With the critically acclaimed novels "The Gate To Women's Country, Raising The Stones," and the Hugo-nominated "Grass," Sheri Tepper has establishe...
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Oct 04, 2010
Martine
rated it: 
About 100 pages into Beauty I wasn't sure whether I was really going to like the book, as it kept moving from subject to subject without staying long enough with each one to make it work. About 200 pages in, I was convinced the author had far too many ideas for her own good, and no idea of how to weave them together into a cohesive story. Despite my misgivings, though, I stuck with the book, and I'm glad I did, because the second half more than made up for the flaws of the first. I ended up enjo
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(11 people liked it)
May 10, 2011
Choupette
rated it: 
Now is not a good time to write a review of this, because I am in a bad mood. I will do, nonetheless, it.
I did have to remove two stars from my 13-year old rating. I did not find this particularly beautiful, or as tragic as I remembered, or even particularly clever. Luckily, though it did not descend into the overwrought sentimentality I was dreading, except perhaps a little towards the end. Even then, though, I maintain that it retained something of grandeur.
Tepper is cl More...
I did have to remove two stars from my 13-year old rating. I did not find this particularly beautiful, or as tragic as I remembered, or even particularly clever. Luckily, though it did not descend into the overwrought sentimentality I was dreading, except perhaps a little towards the end. Even then, though, I maintain that it retained something of grandeur.
Tepper is cl More...
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Aug 31, 2010
Jessica
rated it: 
I normally try not to review anything I hated, but I'm going to put this on here as a warning. Sure, I give it 1 star, it's certainly inventive and it was interesting to see how many fairy tales she could weave together. HOWEVER. This is one of the most DISTURBING books I have ever read. The ICK factor in this book is extremely high. Sheri Tepper is a hardcore feminist, and she does not paint men in a good light (which is putting it mildly, honestly, pretty much every man in the book is a p
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(6 people liked it)
Feb 09, 2011
Joy H.
rated it:
It took me a while to finish reading this book (In fact, when I was more than half way through, I almost quit, but Jackie encouraged me to finish the story.) There are several reasons for my reluctance to finish reading the book:
1. I wasn't able to fully grasp or keep track of the plot because the main character, "Beauty" keeps moving back and forth between different time dimensions and different worlds, meeting different characters. That was confusing to me. So there was a sense More...
1. I wasn't able to fully grasp or keep track of the plot because the main character, "Beauty" keeps moving back and forth between different time dimensions and different worlds, meeting different characters. That was confusing to me. So there was a sense More...
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Aug 31, 2010
Katie
rated it: 
When people force me to choose a single favorite book, I often name this one. It begins as a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Then the time-travelers show up and things go crazy from there. The book has apocalypse, more fairy tales (cinderella, snow white, etc.), visits to Hell and Faerie, horror, and more. The familiar elements react to make a very original whole. The book wears its environmentalist and feminist hearts openly, but lack of subtlety doesn't mean lack of power. Every time I rer
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(5 people liked it)
Aug 03, 2011
Christina K
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 19, 2011
Terri
rated it: 
This book is a big hot mess! I kept reading because it was such a train wreck, a sick sense of fasciation held my interest. The plot is ridiculous: Tepper throws countless fairy tales, Bible stories, and unrelated fiction into a single storyline. But instead of cleverly weaving together disparate elements, it feels disjointed, haphazard, and nonsensical. Her writing frequently throws us such delicious awfulness as "his eyes glittered with hectic abandon." On top of that, here are my tw
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Sep 18, 2011
Pikachu
rated it:
Few authors can churn out works that could be described as "all-encompassing." Sheri Tepper is one of those rare few who could merit such a description. I've read three books by this remarkable lady so far, and loved them all because of her rich talent for world-building and character development. While Beauty is certainly a retelling of a fairytale, it is also much more than that -- it is a fantasy novel, a science fiction novel, a novel about time-traveling, about alternate histories
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Jan 02, 2012
Rosanna
rated it:
This book started with a lot of promise, but quickly took turns and twists in story and plot that made me not want to continue reading...but I felt I needed to know the ending, so I did complete the book. Set in the 14th century, I was expecting a lot of fairy tale romance and adventure. There was some romance, some adventure, but mostly magical creativity and poetic license expressed by the author to relate her liberal points of view of the current state of the world. It was a slow read to s
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Oct 08, 2011
Cynthia
rated it:
This novel was my introduction to Tepper. I don't generally read fantasy fiction, so I cannot compare this book to others of the genre, the way a devotee could, but I was intrigued by the premise, of retelling fairy tales, so I dove in.
