The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty - book discontinued by Audioworks - review by NarcissisticLust

Anne Rice has transformed a traditional fairytale into an eerie and somewhat whimsical erotic novel. This story begins with a powerful prince awakening Sleeping Beauty and returning the sleeping kingdom to life. In return for waking his kingdom, The King gives The Prince his daughter, Beauty, as gratitude. Beauty's service as The Prince's new slave begins as she leaves her former home naked and is shared with each village on the walk back to her new Prince's home. This book is an outstanding choice for any reader who enjoys public disgrace, consensual non-consensual rape, some pony play, sharing humans as possessions, bondage, and a healthy spanking all delivered from the perspective of two sex slaves serving royalty.

The author does an excellent job of immediately developing each character and a hierarchy of roles in the castle. There are multiple relationships, both sexual and non-sexual, within this book each with a different dynamic and purpose. Not only do I appreciate how intertwined and intimate each person is within this book, but also not all relationships are heterosexual. A duke in the castle is in love with one of his male slaves, Lady Juliana and The Queen both frequently share Beauty, and many of the male slaves are serviced by male squires. Although I love the different roles and personalities in this book, more often than not I was annoyed by everything Beauty said or did.

While Beauty's treatment by the royalty in the castle planted the seeds for one of my strongest fantasies, her personality was overwhelmingly annoying and static throughout the book. When The Prince or The Queen spoke to her, regardless of what they said or did, she either whimpered, pined for The Prince, or cried. Yes, it is attractive when slaves cry. No, it is not sexy when all a person does is cry. Beauty spends nearly an entire chapter crying. She is being tenderly examined and spoken to by The Queen, and Beauty just cries. Thankfully, none of the other characters in this book have agitating fatal flaws and are, in contrast, interesting and have more depth than most characters in an erotic novels.

Overall this is an excellent book that will appeal to a wide variety of people interested in kink. Aside from Beauty's constant whimpering, I only disliked two other aspects of this book. The first problem I have with this book is a personal preference that may be highly arousing to others. In the beginning chapters, The Prince and other soldiers or townspeople rape Beauty and the scenes were too detailed and real for me to appreciate sexually. However, this is erotic fiction and my dislike of these scenes is just a personal issue. Second, I would have liked the perspective of a dominant in this book. Although I really love that Anne Rice narrates this story through the eyes of both a male and female slave, reading about the pleasure a dominant receives from their slaves.

While I appreciate a wide variety of kink, this book concentrated on public disgrace and spankings- two activities I am quite fond of. My favorite public disgrace scene in this book planted the seeds to one of my favorite fantasies. After The Prince returned to the castle with Beauty, she was prepared and brought out for a celebration feast in the great hall. She was tied naked on all fours to a table as decoration and all the guests were instructed to adore and touch her however they pleased. There are also different spanking scenes throughout the book. Some as punishment and others playful. Although this book concentrates on degradation and owning other humans, everything is done with a tenderness one expects in a BDSM relationship. I am very happy this is only book one in a trilogy, I will be reading the others and have high expectations.