comfort zone, it could have kept my interested if Ms. Rice had filled its pages with all sorts of kinky stuff. Like I said above, I'm not familiar with the BDSM scenario and I could have been easily thrilled (in a good or bad way, it doesn't matter) by whatever "novelty" she wrote. Alas, all the excitment died after the 1st chapters and I didn't "learn" anything new... Disappointing!
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66 likes · like · see review

Mar 10, 2011 Justin rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, read-before-goodreads, abominations-unto-the-lord, fairy-tales-retold, read-in-2000s, smut

This is, from what my boyfriend tells me, a hilarious book to read aloud on a plane if you want to make the other passengers uncomfortable. As far as I can tell, that's its only use.

15 likes · like · see review

Feb 08, 2013 Jenn rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jenn by: Noelle

Shelves: borrowed-from-friends, fairytales-retold, reading-challenge-12, royalty, wtf, taboo-topics, series, annoying-protagonist, adult-fiction

It took me forever to figure out how to rate this book because I couldn't even figure out how I felt about it when I finished. I'm still a little unsure, honestly.

Honestly, I'm not quite sure where Sleeping Beauty comes into play here except she's a princess who awakens from a cursed sleep. That's where any relations to the story pretty much end. What then ensues is such a clusterfuck of actions that I'm just left like...

description

I was told early on that this was pretty much a BDSM book, when in actuali...more

9 likes · like · see review

Jan 21, 2011 Joyzi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Peeps who don't mind BDSM and porn

Recommended to Joyzi by: Goodreads

Shelves: adult, fairytale-retelling, fiction, reviewed, banned, e-book, erotica, book-series, guilty-pleasures, contemporary-fiction

My Proper Review

Okay what to say, what to say?

Honestly I'm pretty shy to review this book, just bear with me and my random shenanigans. Okay so I'll just assume that people who are reading this book review are 18 years old and above. Please if you're below 18, stop reading this and do something else.

Moving on, the reason I read this book is merely out of curiosity. But my first encounter with the idea of BDSM was last year(I'm not going to explain the definition of BDSM, if you haven't heard of...more

40 likes · like · see review

Feb 04, 2013 Juushika rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: status-borrowed

The Prince wakens Beauty from her century of sleep--and then, as his reward for saving the castle, takes her as his prize. He leads Beauty back to his kingdom, where foreign princes and princesses are trained to be sexual slaves, willingly submitting to the most "depraved" desires. The fairy tale premise strips the story of characterization and justifies an unbelievable land where Beauty and a hundred other royals undergo public and state-sanctioned humiliating display, oft-repeated spankings, a...more The Prince wakens Beauty from her century of sleep--and then, as his reward for saving the castle, takes her as his prize. He leads Beauty back to his kingdom, where foreign princes and princesses are trained to be sexual slaves, willingly submitting to the most "depraved" desires. The fairy tale premise strips the story of characterization and justifies an unbelievable land where Beauty and a hundred other royals undergo public and state-sanctioned humiliating display, oft-repeated spankings, and sexual encounters which never require consent. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty has a few darkly erotic moments but quickly disintegrates into repetition, and lacks character growth which might grant it some sense of purpose. I do not plan to read the sequels, and I do not recommend this book.

Initially, the premise of Claiming appears to have beautiful simplicity, but this simplicity is its biggest downfall. An untouched Beauty, woken from endless sleep into vivid life by a Prince--the concept leads easily into sexual overtones. However, fairy tales are brief and reiterative, and trade character for archetype: the sleeping Beauty, the warrior Prince. Rice maintains both aspects. She cannot sustain the simple concept over a novel's length, and the story quickly becomes repetitious: humiliation, spankings, sex, humiliation, spanking, sex. Beauty believes that each instance is worse than the last, but it's hard for the reader to agree. Not much varies besides the order of events, and sometimes a slave is tied up for a while or there's a bit of sodomy, but other than that the book drives in the same circle until the end. Beauty and Prince have little characterization outside of their titles, and while Beauty eventually encounters characters with names and the ghost of an identity, on the whole characterization is kept to a minimum. Without characterization, there is no character growth and no one for the reader to identify with and care about, stripping the story of any sense of purpose.

