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Rose Daughter [Mass Market Paperback]

Robin McKinley
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (181 customer reviews)

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Book Description

December 1, 1998
Twenty years ago, Robin McKinley dazzled readers with the power of her novel Beauty. Now this extraordinarily gifted novelist returns to the story of Beauty and the Beast with a fresh perspective, ingenuity, and mature insight.

With Rose Daughter, she presents her finest and most deeply felt work--a compelling, richly imagined, and haunting exploration of the transformative power of love.


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Rose Daughter + Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast + Spindle's End
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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up. Gertrude Stein's famous quote, "Rose is a rose is a rose...," is dispelled by McKinley in her second novelization of the tale "Beauty and the Beast." (Beauty was her first novel, published 20 years ago.) Both books have the same plot and elements; what is different is the complexity of matured writing and the patina of emotional experience. Here, she has embellished and embodied the whys, whos, and hows of the magic forces at work. The telling is layered like rose petals with subtleties, sensory descriptions, and shadow imagery. Every detail holds significance, including the character names: her sisters, Jeweltongue and Lionheart; the villagers, Miss Trueword, Mrs. Bestcloth, and Mrs. Words-Without-End. Mannerisms of language and intricacies of writing style are key in this exposition. The convoluted sentences often ramble like a rose and occasionally prick at the smoothness of the pace. Word choices such as feculence, sororal sedition, numen, ensorcell, and simulacrum will command readers' attention. McKinley is at home in a world where magic is a mainstay and, with her passion for roses, she's grafted a fully dimensional espalier that is a tangled, thorny web of love, loyalty, and storytelling sorcery. Fullest appreciation of Rose Daughter may be at an adult level.?Julie Cummins, New York Public Library
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Gr. 6^-12. Almost 20 years after her well-received, award-winning Beauty (1978), McKinley reexplores and reexpands on the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. This is not a sequel, but a new novelization that is fuller bodied, with richer characterizations and a more mystical, darker edge. Although the Library of Congress catalogs it in the 398s, the book really belongs on the fiction shelves alongside Beauty. The familiar plot is here, but the slant is quite different, though Beauty's sisters are once again loving rather than hostile as in de Beaumont's original version. A few scenes are reminiscent of Beauty. For example, in the dining room scenes in the castle, Beauty eats but the Beast merely is present: "I am a Beast; I cannot eat like a man." In Rose Daughter, Beauty has an affinity for flower gardening, particularly roses, because of her memories of her deceased mother; it is a talent that serves her in good stead as she nurtures the Beast's dying rose garden. Also, in some nicely done foreshadowing, Beauty suffers from recurring dreams of a long, dark corridor and something--a monster?--waiting for her at the end. Rose Cottage, where Beauty and her family settle after the father's financial downfall, and the nearby town and its residents, as well as the opulence of the Beast's castle and the devastation of his rose garden, are vividly depicted. Among the fantasy elements are a prescient cat, the spirit of the greenwitch who willed Rose Cottage to Beauty's family, unicorns, and preternatural Guardians. There is more background on the Beast in this version, allowing readers to see how he came to be bewitched, and Beauty's choice at the end, a departure from that in Beauty, is just so right. Readers will be enchanted, in the best sense of the word. Sally Estes --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Ace (December 1, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0441005837
  • ISBN-13: 978-0441005833
  • Product Dimensions: 4.5 x 0.8 x 7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (181 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robin McKinley has won various awards and citations for her writing, including the Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown and a Newbery Honor for The Blue Sword. Her other books include Sunshine; the New York Times bestseller Spindle's End; two novel-length retellings of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Beauty and Rose Daughter; and a retelling of the Robin Hood legend, The Outlaws of Sherwood. She lives with her husband, the English writer Peter Dickinson.

Customer Reviews

This book is another Beauty and the Beast retelling by Robin McKinley. "celes1"  |  46 reviewers made a similar statement
The ending was not one that I would have expected andi was very disappointed with it. Aiden'sMom  |  16 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 49 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars surprisingly rich and full telling of a known story January 3, 2006
Format:Mass Market Paperback
When _Rose Daughter_ came out, I was surprised. I read _Beauty_ when I was ten or eleven and loved it, and I wasn't sure how differently the same person could tell that story.

McKinley did an amazing job of it. First of all, you should know that _Rose Daughter_ is not a short book, or a quick book. If you're looking for a quick, light read for a younger reader, _Beauty_ remains a good choice--it's more interesting than the standard version by far, and it tends to stick with you.

It's not that she changes the story in this newer version--it's that she gives it a setting, and that the people have far, far more depth. The characters are clearly totally different people from their counterparts in _Beauty_, and the world is different, and it all progresses differently. (The ending, too, seems like she took seriously the joke we all made after watching Disney's final, slightly awkward, transformation--that he looked better as the Beast.) McKinley gives herself more room to maneuver in this version--rightly feeling that she's already told the story the simple way once. Don't get me wrong--it's not like she took the story and changed it, and that's what makes it interesting. The actual differences in simple plot are mostly unimportant. The famous story is more than a theme here. But it's like she looked at what might have really happened, had Beauty and the Beast really happened, to actual people--just in a different sort of world from ours.

The words are beautiful; the imagery is amazingly detailed yet concise (here we see the full benefit of McKinley's practice as a children's writer). The characters are people, whom you'd like to meet (or not, where appropriate).
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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A gorgeous new visit with "Beauty and the Beast" June 23, 2005
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Thank goodness for Robin McKinley, who writes stories for those of us who grew up loving fairy tales (but who also found ourselves wishing for stronger heroines or more interesting resolutions).

