Hunted

January 9, 2017
In this standalone tale from Spooner, coauthor of the Starbound trilogy, a merchant named Tvertko loses his fortune and moves his daughters—Lena, Asenka, and Yeva—to a remote cabin. Once a legendary hunter, Tvertko has difficulty finding prey and comes to believe that a fearsome Beast is scaring off the other animals. Tvertko ventures into the woods to slay the creature but fails to return. Yeva strikes out after him and is captured by the Beast, who imprisons her in a castle. As Yeva fights for survival and escape, she learns that the fairy tales of her youth are more grounded in reality than she ever imagined. After a slow start, Spooner’s take on Beauty and the Beast finds its groove when Yeva (also known as Beauty) finally encounters the Beast. Yeva’s narration is interspersed with snippets from the Beast’s perspective, adding depth, and while the plot is largely predictable, this emotionally complex story satisfies. Spooner writes eloquently about magic, her world building is excellent, and the book’s characters are nuanced and well drawn. Ages 13–up. Agent: Josh Adams, Adams Literary.

Starred review from December 1, 2016
A rich, Russian-influenced retelling of "Beauty and the Beast."Bored by her comfortable life in town, Yeva (Beauty) longs for the woods. But when her merchant father loses their fortune and retreats to the wilderness with Yeva and her older sisters, Lena (Light) and Asenka (Grace), Yeva must remember her woodcraft in order to protect her family. Preferring solitude to her persistent suitor, Solmir, and a brewing love triangle--Asenka is drawn to Solmir--Yeva hunts, first for game, then for the Beast. Blaming the Beast for her father's absence, Yeva becomes his captive, then his would-be assassin--trained to kill for him but also hoping to kill him--yet struggles to reconcile his violence and humanity. Building upon a familiar tale, Spooner creates a detailed world populated by complex characters, with medieval household mundanities and retellings of Russian folk tales anchoring the later fantastic elements. No Disney heroine, white, red-haired Yeva is also--appreciably--not an instantly lethal, superpowered heroine, although she is single-mindedly bent first on survival, then on revenge. Love blooms slowly, but this is an old-fashioned romance reminiscent of Robin McKinley's and Patricia McKillip's novels, concerned with the power of stories. An elegant, classic, and vivid fairy tale. (Fantasy. 12 & up)

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January 1, 2017
Grades 7-12 The story of Beauty and the Beast is intriguingly reimagined in this offering from the author of the Skylark trilogy. Yeva, known as Beauty to her beloved family, enjoys the pleasures of her aristocratic life, but is not satisfied by it. Her father loses his fortune in a failed business venture, forcing Yeva and her sisters to move to his remote lodge in the forest. When her father goes missing in the woods, Beauty, an accomplished hunter, goes after him. She soon finds herself the prisoner of a cursed beast who needs Beauty's skills for his own purposes. Interestingly, there is no real villain; Yeva's sisters love her, and her fiance is not a cad. The story does not rest so much on Beauty finding the man beneath the beastly exterior as it does recognizing the shared longing that imprisons them both, and how she is eventually able to save him. Alternately delicate and brutal, this is an evocative retelling that grounds itself within the universal magic of storytelling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2017
"Beauty and the Beast" meets Russian folklore in this tale of hunter Yeva/Beauty; she swears vengeance on the Beast, who drove her hunter father mad. The plot follows the well-known fairy tale, and a romance builds slowly and believably. Complex characters add emotional depth to this novel about making choices in life and living with what you thought you wanted.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)