Reading age: 12+

What if a fairy tale curse didn't come with the guarantee of a fairy tale love? What if falling out of love meant the curse resumed? And what if you knew that someday the same would happen to you?

Such is the premise of Cat Hellisen's Beastkeeper, a book that gathers together fairy tale themes of love and revenge, courage and grief, and in beautiful, effortlessly poetic prose, brings them into our modern realm of broken promises, fickle parents, and fleeting first loves. The result is moving and unexpectedly healing: those fairy tale themes prove powerful even, and perhaps especially, amid the cutting shards we find so often in real life.

Beastkeeper is written for middle grade and young adult readers, but like many a Robin McKinley retelling or Lloyd Alexander adventure or Frances Hodgson Burnett classic, there is much here for adult readers to discover. ( )

For such a slim and unassuming volume, this book farexceeds expectations. Hellison's prose is light, but intricate, and perfectly captures the turning point between her protagonist's innocent youth and magic-filled future. The story starts out simply enough with a family devolving into chaos, but instead of turning the book into an expected tale of familial redemption (though there are aspects of this) or devolving into teenaged angst/darkness (though there is plenty of risky if not risqué behaviour) she manages to keep the prose simple enough that the story feels like an ageless fairytale, but complex enough that there are distinct echoes of modern faerie-masters such as Gaiman, Black, and Link. Very well done; I'm very much looking forward to more from Hellison. ( )

This is a somewhat darker fairy tale adaptation than many of the books I've read lately, but it's beautifully written. The exploration of Beauty and the Beast tied to family and curses and secrets is interesting, and I enjoyed the lack of romance. I'd say it's in the same vein as [b:The Darkest Part of the Forest|20958632|The Darkest Part of the Forest|Holly Black|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397755014s/20958632.jpg|40214184], but reads younger. Twisted fairy tale elements, a bit of darkness, and deep family themes.

Very different and unique version of Beauty and the Beast, if not strictly a retelling, at least influenced by the fairy tale. I enjoyed it and wasn't always sure what was coming next. The author really created some strong images in my head. The ending seemed a little loosely woven. I liked the message and the main character. ( )