A Tale of Beauty's Prince (Villains) - Beast Within

This book is SO amazing!! But beware, if you think that this book is going to be "Beauty and the Beast" but from Adam's perspective then think again! It goes in depth into his transformation and personally I think he completely deserved what he got but this book was so well written and there are parts of the book where you get to see Adam's side of things from the movie but yeah, if you have a huge LOVE for this movie then you will love these characters.

It honestly just was not a very well written book. The characters weren't fleshed out enough, and I agree with another reviewer who states that the entire book builds the Beast up to be such a horrific human being that his redemption falls short. I couldn't understand why the book didn't use characters names either. Why keep calling the prince "Prince" or Princess Tulips nanny "Nanny". I'm sure they both have names that could have been used, and I'm confident as a reader that I would have been able to keep up with them. There were also weird tie ins to Ursula and the Evil Queen that felt forced and unnecessary.

Overall, in hindsight, the book is not one I would ever purchase. Borrow it from the library to see if you enjoy it first.

I happen to stumble upon the book today when I was at Disney World. I read Fairest of Them All and from what I remember, I liked it and was touched at the ending... (Now, I need to go back and reread that one to make sure my memory isn't playing tricks on me). So, of course when I saw there was another one out, I scooped it up and bought it. I am not joking when I say this. I read this in two hours, praying that it would eventually get better.... That was a pipe dream.
Please don't get me wrong, the concept behind it is good. But that is where it stops.
The writing is terrible. Seriously, the reference Buttchinland is used.
The fact that modern day terminology and phrases are used in a period piece drove me up a wall.
The character development is disastrous. More attention was put into what the characters look like than who they actually are and their back stories.
The Prince/ Beast (who never actually receives a name) is a downright despicable human being who gets the fairy tale ending. I was almost hopefully Belle would find out all the terrible things he had done and walk away.
You are left feeling completely satisfied at the end (rushed much, by the way?) and wondering if this was just the first draft for this book.
I have never ever returned a book on my life but I'll make sure I do with this one...
What a joke.

I loved this story! It's always interesting to see things from another side. Serena did an excellent job filling in holes that you didn't even realize could be holes in the story. If you enjoy Disney classics you'll love these stories!

I finished this book in two nights. It was better in the beginning and got worse towards the end. It was super rushed and kind of cheesy. I love Beauty and the Beast, that’s why I read it but not very good.

It was a wonderful prequel and outlook on things in this story and gave more understanding of the person the beast was and how he became!!! It even gave some new insight on Gaston! I don't understand why anybody would say it was so bad!?!?! Please if anyone loves Disney PLEASE at the very least pick it up at the library and decide for yourself.

Serena is a master of writing the missing pieces of the Disney villains backstory. She artfully uses lines from Classic Disney films that creates a continuous visual picture to the movie as you read. Only reason I rated this book a 4 out of 5 is because I felt the ending was a little abrupt.

A Fairy Tale retold, and retold well! From beginning to end I was entrapped in this book that tells this 'Tale as Old as Time' through different eyes and in a way I never would have expected. 10/10 recommendation. 10/10 will probably read again at some point.

Beast Within is a prequel of how the Beast was enchanted...Intricately written, fairly easy to follow & with it's mix of past with current & weaving the wicked sisters into the story makes this story worth reading!

I loved it! It really shows that you can lose friends by the way you behave or act. In this book, Serena portrays that that is a very important life lesson for all of us. I love this book so much! It costs 9.99, but its so worth it!

"Beauty and the Beast" has ALWAYS been one of my *favorite* fairy-tales, and I HEART/*love* almost every version of it there is including the Disney film/musical (Belle was one of my first crushes along with Ariel and Cinderella), a 1995 Jetlag production much like the original story, the Alex Flinn novel "Beastly", and "Jane Eyre" (which TOTALLY counts in *my* book- LOL)!!

I LOVED Serena's first novel "Fairest of Them All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen", and I was positively (or 'posti-tuvily' according to Scuttle the seagull from TLM) *tickled* to discover that a new book would soon be out, telling the tale of the Beast, Prince Adam (that's his real name; shame people forget it)!

This book... well, to quote Belle herself, "Oh, I couldn't put it down! ...Far off places, magic spells, a prince in disguise!" I've always really liked Beast and LOATHED Gaston (to find out that he was Adam's BEST FRIEND in this story was a *real* *THROWBACK* "Somebody PINCH me!" moment!!), and of course, I HEART Belle, Maurice, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip!

The wicked sister trio from "Fairest of Them All" made a re-appearance, and it turns out that the Enchantress from BATB is their little sister; yet another throwback/"Somebody PINCH me!" moment! I really liked Circe, though; and the 'Beauty' before Belle whom Adam tries to break his curse that Circe casts on him, Princess Tulip Morningstar, was nice, too; LOVE her Nanny, and her cat Pflanze!

Don't listen to those "Gaston-ien" reviewers who believe that this book is trash; it is SO *not*!! It is a true diamond in the rough set in dwarf-mined gold: get it on Kindle, or from your local bookstore, and either settle down with 'The Beast Within' in that self-same bookshop with a cup of your favorite beverage and a pastry, or at home with those same treats!

"The tale as old as time is NEW again!..."

I love that she brought the three sisters over from Fairest Of All and kind of tied them together. You don't hear about them in the Disney version of the story because you only get the princesses side of things, and only see the villains as, well, villians, but these show their side of things and explain the background story. I love these.