To be fair, the whole book is not a cycle of simple repetition. Claiming has a few moments of dark eroticism, where the encounter is conceived in such a way that it is appealing to the sympathetic mind (which is to say that the content tends towards idealized sexual violence not unlike BDSM, and may not suit all readers). Such moments, however, are the exception rather than the rule. The number of spankings, each one just like the one before, is so exaggerated that one begins to wonder if Rice has a fetish. On a less humorous note, the variations on sex and punishment tread on the edge of objectionable--not because the two can't be intermixed, but because Rice intermixes them without stopping for consent. To a certain extent, the fairy tale setting justifies this: the Prince's kingdom is an absurd land stripped of characters and run on fetishized sex, wholly unbelievable and therefore excused from rational details like reasonable doubt and sexual consent. But the setting can't excuse the fact that the book begins when the Prince rapes Beauty to wake her and then orders her into slavery against her will. Nevermind the fact that Beauty is forever aroused by her trails--the fantasy of the entire book is still tainted.

There is ample room in literature for erotic fairy tales--especially for eroticism that reveals or revels in the darkness of human nature. (The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter is a breathtaking example of such, and I highly recommend it.) The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, bogged down by blank-faced characters and dozen of identical spankings, plummets where it should soar. The result is a novel with only moments of erotic interest, never thought-provoking or intriguing but instead unbelievable, repetitious, and slightly unsettling. Rice cannot maintain the concept over a mere 250 pages, and I doubt that the two sequels are any better--I don't plan to read them. I was disappointed by this book, and I don't recommend it.

For interested readers, there is also a glorious, spoiler-and-sex heavy review by Yahtzee (of Zero Punctuation) of the entire Sleeping Beauty series. It's much funnier than my review and also entirely accurate, and I recommend it even if you never plan to read the books.
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Aug 31, 2008 Birgit rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oh boy. What to say about this book. I love a good smut novel, and not just those PG-13 Danielle Steel novels either. I totally dig trashy, nasty, dirty romance novels, especially the ones that use ridiculous words like tumescent, which is what I expected this book to be--with a fairy tale context. What it turned out to be was 200 pages of rape and sadism and degradation. Within three pages, Sleeping Beauty was awakened not by a loving kiss, as is the tradition, but by sex, which obviously she c...more

31 likes · like · see review

Mar 30, 2007 Tracy Rhodes rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was all for reading a little naughty fairy-tale erotica from an author I liked - but wow. The whole sub/dom theme (the title really should be "The Spanking Of Sleeping Beauty") was funny at first, then ridiculous, and eventually just tedious. Meh.

23 likes · like · see review

Dec 20, 2009 Trudy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-guilty-pleasures

Warning - ADULT CONTENT

This book was really my introduction into Erotica and is definitely an eye opener. I agree with one of the other reviewers in that this is so well written by Anne Rice (Pen Name A. N. Roquelaure) that you may be ruined for other Erotica - I was.

This book basically picks up on the fairy tale where the Prince awakens Sleeping Beauty with a... He then takes her back to his kingdom where she is basically a slave along with many others that are being groomed for nobility. The B...more

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Jan 03, 2008 Kewpie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I got this in a boxed set one Christmas from my GRANDMOTHER. She knew I collected fairy tales and their adaptations. I'm fairly certain she had no idea the books were erotic. I think she just saw "Sleeping Beauty" and assumed I'd want it. She wanted to borrow it from me when I was done. I kept pretending to forget it every time.

First Book: Fun and novel read. Interesting background and lots of creative naughty bits for fun.

Second book: Lost steam. She lost most of the background and plot and ev...more

43 likes · like · see review

Jun 21, 2007 Needleroozer rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sex

I started reading one of Rice's Sleeping Beauty books while I was in high school and quickly realized that I was in over my head. I've tried again as an adult and all I can say is that these books should come with a warning lable telling people not to try any of the dangerous SM stuff included between the pages.