It's been a ride of highs & lows. A few times I was tempted to quit & read another book from the pile on my nightstand, but I had to find out how Tepper wraps everything up for Beauty, so I kept slogging.
When the author took Beauty, her main characte More...
It's been a ride of highs & lows. A few times I was tempted to quit & read another book from the pile on my nightstand, but I had to find out how Tepper wraps everything up for Beauty, so I kept slogging.
When the author took Beauty, her main characte More...
Apr 17, 2011
Suz
rated it:
This is easily one of the weirdest books I've ever read. And to be honest, I want to shake Sheri Tepper and scream "What the hell was that?!"
The protagonist is Sleeping Beauty (who escapes her curse, narrowly) who is the mother of Cinderella, who is the mother of Snow White. There are a few other fairy tale/mythology characters thrown in there as well. It takes place in Medieval England, the 20th century, the 21st century, Faery, and imaginary land (Chinanga), and Hell More...
The protagonist is Sleeping Beauty (who escapes her curse, narrowly) who is the mother of Cinderella, who is the mother of Snow White. There are a few other fairy tale/mythology characters thrown in there as well. It takes place in Medieval England, the 20th century, the 21st century, Faery, and imaginary land (Chinanga), and Hell More...
Oct 04, 2010
Jackie
rated it:
I loved this book immensely. It weaves a tapestry of fairytales, linking Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Snow White in a timeless fantasy.
It transported me to the Realm of Fae and I was completely immersed in the novel. Sympathetic characters made it easy to love.
I sent this to my neice and wish I didn't because I'd love to read it again.
It transported me to the Realm of Fae and I was completely immersed in the novel. Sympathetic characters made it easy to love.
I sent this to my neice and wish I didn't because I'd love to read it again.
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Sep 21, 2010
Marcie
rated it:
This isn't Sheri's best book, but I still enjoyed it. I would have liked it a lot better if she hadn't rooted the story around fairy tales. The story and characters were strong enough to stand on their own without all the extra garbage. It also wasn't anything like what I was originally expecting it to be. The back cover description and first couple chapters were very deceiving. I should have known better given who the author is, but I honestly thought it was going to be a simple fairy tale r
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Mar 08, 2011
Scurra
rated it:
An amazingly depressing book in the unerring way it nails our inability as a species to evolve beyond selfishness. But I also find it extremely satisfying as a clever blurring of the SF/Fantasy boundaries, with ideas bursting out all over the place. The slow-burning horror of Fidipur is especially well-handled.
One thing I am uncertain about is that I first read this in one edition but purchased a different edition - and I think that several sections (presented as some sort of plot ex More...
One thing I am uncertain about is that I first read this in one edition but purchased a different edition - and I think that several sections (presented as some sort of plot ex More...
Jan 22, 2011
Diane
rated it:
A lot people have raved about this book but for me the story fell desperately flat. Perhaps if the book had been broken down into 3 books then it would have flowed better and would have given the author the opportunity to unfold her story in 3 smaller ones.
Fitting numerous fairy tales into one tale, across different worlds and centuries is a mammoth task. I battled to keep up with all the characters and time periods. I struggled to identify with the characters and to remain interested. More...
Fitting numerous fairy tales into one tale, across different worlds and centuries is a mammoth task. I battled to keep up with all the characters and time periods. I struggled to identify with the characters and to remain interested. More...
