The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty: Sleeping Beauty Trilogy, Book 1

carmen

Erotica the way it SHOULD be written!

"I read this series almost 3 decades ago. I enjoyed the first two books immensely. The third I didn’t really like as much. But I felt, from the beginning, that this is the standard to which erotica should be held. The storyline and scene building, along with the fleshing out of characters (pun not intended but glad it worked!) is as important as the sex and erotic situations one expects from this genre. And Anne Rice delivers. Anyone can write a dirty book. That’s easy. But to write a book filled with situational erotica that performs as erotica should, yet is entertaining and a little complex, well that’s what separates erotica from filthy books that use the same storylines with lots of dirty words-usually misspelled-or even thinner books leading up to one encounter which is straight sex with no glimpse into the complexity behind the act. Which can be just as stimulating as the act itself. Think about it… It might be pleasurable to read about a character being disciplined but it’s downright stimulating to be allowed into the other character’s thoughts and pleasure at disciplining the other. Then we have bystanders and we are allowed into their thoughts at viewing the scene before them. This is how Rice builds her erotica and what makes her so good at it. I tried to read Fifty Shades of Grey. I got through the first 100 pages before putting the book down in disgust. It was simply terrible. I was so sick of the girl biting her lip for 100 pages and absolutely nothing happening that I never picked it up again. I had friends who were so into this book! I simply couldn’t believe it. The writing was just awful. One of them read an erotic scene to me. I just shook my head. It doesn’t remotely hold a candle to the Sleeping Beauty series I have read and reread this series for 30 years. If that doesn’t declare a five star review then I don’t know what would. If you want to know what true erotica is then read this series. I can guarantee that, regardless of your sex or orientation, it will get your heart pounding and wake you up biologically. I don’t think I can get more specific than that here. LOL Kudos to Anne Rice! She is truly a gift to this genre!! ["

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November 2, 2019 Verified Purchase

Kindle Customer

I feel like I need to shower.

"Allow me to begin by saying, I have never finished this book, have no intention to do so, and wish I'd never seen it I've read many books that some may find disturbing and walked away unfazed or a little creeped out. This is the first book that has made my skin crawl within four chapters. Multiple factors make me uncomfortable. Here's the list: 1:)The 'protagonist '(I use that word lightly): 'Charming' is anything but. His smug attitude, his unapologetic sadistic objectification of Beauty and generally being an unlikable, frankly repulsive character makes me wonder if the author read 50 Shades of Grey, was repulsed by Christian Grey and made his creepy 'nice guy' counterpart. 2:)'Beauty's' demeanor: I understand that this is supposed to be a 'retelling' of the Original Sleeping Beauty during the fourteenth century when women were supposed to be subservient to men but Beauty's lack of reaction to being awoken by 'Charming' essentially raping her is another point. Trauma works differently in all people, yes, but there's traumatized and then there's Beauty being a sex doll with a pulse. She showed about as much agency as a sex doll throughout the book and seemingly just lets 'Charming' do whatever he will. 3:)Every other character: I get it. 'Charming' is a prince, he holds a lot of sway and has all the power in this scenario. He saved a castle full of people, he's a man in the fourteenth century and he's of royal, if not, noble status. Beauty's own parents, a king and a queen who essentially outrank him are like: 'Oh, you essentially raped our daughter awake? All right, nothing we can do about it.' Again, different time, different custom but the lack of care unnerves as well as irks me. (A point I forgot: BEAUTY IS 15 and IS REPEATEDLY RAPED BY CHARMING WHO IS 18) Make of that what you will. I expected a retelling of Sleeping Beauty with some sex thrown in the mix not "Smug guy breaks into castle and then rapes, degrades and objectifies a princess for the rest of the book.' Can't imagine books 2-3 being much different. TLDR: This book disgusted me. Would rate lower if I could. ["

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March 28, 2023 Verified Purchase