I don't think any of the practices in any of the books are Safe, Sane, or Consensual. Well, maybe an arguement could be made for some of them being consensual, but safe or sane? Forget it...more

8 likes · like · see review

Jul 24, 2010 Jasmin rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Sadists and Masochists

Shelves: erotic

A princess is inflicted with a curse. One where she would sleep for eternity, unless the spell is broken by a kiss of a prince.

A prince comes and bestows his lovingly affections to the lovely princess. When I say lovingly affections, I mean, him ruining Beauty's dress with a sword, raping her(she was asleep, and she doesn't give permission, which I call rape) and then giving her a kiss.

The thought (aside from the rape part), is absolutely romantic for me. I could already imagine all that the p...more

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Jul 09, 2008 Raven rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: s-m-erotica, favourites, owned

I can’t help comment/review this book from the perspective of someone who has read it before and has recently read it again.
As a whole I like to think of the trilogy like a flower. The first novel is the bud and then by the time you get to the end of the third novel it’s in full bloom.
Claiming starts of with innocent little Beauty being “awakened” by the Prince. I like how innocent Beauty is because as the reader you’re innocent to this new world she is introduced to as well, this being a fairy...more

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Sep 03, 2007 Duffy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: open minded people

Shelves: erotika

It's been a long time that I'd read this book that I forgot the year when I read it. But I do know that I've read all three books of this series at the same year.

I was curious as to why the title was related to Sleeping Beauty. Knowing Anne Rice works, I was expecting a different kind of thriller or possibly a romance novel since it was written in a pen name AN Roquolaire.

I was surprised when I finaly read this book, the first chapter, I can say, have shocked me. Well, not really shocked me, bu...more

11 likes · like · see review

Jan 30, 2011 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: BDSM Fanatics/Open-minded People/Ero-Lovers

Shelves: creepy, never-to-re-read, erotica

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Okay, I'm gonna read this out of curiosity and will wait for the review of a friend! XD

A reading challenge for the NEW YEAR!
*********
Yes people! those were just some of my thoughts before reading the book!
And after 4 days of reading it...

*inhales*
*exhales*

I would just like to repeat what my GR friend said "This one is truly about BDSM"
A twisted and erotic version of Sleeping Beauty.
I just finished reading this one a couple of hours ago and find it hard to make a proper review because I am TRULY...more

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Sep 07, 2007 Tal Goretsky rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: horny toads

This is a scrumptious sexual feast from Anne Rice, writing under a pseudonym. It picks up the Sleeping Beauty tale from the moment the Prince kisses her and spins a three-book saga of what happens next. Beauty is whisked off to the Prince's kingdom, but discovers that before she can marry him, she must follow the laws of his land and do as the other princes and pricesses do. That is, she must surrender to several years of humiliating sado-masochistic sexual servitude at the hands of the aristocr...more

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Sep 06, 2011 Kim added it · review of another edition