This was a good book for the most part. I would have like for there to be more details that gave more insight to the inner workings of the beast. I found myself missing more writtinf and using the original story and movie to fill in.

We have always like Beauty and the Beast and now we have the backstory. Wasn't crazy it focused on witches, but, it's Disney..My kids lived the story and I was able to read it to them in a day. Can't wait to read the next....

IDK where to start with this review, I usually don't write huge reviews on books because two people could read the same book and have different reactions and interpretations for that book. But this one made me so mad. Like 2 weeks ago I saw it on Barnes and Noble and since I am a huge fan of Beauty and the Beast I couldn't resist buying it. From chapter 2 I was completely stressed and not happy with the story but I decided to give it a chance. Half way to the end the book was rush and poor write. The characters weren't developed and either the Beast of the Nanny got names. The entire time the Prince was called Prince or Beast (why not give him a name since the movie doesn't reference it either, for me this was an opportunity to give something new to the story) but that is just my opinion. The nanny also suffered for being called nanny her entire appearance in the story. Other thing that was poor developed and had too much potential was making the villain the prince’s best friend. I thought it was kind of intriguing reading this part of the story but like I've said it was poor developed, feel like unfinished as if the author didn’t know what to do with him since the beginning that she started writing the story and the end of the friendship was really bad. Honestly I know that the movie has to be tied up with the book since you are using the movie as reference but there was so much potential in there and I feel like it was wasted. Another thing that didn't make any kind of sense since was poor develop was bringing references from another fairy tales (Cinderella, Little Mermaid) I mean don’t get me wrong I like how the integrated the other kingdoms and making them all friends. This was another piece that had a lot of potential and was wasted. Another thing was bringing the three witches from her previous book the Fairest at All into this story didn't make too much sense just for the part that they were there to make sure the curse wasn't broke at any cost. The only thing that I like about this book was that you finally got to learn why the Beast was cursed on the first place and the name of the witch who cursed him. That is why I gave these book 2 stars. I believe it doesn't worth what I've paid for it and the 3 hrs that took me to read it. If you are a huge fan of Beauty and the Beast don’t waste your time with the book and stick just with the movie.

This fan fiction had some possibilities. I agree with the other reviewers, though. It seemed rushed. Especially the relationship between Gaston and the Prince. The Beast's transformation - which I thought wad the plot driver in this prequel to story - was nonexistent . Suddenly his heart was changed with very little to go on as to why. It's a shame because there was potential.

The story is completely gripping and Heart-wrenching. Any Disney fan will absolutley adore this book. The story is darker than the the original and is not just a copy of the movie, it is a completely different storie with insights you never would've noticed before. And there is also a cameo in this book of another Disney character that i think may be a hint towards the next book in this Disney Series. But to sum this up, "The Beast Within" does for "The Beauty and the Beast" what the movie "Maleficent" did for "Sleeping Beauty" and you should add it to your bookshelf.

Huge fan of beauty and the beast. Have read many versions of the story, this was terrible. There was only one redeemable thing and that was the interesting relationship the beast had with Gaston. Even that was lackluster.

I enjoyed this story. It showed how the Beast/Prince learned what true love was and wasn't. Granted Belle wasn't a major character in the book and there wasn't detail about how he won her affection, but I except that's because there's a good chance that we've seen the movie or read other stories. The focus of this story was a previous relationship, and offered details into how the curse changed the prince and the castle over time. Very enjoyable.

There are few books I've started that I couldn't finish reading but this one of them. I tried ignoring the blatant inconsistencies with the Beauty and the Beast movie and within the book itself. Then the author insults me with calling something Buttchinland; I'm not sure if this is meant to be some sort of clever reference to Gaston from the movie but it falls short as nothing but shoddy effort and distasteful. It feels like the author put no effort into creating a coherent story and instead is just throwing random references in from the movie and shoving this rubbish upon the reader.

I actually loved the book. It was a very dark look into The Beast early tortured life. I thought it was genius that in this book The Beast didn't just turned INTO the beast like in the movie. It was gradually he morphed into the Beast noticing little menacing things in his appearance changing the darker his heart got. I also loved how everyone who entered the castle saw the CURSE in a different view as in Belle could talk to the enchanted servants but the Beast couldn't & was horrified that as his servants slowly disappeared theses inanimate objects would appear as somewhat haunted or possessed house hold objects that had the voices of his once dear servants but every time he came around to see them they'd be regular inanimate house hold objects again. It was a very dark twist that I loved along with Gaston being his childhood best friend and how they slowly forgot each due to the curses power.

The only 2 thing that could've been fixed is the "Abrupt Ending", I would of loved to see The Beast learn through Belle what became of the servants instead of at the end he's just happy to see them again when the curses lifted.

But other than those two things I love this Darker Retelling of Disney's Beauty & The Beast. This book was a lot better than the movie Maleficent where they made "Disney Best Villain" a hero at the end. Anyway when the make the Live Action Beauty & The Beast I hope they use some of the Dark elements of this book in the movie. Long LIVE DARK DISNEY.

It starts out wanting to be a re-imagining of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, changing established canon, but the final third contorts itself to so firmly follow events in the movie that it just leaves me me confused.

I loved this book, and I think if you were a little bit confused, it might be because you haven't read the first book in the series called," The Fairest of them All," Maybe after you read this book it will make a little more sense because it relates back to the original.

Just like The Wicked Queen, it gives the background of how The Prince became The Beast . Really good with staing with the original but also adding in the authors own ideas of the fairytale. If you liked the Wicked Queen, The Beast Within will also be a book hard to put down.