Theodore A. Rushton

A powerful, dynamic, erotic book

"This powerful book will shake the complacency of everyone who reads it. If read as an allegory, it is a marvelous story about the subservient role all of us accept to function in society. We face it every day in traffic; we sometimes have bosses who are overbearing; we deal with people who are a pain in the neck but to whom we must be polite. Our whole lives consist of suppressing our natural urges and instincts out of respect for the rights of others; in that sense, the human is never free, we are always a slave to the opinion and respect of others. From the beginning, Rice's story sounds like an allegory to military training in which the goal is to destroy the individual's sense of personal identity and replace it with loyalty to the group. In the military, such dominance is enforced. In private life, companies sometimes spend inordinate amounts of money to develop similar loyalty -- consider the pressures to be a "team player" in most organizations. One of the key statements is on page 62: "She must please him, must make him loving again, and then any pain at all would not be too much." Some women long to be dominated, they will do anything in an effort to please others. It's very sad, really. That is the story of this Sleeping Beauty. It's why I have long been horrified by zoos; the thought of animals deprived of their freedom breaks my heart. Modern zoos are changing, one of the sad facts is that zoos have become necessary to save various animals that would be exterminated if left in the wild. It's better, sometimes, to be "in protective custody" than extinct; that may also apply to loveless marriages. If so, Rice's story is a portrayal of the hell some women go through to please a husband. Any woman who's been in that situation, any woman who's broken free of it, will understand and sympathize. It will be exciting and erotic for them, because those feelings were part of their original love. It may even be something to try again, but it will not be something they can live with for long. Various books are written as allegories. Frank Baum wrote "The Wizard of Oz" as a pro-capitalist story to counter the socialism that was prevalent at the turn of the century; Jack London wrote "Call of the Wild" to justify socialism. Both are still popular, with "Call of the Wild" regularly assigned in school. It's no longer regarded as "socialist" literature -- now, it's simply a good story. Rice may have intended a similar allegory for this book. The popular image of marriage is of love and tenderness; her book says some marriages are an indoctrination into strict and absolute obedience. This fight for dominance is by no means unusual. Look at the continual battle among even pre-school brothers and sisters for dominance. It's just not the older ones, the younger will continually challenge. The result is a continuing battle. Rice tapped into a universal theme, that of dominance and the yearning to please. Some people demand unquestioning obedience, and I've worked for employers like that. A popular term is "control freaks." Rice was clever enough to apply it to some very personal themes among people; because it is very personal, it makes the story very frightening despite its intense eroticism. I'm reminded of "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Alexander Solzhentsyn, and "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding. Solzhentsyn tells of the petty humiliations forced on prisoners to make them compliant; Golding writes about an degenerating battle for dominance, and the need to inflict humiliation on the weaker. Prison life is a good example of such behaviour, where daily life is a close example of some of the humiliations inflicted upon "Sleeping Beauty." Even the name is demeaning. She may have been the "Sleeping beauty," but her real name is never used. That is as demeaning as always referring to a person by a number instead of their name -- a common habit in prison; or the "Hey, you" or worse by a domineering spouse. Rice taps into some of our deepest emotions and builds a scary story based on those feelings. It's a powerful combination. The sex will infuriate some readers, but it is an essential element; the dominance theme will infuriate everyone who treasures individual freedom. But, if you read it at anything above a fairy tale level, it will make you think. And perhaps even cry. And that is good. ["

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September 2, 2001 Verified Purchase

Jennifer Lee

Is there any end to this madness??

"Were do I start?? As other have said this book is not for everyone. For anyone thinking of reading this book, I suggest reading at least half the reviews so you know what to expect. I think a lot of the negative reviews come from the shock. I was fully prepared when I started reading this book. For those referying this to Fifty Shades of Grey...DONT. Fifty Shades of Grey had to do with Submission. The Claiming of Beauty is about slavery. Two very different lifestyles. I have a lot of friends who live both lifetyles so I am familiar with both. My issues with this book is that I feel that a woman has a choice to make the decesion to become either a submissive or a slave. It's a consciounce choice and a natural desire to want and need to please his or her master. Once that decesion has been made, the training/transformation can then begin...with conscent of both parties involved. Beauty had no choice. She was raped while still being "asleep" and then forced out of her home and taken away from her parents. Mind you she is 15. Rape of children is not my cup of tea. Majority of the slaves in this book are children (teenagers). A lot of readers found the sex scenes "hot". I was not able to seperate the idea since I knew the age of beauty. No offense to anyone..this is just me. This book is about repetitive rape, torture, humilation, beating and spanking. It never lets up. Towards the end I found my self skippng the torture parts as they are very repetitive and not my cup of tea. Nothing in this book is conscensual. This book has nothing to do with relationships or love. In reality this rape and tortute is done more for sport than anything else. Because it pleases them to do so. If a slave misbehaves then the punishment and torture is extreme and on display for all to see. Even when the slave pleases her master or mistress they still get punished in some way or another. Will I order the other two books....probably not. Solely for the fact that I have to assume the punishments and torture will have to get worse before this storyline gets better. I have no investement in any of the characters so frankly I dont care what happens to them. I am not sure if this was the intent of the author or not. Maybe if I cared about any of the characters I would have a more difficult time getting though this book at all. Some say this is true BDSM erotica. It may possibly be for some, but for me this Is wayyy to harcore and over the edge for my personal taste. I rated this book three stars based solely for the education of the slave lifestyle. Now I do not believe this is how most people live their lives but I'm sure this is the lifestyle of some. Its more believable coming from Beauty's time era then it would be in today's day and age. I mean with CPS and all...LOL. For those of you who absolutely loved this book..there are two more to follow. : ) ["

