The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty Trilogy, Book 1

By: Anne Rice

Narrated by: Samantha Prescott, Corbin Steele

Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

From best-selling author Anne Rice, writing as A.N. Roquleaure, in the traditional folktale of "Sleeping Beauty", the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a prince. It is an ancient story, one that originally emerged from and still deeply disturbs the mind's unconscious. Now Anne Rice's retelling of the Beauty story probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire. Here the prince reawakens Beauty, not with a kiss, but with sexual initiation. His reward for ending the 100 years of enchantment is Beauty's complete and total enslavement to him…as Anne Rice explores the world of erotic yearning and fantasy in a classic that becomes, with her skillful pen, a compelling experience.

©1983 A. N. Roquelaure (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers

Bad. Unless you like spankings, I guess

I really wanted to like this book. I was intrigued by it being a retake of Sleeping Beauty. (It's not, it's literally mentioned 3 times and not for any real reason.) I was excited for power play and interesting BDSM dynamics. (I don't think it even really counts as BDSM. None of the slaves are there by their own choosing. They are all spanked constantly, but not pierced, burnt, or "harmed" and the spanking is not to the point of drawing blood, I know this because the author seems to think that's really important everyone be reminded of that several times. There is no real consent given and the after care, when it is given, is left to other servants.) I was excited for some hot sex scenes. (They're only meh, they're short, and they're few and far between. I'm all for a good rape fantasy but honestly I was surprised that the word rape was used at all in the book since nearly all sexual encounters are not consentual.) I was hoping for some interesting characters. (Nope, all pretty one dimensional and no real growth happens to anyone.) Overall it was bad at nearly everything I was hoping for, but if you like spankings have I got the book for you.

One last beef, the author specifically points out that Beauty is 15. a. This is a really normal fairytale princess age so that's fair enough I guess, but it really stuck with me that this is really not just rape but child rape. It could have just gone unsaid, hey exact age is not relevant to the story at all, but for some reason the author felt the need to say it.

Rape Culture

I'm part of the BDSM community in several cities in the state that I live in and I don't know a single person who would force people against their will into a BDSM lifestyle in the way the characters in this book are forced. This is a flat out lie about how BDSM works, a disgrace to the community, and straight up rape of a teenage character. I'll say that the actual BDSM in this book is closer than 50 Shades but this has way more rape. BDSM is not about shame and not about using shame. I couldn't even finish this garbage.

purest fantasy erotica ever

I am a man and I love this series. Each book brings you further in. You'll either love it or completely miss the point. It's not about humiliation or pain. Its not 50 Shades of Grey which is rooted in reality. This is a fantasy. Readers must be willing and able to submit and suspend disbelief. Only upon accepting the premise of the story can one begin to relate to the characters and defeat all of the hang ups of the rational mind.

More Like Horror than Erotica

I'm not a prude, but it started bad and got worse. Particularly the part about Prince Alexi. I don't enjoy the glamorization of an underaged boy being enslaved, raped, beaten, tortured, and violated in every way until his mind is broken and he develops Stockholm's Syndrome because there's no other escape but to accept it

It's not romantic to be forced into unwanted sex or violence. It's not love for a boy to literally begin to see himself as the queen's property because he's brainwashed, in the most literal sense, into feeling that way

And because if he doesn't give in, he's tormented in the worst ways possible until he loses his senses, until he will do anything to avoid the mistreatment, and until he sees being beaten and having large objects inserted as a relief from worse degradation

Consensual BDSM is one thing. Abuse that's depicted responsibly is one thing. But for the continuous rape and mind-breaking torture of adolescents to be meant to be romantic and erotic is in poor taste

Lacked luster

Any additional comments?

This book was absolutely amazing but I am so happy that I had previously completed the paperback of this. The narrator does not bring the book to life. If I had not previously read this book I would not want to listen to the other books in this series.

She Thought Outside The Box!

What did you love best about The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty?

I loved the rawness of this book and the entire trilogy!

What other book might you compare The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty to and why?

I have nothing to compare this to thus far, although I have heard it may be able to hold rank along side 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade ~

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was intrigued - albeit a bit wide eyed and saying gross here and there...

Any additional comments?

This trilogy has set the bar so high for me that I fear I may never find another book to listen to that holds the same girth. I sigh a lot at this seemingly large fact.

Well if you want a big helping of BDSM smut,

then you've found it. the writing is about as good as anything else in this genre. +1 for having same-sex scenes about as frequently as hetero scenes,with plenty of dominant women.

Was there a story in there?

It's Anne Rice. Being that it was Anne Rice who wrote this I had decently high expectations. Those expectations crashed to the ground around the third chapter when any foreseeable story line started vanishing.
The characters, mainly Beauty, were so underdeveloped. She went from waking up (in a pretty freaking traumatic way for a girl stuck at age 15) to instantly being in love with her abusive rescuer. I understood this was to be an allegory, but it was pretty terrible. Prince Alexi was slightly more believable in his traumatic introduction to their world, but Beauty was not.
Also, why is this a three book series? Truthfully, I didn't bother to listen to the last chapter. Alexi's story took up so much time that I found myself losing interest in the telling of it. There was little or no interaction between the characters through the 2 chapters it took. And the word Delicious was used over and over and over.
The whole thing felt like an excuse to write sex scenes as shocking and depraved as possible, without actually committing to a real story or development of the characters involved.
Maybe a story begins to emerge in the last two books, but I don't feel committed enough to any of the characters to waste my time finding out. That's a real shame because the content and theme had a really amazing potential to rip out some pretty serious realistic and true emotions, rather than the convoluted ones the characters expressed in the face of their trauma.

This Book is crazy over the border stuff.

She really needed to explain that their is rape in this these books and that these books are NOT for everyone.
I've read some extremely sexy/kidnapped/BDSM/erotica/hardcore books but this book is on a entirely differently level.
I enjoy these books because I like to be enrtholled in the stories but I hate how these people are spread around and humiliated over and over and over horribly. The writer really should have explained this instead of sounding so defensive she is about writing these books. STOP EXPLAINING YOURSELF WITH WHAT YOU WROTE AND JUST PIT YOUR FUCKING WARNING THAT THIS IS Extremely Dark and fucked up. But also very interesting and captivating.

Different...

Do not go into this book thinking it is anything like 50 Shades of Grey. It's a book that focuses more on the sadistic side of BDSM then the pleasure or sexual nature of it. Example would be describing in detail whipping and flogging, followed up with "they had rough sex".
Also, be aware there is not a whole lot of character development. The book seems to have a very specific goal of conveying events, rather then making you feel for any specific character.
Once you let go of any predetermined pretenses, it is a good story and I would recommend it. Have an open mind though or you will be disappointed.

Silly

Not erotic, just miserable. Too much crying. Found the narrator's voice a little off-putting too.

brilliant can't wait for the next book

can't wait for the next book. beautys character changes are awesome her friends are just a must too

OMG

No real plot! WTF did i listen to. Brain bleach please !!!! should be named the raping of sleeping beauty, couldnt finish it.