Cruel Beauty (Cruel Beauty Universe 1)

Cruel Beauty
By Rosamund Hodge
Her mission was to kill him.
Her destiny was to love him.
  Another fairytale retelling!!! (Do you hear the blogger sing? Do you hear the distant book?) Well...sorry for that, but the book is absolutely wonderful!!!! Is it a Beauty and the Beast retelling? Yes. And no, it's not a "Disney" kind of retelling. But still, it's dark and cruel and wicked and AWESOME!!! Ahhhhh!!! I've read so many Beauty and the Beast retelling till now: The Merchant's Daughter (Melanie Dickerson), Son and Moon, Ice and Snow (Jessica Day George), A Court of Thornes and Roses (Sarah J. Maas)... Most of them have different kind of twist in their story. Melanie Dickerson's fairytale retelling is more similar to Disney movie, while Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow is more East of the Sun, West of the Moon. As for Sarah J. Maas...needless to say, she is now one of the hottest authors. Her book, WOW. Just amazing. (Except for all her twisted plot...that's torturous.) And now, we get Cruel Beauty! Another horribly wonderful Beauty and the Beast!!!

  She was trained for seventeen years to kill him,
  Raised by her world to despise him,
  Willing to trade her own life to destroy him.
  But what she never expected was that he would change her forever.
  Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom—all because of a reckless bargain her father struck. And since birth, she has been training to kill him.
  Betrayed by her family yet bound to obey, Nyx rails against her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, she abandons everything she’s ever know to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, disarm him, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.
  But Ignifex is not what Nys expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her. As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex’s secrets, she finds herself unwilling drawn to him. But even if she can bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him?

  When I first finished the first few chapters, I was like "Oh my god!!!" "This is so great!!!" And just look at the cover! How can you not fall in love with the beautiful, dangerous cover? And the characters!!! Great characters. I've never love a villain so much!!! He is so cute!!! Ah!!! And the Ending!!! When you are about to shout at the twisted plot and the horrible destiny, Boom! Everything. Turns. Out.... Now, let's start with the story!!! Ah!!!! Nyx was born to revenge. She was trained nearly all her life to destroy the Gentle Lord. And her seventeenth birthday...was also her wedding day. Nyx was a strong heroine, she was raised without love, and her father and aunt only have her life one purpose: revenge for her mother, who was died during giving birth. And because of her father's silly bargain with the Demon Prince, which was also called the Gentle Lord. From the beginning, we can see Nyx keep whining, blaming, and cursing. Wait! Don't go away just because of this! Everyone one will curse if we were in such situation. To her, her wedding meant her death. But to her surprise, the Demon Prince, Ignifex, didn't touch her at all. She spent her wedding night alone and secure. While...not exactly...alone. She was waked by furry next morning. What? Furry? Oh no, the Demon Prince wasn't a monster...not the fearsome monster we thought...just...evil. Incredibly handsome, but evil. And besides Ignifex, Nyx also met his shadow, Shade. He was the prisoner of Ignifex. Inside the castle, they lived as husband and wife, enemy and ally…all strange position… I especially love how the author mixed Greek mythology inside the plot. I love Greek mythology, love it. If you’ve seen my Percy Jackson review, you’ll know how many research I’ve done on Greek myth. And Rosamund Hodge put how god and goddess created the world perfectly together, how human was punished for our own curiosity. What’s most important, the myth sounds far more reasonable than the original tales!!! How wonderful! Ah!!!!!
  Besides Greek myth, the author also created her own magic in the story, and added especially well. Children of Typhoon? Never heard of them, but you’ll see them quite a lot in the story. And all their world was sealed, there sky was no longer pure blue, all the loveliness was gone. Nyx was about to collect the Heart of Water, Fire, Earth and Air…and who help her? Well…quite unexpected you’ll find. All her plan, all her great mission…just mean nothing once she found out all the truth. Isn’t that awfully interesting? I love how the plot was designed, and whenever you thought the secrets would be revealed, the plot twisted…but not that kind of twist that you’ll want to throw the book away. However…here comes the part that I didn’t give the book five stars. I was sometime confused with the story. As I say, it kept changing, for one moment everything is perfect, than the next…BOOM! Everything you know turn into ashes. (Not exactly ashes…just…well…I assumed you know what I mean.) Yet it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a wonderful book. You just have to spend time to figure out what you just read and found out the mysterious part. But well organize, definitely. I didn’t feel a single moment boring while reading this book. I can’t help but keep smiling while finishing the entire book…and Oh! I ship Nyx and Ignifex, they are such a cute couple!!! (Swoon~) I’ve never ship a villain so much! See? You can now know how great this book is.
  The sad thing is that we don’t get a sequel…only story that happened in the same universe. I originally thought Crimson Bound was the second book of Cruel Beauty…but it isn’t…so sad… (Sobbing and crying.) I want more Nyx!!! I love her so much!!! I was torn apart after finishing this book…for there isn’t story waiting for us to read anymore.  
  Now...buy the book and watch the beauty book trailer here!