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September 27, 2012 Verified Purchase

The Bookish Brunette

3.5! Hey it's Fairytale BDSM erotica... Not reality.

"With the popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey, Plume (an imprint of Penguin Publishers... I believe) are republishing with new covers and pushing Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty BDSM erotica series HARD. Anyway, then I happened across it on NetGalley and was all sorts of intrigued - all over again! Now I must say that I wasn't a huge fan of Anne Rice's whiny vamp in Interview with a Vampire... But The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty is waving hot, filthy sex and my favorite fairy tale around and I tell you what- you've got yourself one intrigued Brunette. Right? So this is what happened... A long, long time ago, in a land far away... The Prince never truly believed all the stories told of the Sleeping Princess locked in a tower, surrounded by her ever slumbering kingdom... Even as he entered the palace and became witness to the bones of the many princes come before him to rescue the Princess from this peril, he was still quite unsure. He cuts through the deadly vines, "It was not his desire to die so much as conquer." Then as light shone upon the many people of the court... Slumbering- as all the old tales had claimed, that he finally believed. (do you guys like my fairy-tale "voice"? Shhhyea you do!) He finds her in the the "topmost bed chamber" and promptly... awakens her. And at this point... I'm a little iffy about The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, if you know what I mean. I'm all about a steamy hot sex scene... But where's the build up? Hmmm... Moving on- Then no sooner than Beauty is awakened, she's forced into very humiliating situations as the prince keeps her naked as he parades her father in and announces that Beauty is his and she will be accompanying him back to his kingdom. Um. Apparently the King and his Queen were also made to spend a great deal of time there a hundred years ago (before they fell asleep) and are confident she will come back "greatly enhanced in wisdom and beauty." Again... I'm just not sure... But alright... it's a BDSM fairytale. What did you expect? Reality? Duh. Then there's lots of degradation and sexual deviance. It seems the kingdom in which Beauty's being sent... taken? Is actually the "training facility" for MANY MANY princes and princesses from all over the world. Prince Alexi, the favorite slave of the dearest Queen is soooo endearing from the moment we are introduced to him... And Beauty herself is quite enamored with him, even though she isn't supposed to look at him or make notice of him at all. And as it turns out, Prince Alexi is also taken with Beauty... Let's recap: The Queen's favorite sex toy/slave/pet, Prince Alexi and The PRINCE's (as in the Queen's SON) sex toy/slave/pet, Beauty are crushing hard on eachother. I know right? "Beauty looked down to see his auburn hair covering her sex as she felt his lips against her thighs." ~ right before the Prince sodomizes him. "I shall see you tomorrow night, my dearest," Prince Alexi whispered with a smile. "And don't be frightened of the Queen for I shall be with you." ~ this he says as he sneaks up to whisper in her ear while she's tethered to a stake in the dining hall. You know... Just so you get the enormity of such a romantic gesture. The Prince casually announces he would marry Beauty if only so he could leave her tied to his bed... Hmmm... I'm just at a loss... It's the sub plot I liked, rather than the central plot. And not because I have any problem with raunchy, rough sex but because... but this was more like sexual torture. And honestly with the recent BDSM craze from Fifty Shades of Grey I can see why they're pushing this series, but it's very different. Where I found Christian Grey intimidatingly sexy and ooooh so yummy, I didn't quite feel that way with The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. Although I was completely absorbed by the detailed intricacy in which Anne Rice put into the story of Beauty and her situation. I'm enraptured by the enchanting novelty of Beauty and the court. I was much more involved in Beauty and Prince Alexi... Then, out of nowhere Beauty seemingly grows tired of the charming Prince and purposely gets sent to The Village after glimpsing the fair haired, Prince Tristan enclosed in a cage of "slaves" who have displeased their masters... I know!!! I already downloaded book 2. *sigh* I can't help it... ["

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September 5, 2012 Verified Purchase