Sleeping Beauty Novels

Rating:
Summary: *yawn*
Review: Seems to me that most readers either intensely love the Sleeping Beauty trilogy, or intensely hate it. I fall somewhere in the middle. I feel that the books have their thrilling points but overall just sort of bore me.

What works for me: The first few chapters of the first book (disturbing but beautifully written), and the last few chapters of the last book (sublime). These scenes resonate with the archetypal motifs of familiar fairy tales, and are emotionally intense.

What doesn't work for me: Endless scenes of spanking, and later, endless scenes of "pony boy" training. Even if those *were* my personal kinks, and they're not, the scenes would still be repetitive. The fact that most of the story has nothing to do with the Sleeping Beauty legend. Most of all, what doesn't work is the lack of emotional depth throughout most of the tale. It's proven that the brain is the most important sex organ, but for chapter after chapter it's all "tab A in slot B" with no glimpses into the characters' heads.

At one point toward the end of the first book, Beauty muses about how the BDSM tortures of the castle don't frighten her, and that what really scares her is being left alone with her own mind, a mind that too easily slips back into the misty aimlessness of her long sleep. Now, that was interesting, and so much more could have been done with further exploration of Beauty's psyche. But the moment passed--and we were back to spankings and thrustings and not much else.

Rating:
Summary: Erotica, meet Anne Rice!
Review: Never in my life have I read such an erotic tale of love and lust and the beauty of punishment. If this book doesn't make you want to go home and spank your significant other, I don't know what will.

Beauty's journey is one of a shy princess who turns into a beautiful young woman. Beauty travels to a distant and to be a pleasure slave and while under the care of her masters and mistresses, she is plunged into a world of lust, love and erotic whippings. Not only did Rice weave a world I long to see, but I now find myself constantly looking for that perfect Tristan, Alexi, Laurent or Captian of the Guard...I swear, I read these books in 2 days because I could not put them down. If you are looking for a story with love, lust, amazing sex and self exploration, you have found it. Anne Rice, I applaude you!
BW~

Rating:
Summary: Not Impressed.
Review: I was looking forward to reading some erotic literature, but found this book (I only made it through the first) to be extremely repetitive and poorly written in general. Much like a porn flick, the plot was weak and the characters even more so. I expected more from such an acclaimed author, and a woman, at that!

Rating:
Summary: couldn't put it down
Review: i got the box set because it was so much easier then buying them separately. the first book of the trilogy takes you to the darkness of bdsm then the second book brings up more of the beauty of bdsm as well as the deep discipline of it then the last book brings the sadness of her release but then brings the light of love that is gifted to the slave or submissive in bdsm. i read it every day til i got through each of the books. i know i will be reading it again. i cherish this trilogy. oh and i also must mention that the erotic aspect of it will make you want to have every desire that Beauty felt. if i could add more stars to this i would. buy it, you'll love it too.

Rating:
Summary: Anne Rice shines in a non-vampire book
Review: When I heard about this series I wasn't sure what to think. After started to read it, though, I got hooked. I read all three in a matter of days.

If you look deep into the development of the characters you can see how much Anne Rice is able to enrich her books with vivid passionate details of everyone. She's able to look into the hearts and minds of her readers and make you feel like you are inside the story.

She's able to make it seem that you are the one who is being oppressed. She makes you feel like you are the one who is being subjected.

Anne Rice has long been one of my favorite authors, and these books are certainly no exception.

Rating:
Summary: These will rock your sheets off!
Review: These three books are the best of thier kind! It was dirty enough to decrese my desire for adult lit. The stories were very entertaining! Much better than a plain romance novel!

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully crafted
Review: I'm a huge fan of Anne Rice's Vampire and Mayfair Witch chronicles, but had my doubts about whether she could pull off erotica. These novels are profoundly pornographic, especially if you're just flipping through them looking for hot scenes. When you read all three in succession, however, the author begins to weave an amazing tale that becomes more about the characters and less about the sex. That's not to say that she leaves the sex out -- but there's a bigger picture that begins to emerge, and she does an amazing job of taking the reader on the same ride that shapes and changes her characters. I highly recommend this trilogy.