Belts, books, newspaper, brooms, brushes, curry comb, carpet beater (or rug duster), flails, pointing stick, ruler and yardstick. Table tennis paddles, cricket bat(and various sports rackets), hockey sticks, oars, pokers, ropes, cords and cables (for whipping; also for tying), shaving strap, shoes, boots, golf shoes (the plimsoll is a classic) spoon, spatula, whisk, ladle and other cooking utensils such as the cutting board, Sweat Scrapers, towels (especially wet, to increase the weight). Plant...more Belts, books, newspaper, brooms, brushes, curry comb, carpet beater (or rug duster), flails, pointing stick, ruler and yardstick. Table tennis paddles, cricket bat(and various sports rackets), hockey sticks, oars, pokers, ropes, cords and cables (for whipping; also for tying), shaving strap, shoes, boots, golf shoes (the plimsoll is a classic) spoon, spatula, whisk, ladle and other cooking utensils such as the cutting board, Sweat Scrapers, towels (especially wet, to increase the weight). Plant materials such as nettles or certain vines, hot sauce for applying before or after a spanking to increase burning/pain, without increasing strength of blows, peeled ginger for figging in order to prevent clenching during spanking, bamboo skewers, candles (wax play),clothes, pegs, plastic wrap, ice cubes, knives, bandannas as blindfolds or gags, snakebite kits (provide suction). Mentholated rubs, trams, feathers or feather dusters (for tickling; the second also as stick)gloves and oven mitts, lighters, matches, etc. Medical equipment, such as Wartenberg wheels, sounds, and speculums, nails, pins and needles, leather bootlaces (to make an improvised martinet,) banjo picks, Ball lock, rasps, various tools, edibles, (such as whipped cream, peppers, fruits and vegetables, etc.) Cooking oils and shortenings (for massaging)vibrating devices, even as remote as a washing machine, especially large solid objects that are also used passively to tie the victim onto, (e.g. a vaulting horse or vault buck, a sawhorse etc. as an improvised punishment horse, a barrel etc. to be bent over for the victim to lie upon, as chair, table, bed, etc.rubber bands and other constrictive items.)*

~Yawn~

What’s the dealio? I’m sorry, did I miss the memo on why this stuff is supposedly hot?

This book was recommended to me as a sort of aside… like a ‘Hell, you should read Anne Rice’s BDSM books’ and I, of course, take those sort of things with the utmost seriousness (‘Hell yeah!’) and then find myself at the Barnes and Noble wielding my 20% off coupon like a bitch in heat wields her ({}).

This shit is crap. Okay, I won’t even go into the writing, because to be honest, I really don’t care for Anne Rice. I've read the Witching Series… just so I could mock her and be able to back it up. Rule #1 of Snarkdom: Must be knowledgeable.

Seriously… what am I missing with the whole BDSM scene? How is degradation, pain, submissiveness, humiliation, rape, enslavement, etc at all attractive?

Ok, fine… personal preference… got it. Whatever floats your dinghy, I suppose. I was bored, disgusted and angry with this. I kept hoping that Beauty would finally get some balls and run a sword through the damn Queen. Instead, she was ‘grateful’ for this life that ‘spared’ her of a previous virginal existence where she was forced to needlepoint and be wooed by Lords and Princes and then prick her finger and sleep for 100 years. Oh, now THAT sounds like Hell.

*Thank you, Wikipedia….. Did you actually think I could come up with a list like that? Shame on you.

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Jun 28, 2007 Kelly rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, did_not_like

this book (and all of the series - yes i "read" them all) was just stupid. the only redeeming thing i can say about it is that my mother, knowing how much i enjoy fairy tales, bought this trilogy for me, not realizing it was just non-stop, over-the-top S&M sex and stuff.

i am sure that if i leaned that way, this might be terribly erotic, but...well, no.

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 30, 2012 Grace rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So my friend sent me an article about "50 Shades of Grey", mentioning that real erotica experts thought 50 was crap and "Sleeping Beauty" was the real thing. Because I am nothing if not thorough, I bought Sleeping Beauty #1.

WHAT. THE FUCK.

No. NO! NONONONONO. Who on earth thought THIS would be a good counter from the erotica world? I do not get BDSM off of this, I get some sort of weird torture porn. You know what puts me right off a sexytimes book? Rape. And there is a HELL of a lot of rape in h...more So my friend sent me an article about "50 Shades of Grey", mentioning that real erotica experts thought 50 was crap and "Sleeping Beauty" was the real thing. Because I am nothing if not thorough, I bought Sleeping Beauty #1.

WHAT. THE FUCK.

No. NO! NONONONONO. Who on earth thought THIS would be a good counter from the erotica world? I do not get BDSM off of this, I get some sort of weird torture porn. You know what puts me right off a sexytimes book? Rape. And there is a HELL of a lot of rape in here. Cruelty and meanness and pain and rape. And people who get a charge off of rape can go stand waaaaay over there, where I can keep an eye on you.

