Belle's Quest

Fairytale Bureau, Book 3

De: Eve Langlais

Narrado por: Sierra Kline

My life has taken a hairy twist.

I've studied the Grimm Effect and am prepared to be the one who finally breaks it. The others who came before me failed, but I have an advantage they didn't. I escaped my unhappily-ever-after.

The one thing I don't have? Jet-setting money. Good thing a prince I saved while working at the Fairytale Bureau has deep pockets. He's offered to help me end the jinxing once and for all. What I didn't count on was the curse fighting back.

In an annoying twist, I am now the beast. From dusk 'til dawn, I'm a hairy monster, and do you know what tames me when I'm tempted to eat annoying people? A certain sarcastic prince.

However, I don't have time for romance because I'm on a quest to save myself, and the world. A quest being thwarted at every turn by the evil magic that keeps spreading.

Will I find the answer before everyone in the world is merely a character in a story? Admit defeat and take up residence in a dreary castle where I can roar at trespassers? Or should I take a page from a book and give true love a try?

Contains mature themes.

©2024 Eve Langlais (P)2024 Tantor

Best of the bunch and still underwhelming

On the plus side, this one abandons the police procedural and goes full fantasy adventure, taking Belle and Prince Killian on a quest for the source of Grimm magic. There’s a fun twist of Belle becoming a beast and Killian being refreshingly charming. Their two comrades in arms ended up having the most personality. And, the series arc concludes.

On the downside, the info dumps, fandom callouts to fairytales and nursery rhymes, and general style of telling over showing continued. The whole first hour is just a recap of book 2 from Belle’s POV. An example of just telling is when dragons appear and attack: there’s zero description (are they sleek or buff, red or pink?) and thus you need to do the heavy lifting and paint between the broad brushstrokes. Not that it matters, as the dragons don’t have lines or personality, and are merely a danger plot device that disappears once their purpose is served. The middle-aged narration and making each MC sound like the ones from book 1 and 2 contributed to the overall vanilla vibe.

Not for me

Amazing narrative job. Give this girl a raise. She truly is one of the best.

If you read book 1 already, you really just need to change the name to fit whatever Disney character is being retold.m with a modern day millennial twist. Like Apple for Snow White. One of the reasons why I don’t like police procedural type reads. It’s just so fucking boring that not even being in a year long slump can make me finish, let alone enjoy. 😬

Honestly I don’t even consider this fantasy. The only magic is to cover the plot. But at least it’s not a fae fantasy I suppose.