Little does she know she won’t be returning. When Yeva’s father goes missing, she leaves her sisters with food she’s hunted and the help of a kind-hearted suitor, Solmir, whom Yeva reluctantly agrees to marry upon her return. Yeva’s father, who gave her the family-only nickname of “Beauty” long ago, believes he can pay back his debts by capturing and selling a fabled beast he’d encountered in the forest long ago– The Beast. Soon, they’re living in an old cabin days away from town and barely scraping by. It all changes when her father’s business goes bankrupt and the family is forced to give up their land. She wants more, but who is she to complain about the happy home at the edge of town she shares with her two sisters and father? Now it’s her time to become a “proper lady” and while she doesn’t love sewing circles or society dinners, she’s pretty much resigned to it. The story follows Yeva, a teenager who spent all of her younger days frolicking in the woods with her father, a legendary huntsman. It’s a story that helps you realize just how tainted we’ve all been by the Disney adaptation, but don’t worry, this novel has plenty of fierceness and magical lore of its own to make up for it. It takes out the kiddie elements and adds in extra depth for a darker, more riveting story sans dancing dishware and garish Gaston. Hunted doesn’t heedlessly take from either the popularized Disney story nor the founding French fairy tale. Part of the hype belongs to Meagan Spooner, co-author of the Starbound series, and her clever, original take on the classic tale. But it’s not just Disney making a stir with its live-action musical. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Beauty and the Beast is kind of a big deal this week. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST gets a dark, delightful twist in HUNTED.

Hunted by Meagan Spooner