Book of the Month: As Old as Time

What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast? When Belle touches the Beast's enchanted rose, memories flood through Belle's mind-memories of a mother she thought she would never see again. And, stranger still, she sees that her beautiful mother is none other than the enchantress who cursed the castle and all its inhabitants. Shocked and confused, Belle and the Beast will have to unravel a dark mystery about their families that is 21 years in the making.

My Rating: ***** (close to 4 1/2)

Beauty and the Beast is one of my absolute favorite Disney movies (the animated version, not the live action). So naturally, out of the Disney Twisted Tales books I bought, this was the one I was the most interested in.

One thing I have to say is that this book is different than the Aladdin and Sleeping Beauty retellings in that this book actually goes through the entire movie with it's rewrite. It's different from the beginning since we actually get the story of how Maurice met Belle's mom. The book is split into multiple parts, and during part one we go back and forth between the past with Maurice and the Enchantress, and the present with Belle.

The characters are pretty much the same. Belle is Belle, the Beast is the Beast. We still have Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Chip, Gaston, LeFou, etc. There are some new characters as well, though these are primarily featured in Maurice's past.

The story was interesting, especially with Belle and Beast attempting to figure out what happened in the past that caused the curse and what they could do to break it. The true villain is a dark, deranged individual (and slight spoiler, it's not Gaston in this version).

I do have to say that while I did enjoy this book, the ending was a bit flat. I'm a fan of happy endings, and while this book technically did have a happy ending, it didn't feel complete. And that's primarily because of the curse. I'm trying to avoid spoilers with this, but it doesn't feel like the curse was really able to be broken and as such, it doesn't have a good emotional impact. When Belle breaks Beast's curse in the animated movie, it's such a great moment. Here it's just there, and it doesn't even feel like the curse was actually broken.

Also, can I just complain that poor Beast never actually gets a name. Can we please give the guy a name? I mean I get that he's a Beast, but he had a name once too. Also, the “I'm not the same person I was back then” isn't a good excuse for him not to use it. He was a kid! Just because he was a bit of a brat doesn't mean he loses the right to use his name ever again.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I feel like the Twisted Tales books get better as the series goes along, and I plan on reading the new one that focuses on The Little Mermaid in the future.