Mercedes Lackey brings us another tale from the Five Hundred
Kingdoms with Beauty and the Werewolf. In this world there is a non-sentient force
known as The Tradition that strives constantly to bring stories to life, in
other words the plots of fairy tales are continually echoed in real life and
people are forced into playing out roles from these same fairly tales. In this particular tale Bella is the daughter
of a wealthy merchant. One night on her
way back from a visit with Granny (the local wise woman --- i.e. witch) she
encounters, & is bitten by, a wolf.
The wolf turns out to be the cursed local nobleman and Bella is
forthwith sent to live in his home until it can be proven that she won’t turn
into a wolf at the full moon too. Bella,
however, is a feisty and determined girl so she sets out to remedy all the
problems she runs into --- including the curse that Sebastian is suffering.
This is a cute story that doesn’t need to be read as part of
its series. I would recommend it to a
reader looking for light escapism & a successful heroine.