I'd somehow missed "Rose Daughter," although I'm a fan of all of McKinley's books (and "Sunshine" and "the Hero and the Crown" are books I'd grab if my house was burning down. They're that wonderful). However, I had read her telling of "Beauty" years ago and loved it.

Yet I was pleasantly surprised to find that I loved "Rose Daughter" even more. The two sisters to the protagonist are as fascinating, brave, and interesting in their own rights as she is, and the heroine is intelligent, courageous, and quietly extroardinary.

My favorite aspects of this novel, though, were twofold: The roses, and the Beast. I'm not a plant person -- I look at a plant, and it promptly lets out a little sigh and falls over dead. But this book made me feel a little of what it must be like to be a gardener. I've never read anyone who writes about roses the way McKinley does here. They come alive on the page.

And then there is the Beast, who is just as beastly as ever, but who is also brilliant, fascinating, and well, by the end, weirdly attractive. By the end we are able to see the Beast's beauty for ourselves, without easy resolutions or big Disney moments, and that's the most extroardinary thing of all about this telling.

A beautiful, haunting book, and easily appropriate for readers 13 and up -- don't miss.
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Dang. April 10, 2000
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Okay, I read all the customer reviews about "Rose Daughter." As a lot of them were pretty negative with a lot of stuff to back it up, I prepared to read the book with my most discerning mindset. McKinely had done "Beauty" and I was sure that was all she could get out of the Beauty and the Beast story. I was surprised. "Rose Daughter" is absolutely beautiful. The story is done in a fantasy style, with rich, vivid descriptions and word usage. It is so hard to find writing like that anymore. It makes a novel so much more artsy and absorbing. The book has a darker side, and is almost a mystery, in a certain sense. There are spells, sorcerers, simularcums, stuff that "Beauty" didn't have. Don't get me wrong, "Beauty" is fantastic, and not worse than "Rose Daughter." But the two books have so many differences that they just can't be compared. The ending, to say the least, wasn't quite what I expected, but nonetheless, I enjoyed it. =D I probably wouldn't have done what Beauty did, but then again, I have a twisted sense of morals. Hehe. Anyway, I don't see why so many didn't
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29 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Rose Daughter: Robin McKinley at her mature best March 1, 1998
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I, like other McKinley fans of long standing, felt many trepidations about reading this new telling of the story of Beauty and the Beast. McKinley's first version (Beauty) has been a favorite of mine for years and I wasn't sure if I was ready to risk not liking one of her books or, worse yet, damaging my long-held wonder for this gorgeous fairy tale. I agonized for a bit and decided to risk it. Then I read it in one day. True, it lacks some of the fantasy-come-true elements of Beauty and some of McKinley's earlier books, but what it has instead is a realism that is utterly captivating. It is truly the work of a refined intellect, and one can clearly see the beautiful maturity of the author revealed in this book.

Everyone will of course compare this book with Beauty (I do, myself), but they are unlike in the way that wildflowers and roses are unlike. Each has spectacular lovliness, but where the wildflower is untamed beauty, the rose is cultivated, perhaps more deeply wondrous.

Which do I prefer? Both, of course.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Rose Daughter would make a great play!
I was directing the stage version of "Beauty and the Beast" and wanted to find some additional ideas for character development from the Disney cutting. Read more
Published 1 day ago by Glen R. Cooley
5.0 out of 5 stars an enchanting and rich story
I have read this twice. Once when I was in high school and once last year and im thinking its time to purchase because im craving it again. Read more
Published 1 month ago by SandyM
5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely retelling a well known and well loved story
I loved the book, having read many of Robin Mckinley's books I decided to give it a go. It only took me a day to finish because I could not put it down. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Misty Evans
5.0 out of 5 stars Great retelling of Beauty and the Beast
Robin McKinley's retelling of fairy tales are wonderful and add much depth to our Disney saturated culture. This is one of my favorites. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Ellalove2Read
5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely, haunting, and memorable
Lovely prose, a lush, imaginative, and romantic retelling... sensual in its language, haunting in its imagery, endearing in its characters. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Angela Panayotopulos
2.0 out of 5 stars Always disappointing
I've read Rose Daughter twice now and I didn't like it much better the second time. Robin McKinley is my favorite author and this is one of my least favorite of her books (behind... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Anna N.
5.0 out of 5 stars Beauty and the Beast for Adults
I am extremely pleased to have just finished Robin McKinley's ROSE DAUGHTER. When I was only thirteen I read BEAUTY and loved the way Robin wove the story in a fresh, new way. Read more
Published 13 months ago by KelseyK
5.0 out of 5 stars a thoughtful winner
NOTE: This review is written on the assumption that those reading it are familiar with the novel. For those of you who need a refresher: a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast... Read more
Published 14 months ago by wolfgrrl
3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected
Having read Robin Mckinley's "Bueaty", I was really disappointed with this book. The ending was not one that I would have expected andi was very disappointed with it.
Published 15 months ago by Aiden'sMom
3.0 out of 5 stars "Can a Beast Who Loves Roses So Much Be So Very Terrible?"
It's been years since I read and reviewed Robin McKinley's Beauty, her first rendition of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale. Read more
Published 15 months ago by R. M. Fisher
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Topic From this Discussion
Question about the ending?
I'm pretty sure that he's still a beast, there's a section of dialog at the very end when he says something along the lines of: if you had chosen for me to be a human i would have been super handsome and are you alright with the fact that i'm not? and she says that she would've missed her beast... Read more
Apr 15, 2009 by Anne |  See all 8 posts
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