The Beauty and the Griffin by J. M. Stengl
YA Fantasy. 328 Pages. 4 Stars
Synopsis:
Three romantic dreams.
Two priceless eggs.
One hasty curse that may doom not only Faraway Castle but the world.
Beatrice de Callen, an otherwise sensible young woman, was foolish enough to fall in love with the benevolent yet shadowy mage known as the Gamekeeper of Faraway Castle. Worse still, she broke his heart.
But when traitorous mages steal a powerful fay artifact, magical war threatens, and the Gamekeeper vanishes, Beatrice promises her fairy godmother to help and soon finds herself escorting two telepathic griffin eggs and Winifred, their furious nanny, through a labyrinth of caves in search of the Forbidden Palace. Exhausted, Beatrice falls asleep while snuggling the gold egg and dreams of dancing with a stunning young king at his coronation ball. Have they met before?
Once the eggs guide their humans to the timeless palace, Beatrice is relieved to sense the Gamekeeper’s presence—but Win insists he is the monster that killed the last King of Adelboden!
Beatrice must not only help raise the lively griflets and watch over a girl who hates her, but also save Faraway Castle and the world by breaking a century-old curse.
Only the Golden Griffin can tell her how.
This final Faraway Castle book is an adventurous, humorous, and sweetly romantic retelling of “The Beauty and the Beast” that ties the series together.
My Review:
I have enjoyed the Faraway Castle books for years. Stengl meshes a more modern contemporary vibe with the classic fantasy and fairytale elements so many know and love. Her stories are lighthearted and easy to read, perfect for when you need something uplifting and fun. And this conclusion to the series is no different.
I know this book has been long-awaited and so much work has gone into it. I’m so thankful and excited to finally see it out for readers to enjoy! There were many cameos in this one that were lots of fun! Makes me want to reread the whole series from the top.
This was a bit of a twist on the Beauty and the Beast story – with griffins! The griffins were honestly a lot of fun and I also really appreciated some of the nods to the original Beauty and the Beast story that often get overlooked in retellings seeking to be more like the Disney renditions. I will say I was a little startled at learning how the beast connected to previous books – and that may have been because it’s been a while since I read the others. That said, the beasts history and storyline unfolding was one of my favorite parts of the book.
While I did struggle a little with the pacing of the book and the perspective switches between Beatrice and her godmother, the story eventually evened out for me. Once we got past a little bit of what felt like set up, the plot itself was engaging (and to be fair, the setup bits were necessary to the “current” story).
Beatrice was a sweet heroine and the beast a fun character, too. Arabella is an all-over-the-place kind of lady and she made me laugh in places. I appreciate how these aren’t perfect fairytale characters, but they’ve made mistakes with ramifications and they have growth to do throughout the story. The cameos and side characters kept things interesting! Win was a blast of a character and it would be cool to see more of her someday. Stengl folded this story very nicely into her world. And the mystery and twist definitely kept me engaged.
Like others before it, this story has the trademark sparkle of hope in Stengl’s style. A light story that was a pleasure to read.
Content: no swearing, mild fantasy violence, clean romance. Suitable for preteens.
More:
Prequel novella 0.5 Cinder Ellie (4 Stars)
Prequel novella 0.6 The Little Siren (5 Stars)
Book 1 in the Faraway Castle series is Ellie and the Prince (5 Stars)
Book 2 is The Siren and the Scholar (5 Stars)
Book 3 is The Rose and the Briar (5 Stars)
Book 4 is The Lady and the Wish (5 Stars)
Book 5, The Mirror and the Curse
Book 6 is The Beauty and the Griffin (4 Stars)
You can get The Little Siren free here by signing up for Stengl’s newsletter! I have reviewed each of the above on Goodreads (except one I missed!). Follow the links to find more info on the books and then scroll down to see the reviews. Mine is among them.
This series should be read in order.
On Gracebought:
If you missed it, be sure to check out the reviews for the previous books in the series here on GraceBought!
Ellie and the Prince, The Siren and the Scholar, The Rose and the Briar, and The Lady and the Wish