I swear to god I'm not a prude. I have read and enjoyed erotica, even BDSM erotica before, but admittedly it's been situations where the submissive is tacitly permitting their treatment rather than being tortured - I guess what I'm saying is I like my BDSM with an undercurrent of actual emotion and enjoyment and with a safe word, or at least with a measure of emotional investment from the sadist side. I get how it's empowering to trust someone else to that extent and to test limits. This is not that. This is not about control, this is about abject humiliation. This is breaking people, and the entire story that Alexi tells just makes me want to throw things. The Queen sends him off to get raped repeatedly by abusive morons. This is not the result of neglect - she deliberately sends him to people she knows will brutally, serially rape him. There's a reason I don't want to watch movies like "Hostel", and also a reason why movies about sex trafficking haunt me. Rape and nonconsensual sex do not do it for me.

Look, whatever floats your fictional boat is fine, but for me this was actually pretty repellant. I do not want to read a book about people being farmed out to rapists. I do not want to read about people being beaten down both figuratively and literally. I can't quite believe I'm saying this, but FIFTY SHADES IS BETTER THAN THIS SHIT. Yes, it's a gross misrepresentation of an actual BDSM relationship and there are tons of other major issues with the story and characters, but nobody rapes anyone, and that's good enough for me!

I am going to have nightmares tonight. I really, really do not like rape. The End.(less)

21 likes · like · see review

Dec 02, 2011 Lady Jaye rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: NO ONE!!

Shelves: colossal-fail, never-again, read-in-2011, stars-1

Ok.

This was one of the books picked for me as part of a challenge, and after reading some of the reviews, I decided to go ahead with this one. Now I am not normally a reader/fan of pure erotica, or erotica in general. But what the heck, I've read a couple of erotic romances that weren't terrible, so how bad could this one be, right?

Wrong.

It was bad. Horrendously bad. The writing is, like other people have said, insanely juvenile; it is also atrocious. There was no plot, no nothing: it just fl...more

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Nov 13, 2009 Steph rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, series-ended, author-웃, series-book1

This story is not for those who shy away from anything remotely sexual. Hopefully the small writing "The First of the Classic Erotic Trilogy of Sleeping Beauty" would have caught your eye and stayed your hand, if so. The title and series name can lead many to mistake this as a "simple" retelling of Sleeping Beauty when it's more of an NC-17 retelling.

The story holds TPE tales of BDSM, M/M, F/F, voyeurism, humiliation ... you name it, it's probably there. The idea of "letting go and you'll be fr...more

3 likes · like · see review

Feb 05, 2013 PurplyCookie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: erotica, fairy-tale, 1st-in-a-series, book-series, retellings

Many years ago, as rumor has it, Anne Rice set out to prove that the world of erotica was not limited to male writers. It was her contention, so the story goes, that a women could contribute to this genre just as well, if not better.

And so, under the pen name A. N. Roquelaure, Anne created a trilogy of intense sado-masochistic erotic novels loosely based on the fairytale "Sleeping Beauty."

To say that these books are overwhelmingly intense is not to state the case. It is possible to read them wit...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Izzy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't know why I feel compelled to review this one. It's just so Anne Rice. It's very heavy handed. (Maybe because the hand is holding a spanking paddle?)

I think I am just incredibly OVER the whole 50 Shades of Grey thing, and want to somehow put it out into the world that there is other erotica. It may be cringe-inducing and oftentimes *hilarious,* but it is at least imaginative and kind of smart. It is not the equivalent of someone beating you over the head with a wooden smut club.

The Sleepi...more I don't know why I feel compelled to review this one. It's just so Anne Rice. It's very heavy handed. (Maybe because the hand is holding a spanking paddle?)

I think I am just incredibly OVER the whole 50 Shades of Grey thing, and want to somehow put it out into the world that there is other erotica. It may be cringe-inducing and oftentimes *hilarious,* but it is at least imaginative and kind of smart. It is not the equivalent of someone beating you over the head with a wooden smut club.

