The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty - erotic book by Audioworks - review by SexyDuchess

Anne Rice (of Interview with the Vampire fame) has a few genres of books.
She writes her vampire, witches, etc. books under her actual name: Anne Rice.

Her mildly more risque books (Belinda, Exit to Eden) were written under the name Anne Rampling and her erotica (the Sleeping Beauty series) were written as A.N. Roquelaure.

Of course, now it's her name that's the seller, so she no longer uses the pseudonyms alone.

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty begins with the Prince fighting his way through the thorns and brush to rescue her like in the regular fairy tale. However he doesn't simply wake her with a kiss. I believe it's the orgasm that finally brings her to consciousness.

The premise of the book is that all princes and princesses in the land go to this particular prince's kingdom in order to be properly "trained." Trained in all things sexual; and to be obedient and willing at all times.

Beauty is taken to the kingdom and quickly becomes the favorite of the prince, as well as many of the slaves and courtiers. I won't ruin the experience for you, but I will say that the book has some great parts, as well as some resounding flaws.

First of all, one really has to bear in mind that this is fantasy.
Beauty, in my mind, is positively ludicrous as a character. Simpering, yet just rebellious enough to move the story along. She scarcely has to be trained at all - it seems she was born to be a sex slave. Completely unrealistic in that they don't ease her (or any of the slaves) into it much at all - they all simply go with the punishments and orders and supposed rewards. Not to mention the complete lack of biological restraints (menstruation, illness, bad hair days...nary a one).

However: suspension of disbelief right?

I was impressed with the wide array of punishments, fetishes and activities that the slaves were exposed to. It was positively fascinating. And the fact that Anne Rice ups the ante with each successive book in the series is truly remarkable. I thought that the first book was kind of freaky, but next was Beauty's "punishment" and the third book was the most intense of all, eventually leading to her "release."

On the whole, I think that people should read this books for some fun, light erotica. It's not too dark or scary. It's kind of fun, and even somewhat stimulating.

But if you're looking for something really deep, and enthralling? I wouldn't go here. I'd find some more sophisticated erotica.