Beautys Punishment [Hardcover]

A N Roquelaure (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: PLUME BOOKS (1991)
• ASIN: B000SMSFZC
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (83 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Middlesex, February 2, 2000

By 

Trevor Hendy, Iron man (Sunshine coast, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beauty's Punishment (Sleeping Beauty) (Mass Market Paperback)

I agree with the reader who similarly made the error of starting in the middle. I've spoken to another who started at the beginning and with, so far, superior results. If you attempt to read this book before the first, you aren't really indoctrinated into the fantasy nature of the work, and hence try to interpret it in a real-world mindset. I kept wondering about the economics of feeding all these slaves - what on earth were the villagers getting out of it all, why didn't they just put the slaves to work in garment factories, blah blah blah --- completely missing the point. If you are going to read this book, do yourself the favour of reading the prequel first.

60 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Past the Spanking, to the Psychology, June 12, 2000

By 

J. Hardy IV (Snohomish, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beauty's Punishment (Sleeping Beauty) (Mass Market Paperback)

It had been a year or so since I had read the first one, and after completing this installment I would strongly suggest, for continuity sake, that people do not allow that lapse of time. Recall that this is an updated erotic version of the sleeping beauty fairy tale. The Prince in this medieval version wakes Beauty from her 100-year sleep not with a kiss, but by making her a sexual initiate. This act coupled with the mores and power structures of the land force Beauty off to the Prince's distant castle where she will undergo all manner of S&M and bondage. Despite becoming a castle favorite amongst the nobles, the Prince, and the Queen herself, Beauty's spirit and `soul' is not broken by these acts and she willfully disobeys. She is sentenced to slavery in the neighboring village, and that is where this book takes up. Beauty and her final castle paramour Tristan are sold at auction in the village square, Beauty goes to an inn while Tristan is snapped up by one of the villagers richest men, the Queen's chronicler. What follows for the two are a series of spankings, public punishments, being dressed up like a pony [complete with, er, tail accoutrements] to pull carts, and being `forced' to pleasure a wide variety of lodgers, and other slaves. It should also be mentioned that the castle slaves who are sent to the village for punishment must run around bereft of clothes, and never speak unless told to. It is here that the story flags, the punishments and humiliations mount, but we are only vaguely aware of both protagonists' feelings and thoughts as this continues. Beauty gives in to it all and comes to appreciate her place, but she does not give over the love of her soul. The numerous, and I do mean numerous, spankings become banal after awhile as the reader desensitizes. I found things becoming more interesting psychologically about 5/6 of the way through when Nicolas [Tristan's master] plumbs his depths about why a slave behaves as they do, what they think of the abasement, and whether love could come from this non-egalitarian relationship. Tristan provides no shocking revelations really, and the age-old struggle for dominance and power is left as the answer. Nicolas then professes his love as Tristan's heart soars, for he, Tristan needs the discipline to complete himself. This was a rather difficult read, I can't say I particularly enjoyed it, but it was interesting on other levels. As some other reviewers have noted the plot thins considerably and all we are left with are the power struggles acted out through sex. Thankfully, things picked up a bit, as noted, towards the end. For completeists sake I begin Beauty's final chapter, as she is kidnapped from the village and taken to the Eastern realms of a Sultan.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting twist on a fairy tale fantasy, January 18, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Beauty's Punishment (Sleeping Beauty) (Mass Market Paperback)

Like the other two books of the series Beauty's Punishment puts an very erotic spin on the old fairy tale. This series was my first time reading litterature on this particular area of sexual fantasy but it was so enthralling that I couldn't put the books down once I was drawn into the world of Beauty. If you have an open mind about various aspects of sexuality this book is one not to be missed.