The Sleeping Beauty series is Anne Rice's official contribution to the genre (not counting her other work, because you know, Anne Rice). She's writing under a pseudonym, but who is she kidding? The plot is a spin on the classic fairy tale, with a few...changes. Princess Beauty has been asleep for a long, long time. Many knights and princes have tried to break the spell that holds her and her kingdom in the torturous bondage of sleep (sounds glorious to me), but to no avail. Eventually though, one is successful. Once he frees her by...raping her, her grateful parents agree that it is only right that they send her to a sort of...band camp so that she is more skilled with her "instrument." And by band camp I mean a place where royal youths go to learn how to be submissive and participate in many bizarre sexual scenarios.

This plot is obviously a stretch. I mean, do all these princes and princesses really need to be taken down(several, insane) notches to be more effective future rulers of kingdoms? All the captives are of royal blood, and they are submitted to much humiliation. They are groomed, physically and mentally, with the end goal being the breaking of their willful spirits. What sort of realm is this? I am terrified and intrigued.

However, Beauty is different. She is physically exquisite to be sure, but so are all the other princesses. Instead, we are told that she is uncommonly receptive to sexual...torture. She...wants it. So she becomes the pet of the castle, which really only earns her...more torture.

The rest of the series explores many different scenarios, with several recurring characters, including other captives and figures of power. We are also treated to another (male) captive's adventures from his point of view; they are boring. From what I learned from friends that are or have been involved in the...scene, the series runs the gamut of typical themes. SO I guess there are people out there pretending to be horses on a bridle path for shits and giggles. I got the sense that for those in the know, the stuff going on in these books isn't that scandalous. My biggest gripes are the fact that Beauty is so young (well, she is technically over 100 years old, but still), the rape situation, and the instances of bestiality in the subsequent installments (GAG). Not light concerns in terms of like, human rights, but standard fare in the land of sexual fantasy. I actually thought the conclusion of the series, in which Beauty realizes that she rather enjoys this life and finds *true love,* was kind of sweet.

You guys, if you want to read dirty stories, there are actual writers writing them. I PROMISE.
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Aug 03, 2011 Charity rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-read-list, erotic-romance

Fascinating and transformative. I tried to read this book when I was younger, and I was so overwhelmed (and appalled) by its contents that I had to put it down. It recently came up in conversation and I was convinced to attempt to read it again. This time around, I found a great degree of appreciation for the reworking of this fairy tale. Instead of appalling, the story was imaginative, lush, and almost hypnotic. The world was entirely foreign, and the gradual change in Beauty was captivating to...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Sabina added it · review of another edition

Awful. Really ... awful. Anne Rice isn't my favourite author by any stretch but her other stuff ('Interview With a Vampire', 'The Vampire Lestat' and 'Azriel' are the only ones I have read) has been okay, readable, interesting (in that order). 'The Claiming of Beauty' was none of the above. It was obscene in a flabby sort of way - the over-arcing emotion that I felt was repulsion of the ilk that I suspect I would feel if a fat middle-aged guy flashed me. It was brutal, callous, degrading sex, an...more

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Erotic Literature?	57	468	May 02, 2013 04:34pm
My first book as an adult...	4	97	Apr 29, 2013 08:39am
Book Junkies R' Us: Sleeping Beauty Trilogy	2	12	Feb 18, 2013 03:46pm
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Books, Wine and G...: The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty Erotica--->MUST BE 18 TO READ THIS AND TO TAKE PART IN THE DISCUSSION<---	48	66	Aug 30, 2012 08:17am
The Anne Rice Boo...: Does the "Sleeping Beauty Trilogy" have any literary merit?	4	45	Jul 19, 2012 09:55am

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About A.N. Roquelaure

A pseudonym of Anne Rice.

erotica, specifically S/M.

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Beauty's Punishment (Sleeping Beauty, #2)

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“It seems an insult to the night to speak of purpose and intent, when this common moment is so brimming full of blessed design tranquility. All things follow their course.” — 21 people liked it

“What is fear after all? It is indecision. You seek some way to resist, escape. There is none.” — 15 people liked it

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