Saturday, November 17, 2018

Cruel Beauty

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge, 2014 Balzer + Bray

     Nyx was raised to avenge her mother's death and end the demonic reign of the Gentle Lord. Legend has it that when Arcadia's ruling family displeased the Gentle Lord he came with the demons of Tartarus and ripped their island country from the world.
     As the daughter of the manor, Nyx has a privileged place in society. She has grown knowing in order for Arcadia to escape the demon lord's cruel rule she must destroy him. And Nyx is in a unique position to end the curs on her homeland.
     Nyx's father made a bargain with the Gentle Lord when his wife, the love of his life, cannot have children and falls into a depression which will cause her death if they cannot find a solution. The Gentle Lord gives Thisbe twin daughters, but in exchange one of the girls must marry him when she turns seventeen.
     The chosen daughter, Nyx has known since she was a  child that she would marry the Gentle Lord and her sister would remain to live out her life as she chose. She resents her younger sister and the family which has never appeared to love her. Nyx absorbed magic and love with the hope she will avenge her mother's death and her country's isolation at the hands of the demon lord.
     But when Nyx meets her new husband he and his magical prison are not what they seem. The demon lord lists several rules for their interactions, and Nyx learns while she has been taught much about the Gentle Lord the people of Arcadia don't know everything and don't have half of his history correct. As she searches for ways to end the hold over their island Nyx grows to appreciate the demon lord's honesty and appreciation of her, and even grows to love him.
     When the chance comes to save all of Acadia by betraying the cultivated relationship with the demon lord or to realize her dream of finding someone to love Nyx finds the choice on of the most difficult of her life.
     This is a tale of magic and deception, of appearances reflecting expectation rather than the reality, and of learning to look past expectations to find the truth. Nyx discovers that sometimes doing the wrong thing can be the right thing to do. Older teens and young adult readers will enjoy the moral shades of this tale. 

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