The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Horrifyingly beautiful.
Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. A being who can control beauty.
In the world of Orleans, people are born entirely devoid of all color. With red eyes and grey skin, beauty is something that does not come naturally. Belles are able, through the use of magic called Arcana, to shape and shift paying customers into glowing examples of beauty.
In the beginning, feeling a bit like The Hunger Games, we find Camellia competing with her sister Belles to be named the ‘favorite’ of the kingdom. This is a prize designation they have been raised to covet.
With the tagline of the kingdom being, “May you always find beauty”, I have to assume I am not the only reader to gauge heavy HG vibes from this book. In some ways however, this book felt more dangerous than The Hunger Games.
I would equate the overall vibe I picked up to watching, Alice in Wonderland as a child. The animation is beautiful. The colors are lush, the background has beautiful flowers and mushrooms, but you feel afraid. There is an ominous presence overarching all of the beauty that makes you feel cold in your bones. That is how this book felt for me.
To be honest, I wasn’t crazy about this in the beginning. I didn’t become truly invested until a little over the halfway mark. Clayton’s writing is strong, it wasn’t that. I loved her descriptions of the world and the way she showed the magic system.
However, as can sometimes happen with 1st books to a series, there is such a vast world to be built that the plot can suffer because of it. I felt like there was so much to bring to the reader before they could envision this world the way the author envisioned it that the story dragged. With that being said, once the plot really started rolling I could NOT wait to see what was going to happen.
This story did introduce one of the most evil villains EVER.
Princess Sophia.
I loathe you.
Guys, this character ranks HIGH on my list of most HATED characters ever. She may actually sit in the number two spot right now; directly under Professor Umbridge.
Her behavior is absolutely foul and infuriating. Her treatment of others, gah, I just can’t even. She’s a sadist. I mean, that may be a stretch, this is a YA novel but she definitely has some issues. Let’s leave it at that.
The final scene of this book left me with chills and I cannot wait to pick up, The Everlasting Rose. It was such a cliffhanger and I just know the next book is going to be full of action and further suspense. I am now a big fan of Camellia, even though we had a rocky start, and I can’t wait to see how her character grows in the next book.
