Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Clayton's eagerly anticipated sequel picks up where the explosive events of The Belles (2018) left readers dangling from a well-crafted cliff. Camille's innocence has been stripped away, and our beloved, once-naive Belle has blossomed into a gloriously ambitious and rightfully enraged young woman who is hell bent on liberating her Belle sisters, finding the missing Princess Charlotte, and ripping the throne of Orléans out of Sophia's evil hands. But none of these goals prove easy with Sophia's imperial forces hunting Camille, her sister Edel, and her handsome guard Rémy. When Camille learns Sophia is constructing a prison to enslave Belles and chain them to the ugly demands of the kingdom, the stakes spike higher than ever. If Camille hopes to change Orléans for the better and save the Belles from falling deeper into bondage, she must find and restore Princess Charlotte to the throne before Sophia is crowned queen. Although The Belles is a phenomenal read, this is even more staggering. Clayton seizes the opportunity to expound upon Orléans, rendering a world that is breathtaking and crushing, beautiful and vile, and whimsical and terrifying. She poignantly uses a harrowing, fantastical tale to illuminate the very real horrors of unattainable beauty standards and the enslavement of marginalized bodies. As relevant as it is exquisite. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The Belles hit best-seller status, and its fans' excitement for the sequel will be further stoked by Clayton's national author tour.--Enishia Davenport Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up-In this sequel to The Belles, Camellia Beaureguard, who worked hard to become the favorite Belle in Orléans in the first book, is still trying to restore the beauty that has been taken away from society. She is also searching for Princess Charlotte, fighting the evil Queen Sophia, and attempting to upright the city. Camellia continues to be a strong female character and enlists the help of the newly introduced Iron Ladies, who resist all beauty treatment, to find cunning ways to fight the enemies she encounters. Clayton paints a stunning world with chilling characters and a light romance that will that will absorb readers and hold teens' interest. Compared to the first volume, the action rises slowly, causing the ending to feel rushed. And while the Iron Ladies are intriguing, readers will wish that they had made more of an appearance throughout. This unique story remains a terrific metaphor for beauty and its place in society and culture. VERDICT A must-purchase for collections where The Belles is already popular, and where fantasy flies.-Karen Alexander, Lake Fenton High School, Linden, MI © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Camille, her love interest Rmy, and her sister Edel (The Belles, rev. 5/18) are on the run after discovering malicious Princess Sophias means of cloning Belles. With the help of an underground resistance movement, they work to return Princess Charlottethe rightful heir, who has fled Orlans but whom Sophia claims has diedto the throne. Camille attains even greater supernatural abilities than she demonstrated in the previous book, most notably the powers to magically disguise herself in addition to altering others appearance and to drain the life force of enemies (both very handy skills for a fugitive). Clayton further develops the world-building of Orlans with a much wider landscape, more steampunk-meets-magical-technology, and new details of Orlansian spiritual beliefs. This second installment is more repetitively plotted than the first, and particularly overuses a device of an ally dying mere moments after being reunited with Camille. Nevertheless, Belles fans will be eager to revisit this lavishly imagined, immersive fantasy realm, which Clayton effectively uses to critique several ugly aspects of our own society. katie bircher March/April 2019 p 78(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The sequel to Clayton's The Belles (2018) freezes blood and steals breath.With the capricious and conniving Princess Sophia poised to seize the throne and already capturing Belles in her obsessive greed and ploy for domination, Camille, her sisters, and the young soldier Rmy are all fugitives. Orlans society is in a frantic uproar trying to stay in the soon-to-be queen's mercurial favor, and as the orderly veneer of an economy of beauty trade crumbles away to fully reveal its darker, underlying structures of enslaved magical labor and implicit violence, the dehumanizing attitudes Sophia emboldens throughout the kingdom endanger Belles everywhere. Camille knows her only hope is to find the recently awakened Princess Charlotte, who is the rightful heir, but as Camille realizes the horrifying extent of Sophia's cruelty and as her own actions and alliances grow more questionable, it becomes clear that putting things right may cost her everything she has known, about her world and herself. The opulence of Clayton's world gives way here to the stark contrast of its sinister underbelly of material beauty and class oppression. Narrative craft that can hold the tension of the implicit (and sorely lacking) value of black and brown features as beautiful as it intertwines with incisive commentary on the overall commodification of beauty is no small feat, and Clayton manages thrills of action, magic, romance, and revolution as well.Beauty comes at a price; so too does freedom. (Fantasy. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
