Beauty's Release

 

Level: Explicit

Genre: Fantasy > Erotica > BDSM

Obtained: Purchased at Borders

Reviewed by: Nic Echo

About the Book:

In this conclusion to Anne Rice's erotic trilogy, Beauty and a few other slaves have been captured by the raiders and are brought to a foreign land of Arabic origins. Like the previous novel, this book follows two different slaves: Beauty and Laurent, a runaway, as they try to find the meaning of themselves in this strange land before they are brought back to their own.

Rating: 6/10 Stars

Like in Beauty's Punishment, nothing really happens until closer to the end. Although there were some points of interest earlier, most of the book is the same basic punishments and the same boring sex that left me with little interest in this read. One of the points of interest was when Laurent is alone in the chamber of Lexius, their trainer/Master.

SPOILERS

While in here, the tables are turned as Laurent dominates Lexius, making for something different in the book: a slave actually fighting back! 

END SPOILERS

 

There is also a point where Beauty is with the Sultana, Inanna, and I could not help but feel horrified when you find out about the torture that the wives have endured. The way that Rice writes Inanna made me feel the character's pain all the more. If only she did this with the rest of her characters. 

I am also happy to note that although the character focus has been changed, Tristan and a few others are not forgotten. We still see bits of Tristan's mind when Laurent talks to him and both Nicolas, Tristan's old master, and the Captain of the Guard make appearances again.

As for the end, it becomes easily apparent what is going to occur, but none of us picked this up expecting a surprise twist ending, did we?  Overall though, it could have been worse, but it could have been much better. The sex and punishments are still constant and the internal dialogue is the same as ever. There are big enough differences in this book so it's not as dull as the first one, but it is still pretty much the same song as a different tempo.  I would suggest you save your money and spend it elsewhere.

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