Beauty's Kingdom

A Novel

By: A. N. Roquelaure, Anne Rice

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer, Cassandra Campbell, Danny Campbell, Sophie Eastlake, Dominic Hoffman, John Lee

Length: 15 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

The erotic Sleeping Beauty trilogy now continues with a fourth novel by master storyteller and best-selling author of Prince Lestat, Anne Rice, writing as A. N. Roquelaure.

Mega-best-selling author Annie Rice returns to where she left off in Beauty’s Release with the disappearance of Queen Eleanor in Bellavalten. Now, 20 years after they were forced to leave the kingdom to return to their homeland, Beauty and her husband Laurent agree to travel back as its king and queen, to uphold the ways of complete sensual surrender, with a twist: They now insist on voluntary servitude in Bellavalten.

Countless eager princes, princesses, lords, ladies, and common folk journey to Beauty’s new kingdom where she and her husband awaken their domain, ushering in a new era of desire, longing, and sexual ecstasy. Provocative and stirring, Rice’s imaginative retelling of the Sleeping Beauty myth will be hailed by her longtime fans and new listeners of erotica just discovering the novels. This audiobook is intended for mature audiences.

Read by Paul Boehmer, Cassandra Campbell, Danny Campbell, Sophie Eastlake, Dominic Hoffman and John Lee.

©2015 A. N. Roquelaure and Anne Rice (P)2015 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Voluptuous imagery and graphic scenes...Roquelaure pulls no punches (or holds back no spankings). The fairy-tale setting provides an apt stage, and the magical world clearly marks the erotic action as fantasy." (Kirkus)

"[A] thumbs-up.... Beauty's Kingdom is a delightful, immersive read, all at once playful, campy, explicit, erotic, and provocative." (Publisher’s Weekly)

"Rice’s lush prose is elegant and enchanting, reminiscent of classic historical fiction in its lyrical structure and elaborate description." (Library Journal)

Awesome

Loved it. An unsuspected surprise after all these years thank you
I had always felt as if it ended with more to say and this was beautifully said.

Not as hot as the original trilogy

Although it was nice to revisit the characters, this book lacks the page after page sizzle of the original trilogy. Multiple narrators tend to pull me out of the story. Better to have one great narrator that does multiple voices. Sophie Eastlake was woefully underutilized.

I am so glad she has written another

Where does Beauty's Kingdom rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I had some challenges with it stalling out while playing it but it was good enough.

What other book might you compare Beauty's Kingdom to and why?

Stephen King's last one of the Dark Tower

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

yes

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes but I could not but i finished it in a few days

Any additional comments?

Anne Rice is a genius and puts other erotica writers to shame when she goes this way.

Meh

For anyone who has not read the first three books, do not start with this one, and because it's not able to stand on its own, it loses one star. The second star is lost because there is barely a story. The three stars are given for the fact that this shit is still better than fifty shades.

I want more!

I thought the ending... About an hour to go was odd, but why not. Give me more! Please write more!!!!!

Trashy Re-tread

Anne Roce is definitely a lizard person. Some bizarre shit here. NSFW with hardly a storyline.

Past its time...

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would have published it 15 years ago.

Did Beauty's Kingdom inspire you to do anything?

Not really. It seemed pretty tame and hard to follow.

Any additional comments?

Not really. My partner, a dyed in the wool Anne Rice fan, hasn't finished it yet.

every womans secret fantasy come true...

Hot from the start to finish and included all my fantasies and more. I hope Anne write another trilogy soon!!!

An excellent way to wrap up

I received what I asked for, and the narrators were rearranged for better story development. I would like to see that taken further in the narrator of gender-matched voices, but that may have just been too costly to adhere to for a book of this scope.

The story picks up years later and brings many of the characters full circle and back to Bellavaultin (sp?). In order to fully appreciate this book, one must have read the other books, as it includes references without the hand-holding of a drawn out explanation. One must read and retain from previous knowledge.

I found this book most fascinating, as I have the perspective of time spent in relevant dynamics, and can observe how Anne Rice aged and grew each character and their development. I enjoyed this story much more fully due to this perspective. When making a recommendation of this series to others, I will certainly advise them to wait on this book until they have more than a decade (or two) of D/s involvement under their belt. It certainly improves the comprehension and understanding of the underlying narratives. I enjoyed the story arc, and the development over time. Very observant and well done.

If you listened to the first three.....

Would you listen to Beauty's Kingdom again? Why?

If you listened to the first three in this series, you should listen to this. Remember this book takes place 20 years after the ending of the trilogy. Many things and people have changed. Even though Beauty is only 35, or 36 years old and still exquisite, there are many characters being brought back and some new ones to learn about.

What did you like best about this story?

The changes that are brought about in "Beauties Kingdom", It brings back a time of glory and a better hand of safety for those who CHOOSE to be SLAVES. In order to understand this book, you really have had to listen to the first three. (not abridged).

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have listened to several of the narrators and they all did a fine job in this book.

Any additional comments?

This book is not like the first three, it has a different slant, and it is changing the way the country is being run. Beauty sees a way to revive the land and bring people back. It works, and she also finds out that she can get what she wants as well and still be Queen.