Oct 25, 2011
Hilary
rated it:
I started this book well over a week-and-a-half ago: I still haven't made any progress. (Note: I quit on page 140.)
The initial premise was quite nice. I liked Beauty's voice; while Tepper didn't seem to be doing a radical reinterpretation of the fairytale, it wasn't offensive either.
Then Beauty time-traveled. Tepper nearly lost me there, but completely alienated me with her preachy environmentalist and feminist themes. Yes, the present Western world is patriarchal and mater More...
The initial premise was quite nice. I liked Beauty's voice; while Tepper didn't seem to be doing a radical reinterpretation of the fairytale, it wasn't offensive either.
Then Beauty time-traveled. Tepper nearly lost me there, but completely alienated me with her preachy environmentalist and feminist themes. Yes, the present Western world is patriarchal and mater More...
Feb 06, 2012
Shauna
rated it:
Beauty is an interesting mix of fairytale and dystopian fiction. In it, Tepper is commenting on her perception that all the beauty in the world is dying, but perhaps-and we can only hope-it is just sleeping. She uses the metaphor of Sleeping Beauty to represent the world at large and the direction we are headed; perfect Beauty born, Beauty cursed with death, Beauty dying.
In all honesty, to the story itself I wouldn't give much more than two stars for all the enjoyment I got out of it More...
In all honesty, to the story itself I wouldn't give much more than two stars for all the enjoyment I got out of it More...
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Apr 04, 2011
Emily
rated it:
From the fourteenth century to the twenty-first; from medieval England to the imaginary land of Chinanga; from the Faery land of Ylles and even into hell itself, Beauty's journey spans myriad settings and covers some very important issues. Beauty is ostensibly the Sleeping Beauty of legend, but the legend is re-imagined in a delightful and thought-provoking manner. I cannot summarize the plot further without giving away so many delightful surprises; in fact, I think the first sentence of this re
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Aug 31, 2010
Kate
rated it:
I’ve always liked deconstructed fairy tales, whether it’s through the works of Gregory Maguire or Robin McKinley. Fairy tales are always so distant—you’re not reading a story, you’re reading a lesson. When Cinderella, Snow White, or Sleeping Beauty gets a face and a voice, the tale is personalized. You’re invested. So, Beauty , a novel by Sherri S. Tepper didn’t have to work that hard to snag me. Unfortunately, things then turned weird.
Beauty, the daughter of a duke and a mysterious More...
Beauty, the daughter of a duke and a mysterious More...
Mar 17, 2011
Simon
rated it:
A classic work of fantasy well deserving of it's place in the Fantasy Masterworks series.
I have never read anything by this author before and was pleasantly suprised by her delightful prose and the vastness of her imagination. This is not conventional fantasy quest story but follows in the fantasy tradition of railing against modern times and the direction that mankind seems to be headed in.
Tepper obviously has very clear ideas about what she thinks is wrong with society More...
I have never read anything by this author before and was pleasantly suprised by her delightful prose and the vastness of her imagination. This is not conventional fantasy quest story but follows in the fantasy tradition of railing against modern times and the direction that mankind seems to be headed in.
Tepper obviously has very clear ideas about what she thinks is wrong with society More...
Oct 04, 2010
Lindsay
rated it:
This book surprised me in a lot of ways. I was expecting a feminist-inflected retelling of "Sleeping Beauty," and while Beauty started out in that vein, it didn't stay there long.
Briefly, the story is about the title character --- a half-fairy daughter of a duke in fourteenth-century England --- roaming through time, space and other worlds after the famous sleep-for-a-hundred-years spell is placed on her family's castle. Among the places she goes are the present day (well, More...
Briefly, the story is about the title character --- a half-fairy daughter of a duke in fourteenth-century England --- roaming through time, space and other worlds after the famous sleep-for-a-hundred-years spell is placed on her family's castle. Among the places she goes are the present day (well, More...
