Sophia, the dangerous and erratic former queen, has been imprisoned, restoring peace to Orléans. Now her sister, Charlotte, sits on the throne and has decided to invoke the ancient tradition of the Beauty Trials―a series of harrowing tests meant to find the true ruler of Orléans. Edel, who has always aspired to be more than a Belle, decides to enter and, after promising to bind her arcana to keep from having an unnatural advantage, joins a few dozen other hopefuls intent on becoming the next Queen of Orléans.
But the Trials are far worse than any of them bargained for. As the women are put through tasks that test their strength, confidence, composure, and bravery, many perish, and Edel is mysteriously attacked by one of the other competitors―forcing her to use her powers just to survive. Will her subterfuge cost her the crown, or is there a larger conspiracy at play?
Ok. I say this quite frequently, but this time it's really pertinant. Recaps. Belles came out in 2018, The Everlasting Rose in 2019. Four and five years are a long time in kid's publishing. Going into this one, I remembered that Belles can magically change people's apppearances, and that there's tiny vesions of animals running around. I couldn't have told you anyone's names or really any plot points, and Dhonielle doesn't ease us in.
Although the plot was interesting, I felt that everything was very rushed. We wereen't given enough space to absorb what was happening. Perhaps that was deliberate, to echo how Edel felt (by the way, if she used her abilities to survive the Trials, I missed it - a couple of times she thought of things her mother had told her, but that was about it.) If it was deliberate, it was cleverly done, but it felt shorter than the average teen book to me.
There were some very clever ideas here, and I did enjoy the read. I just would have liked it better with a recap of the first two included so I could follow the nuances and characters with more ease.
The Beauty Trials publishes on the 14th February in both the UK and US, using the same cover. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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