Review: As Old as Time

As Old as Time by Liz Braswell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As Old As Time is the third Twisted Tale story, this time giving us a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I positively adore Beauty and the Beast retellings, so I was excited for this one.

With the first book in this series, the Aladdin retelling, I was super excited for the series. With the second book in the series, the Sleeping Beauty retelling, I was extremely disappointed. With this third book in the series, the Beauty and the Beast retelling, I was somewhere in the middle. I wasn’t crazy about this one. It was nowhere near as interesting as the first book in the series, but it was a lot more enjoyable than the second book in the series.

I think the reason I enjoyed the first book so much is because of the story chosen. It is extremely rare to see Aladdin retellings. It was unique, hence my level of enjoyment. With the Sleeping Beauty story, I had comparisons I could make, thus allowing me to see how it wasn’t quite up to par with other retellings. With Beauty and the Beast there are countless retellings to be found. Some retellings are amazing, others not so much. To fall at either end of the spectrum this book would need to be either mind blowing or truly atrocious – thus, it was in the middle ground.

There was so much potential for this one. There was a twist added that I have never seen before – the one to curse the Beast was Belle’s mother. In addition to this, we had a world of magic. There was more to the story than simply accepting the Beast for being a monster – throughout the same message was sent. We are to accept others for their differences – be it a beastly form, magical powers, or the prejudices you see in everyday life. It is a great message to be sending, even if the story didn’t grip in quite the way it could have.

I feel as though it wasn’t as deep as it could have been. Certain elements were glossed over whereas some dragged on for far too long. Things were moving either too slowly or too quickly. I went from being gripped to being bored. It was the potential for great things that left me reading, and it never quite delivered the powerful hit I’d been hoping it would.

Whilst the book did have some good moments, moments in which an already interesting story was given new exciting twists, it didn’t blow my mind in the way it could have. It was an okay Beauty and the Beast retelling yet it was far from being my favourite.

I may carry on with this series, should more be realised, but I’m not going to go out of my way to read them. They’re okay tales to pass a bit of time, but there are plenty of other stories I’m more interested in reading.

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