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Aug 31, 2010
Casey
rated it:
I've just read this book for the fifth or sixth time. Each reading of it generally holds up to my memory of its greatness. Tepper uses the disappearance of magic from the world as a metaphor for the destruction of the earth by humans. The heroine Beauty begins her journal as a loquacious 16 year old in 15th century England. At birth she is cursed to a hundred year sleep by an evil fairy aunt. But with the help of gifts from her flighty fairy mother, she escapes her prescribed fate and accidenta
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Aug 31, 2010
Crsdefiance
rated it:
How anyone could give this book above one star is beyond me. The concept of the book is great, and the author really does have a gift, but not for writing. Throughout the course of this book, the author actually managed to make her book feel forced, which is not a desirable trait to say the least. The author fails to develop a single character from start to finish, and this includes the main character, who to be completely honest, serves no purpose other than to preach Sheri S. Tepper's philo
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Aug 31, 2010
Stevelvis
rated it:
Beauty is a novel about decay and death and horror and ugliness and the fantastic hope that beauty may one day return. Sherri S. Tepper won the Locus Award for best fantasy novel with this story in which the fairy tale princess of Sleeping Beauty magically travels in time from her real life origins to the present day and the distant future end of humankind fighting to save herself. In her travels she encounters many real live people who appear as characters in our world's fairy tales, finds an
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Aug 31, 2010
Amanda
rated it:
My least favorite of Tepper's books. It's well written and it a good story, but the reason I don't like it was well as others is that so much of it is scary and depressing. Also, it just reinforced my belief that humanity is a cancer on the earth, and that if we don't destroy ourselves one way, we'll do it in another.
Some sections of the book hit me so hard they made my stomach ache with anxiety. She wrote my nightmares out for me to read and it wasn't pretty.
To show you that even my More...
Some sections of the book hit me so hard they made my stomach ache with anxiety. She wrote my nightmares out for me to read and it wasn't pretty.
To show you that even my More...
Aug 31, 2010
Renee
rated it:
This is the first novel of Tepper's I have read, but it certainly won't be the last. What initially begins as a good retelling of Sleeping Beauty becomes... an amazingly insightful novel about the human condition, a representation of a myriad of personality types and their interactions, a theological discussion, an exploration of the aging process and a distopian imagining of the effect humanity has on the planet. What Tepper accomplishes here is nothing short of miraculous. If she had writte
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Mar 10, 2011
Ideath
rated it:
Another astonishingly embarrassing cover. Some parts were very good and others felt like romanticizing a fictional golden age (when people didn't make ugly things). That may seem like a silly criticism, given that its main substance is fairy tale, but the portrayal of horroporn just seemed over the top.
Also, ecological collapse being so close, i require more realism in my ecopocalypses. Perhaps i'm spoiled by KSR in that respect.
Also, ecological collapse being so close, i require more realism in my ecopocalypses. Perhaps i'm spoiled by KSR in that respect.
Aug 31, 2010
Clare
rated it:
This was one of the strangest books I've ever read. It was like Tepper was trying to write a book about everything, while at the same time have it focus entirely on the one mortal character who only actually lives around twenty years. And so the title character, Beauty, is like a pinball in this great celestial machine, rocketing around from the fourteenth century to the twenty-second, from one realm to another, from reality to imagined reality and literally to hell and back. I finished this boo
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Oct 21, 2011
Mimi
rated it:
A moving, poignant, and reflective read. A deeply insightful and beautifully written re-telling of several classic and beloved fairytales with a view that only a modern writer can imbue about our society and the roads that it is headed down. Several re-readings later and I still adore this book and discover a new reason to love it each time. A must for ANY reader!
Aug 21, 2011
Mindy
rated it:
Definitely more sci-fi/fantasy than fairy tale. Definitely too long. A bit hard to get into because the author spends so much time withholding information from the reader, but not to any great suspense. Also because the characters aren't very likeable, so it's hard to invest in them. Probably the only reason I finished it was because I hate not finishing books.
