The Everlasting Rose by Dhonielle Clayton (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- The Everlasting Rose by Dhonielle Clayton
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4847-2848-2 $17.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-4847-8034-3 $10.99
Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 7-10
After learning the true nature of the beauty-giving Belles and the dirty secrets of Orléans’ royal family (The Belles, BCCB 2/18), former favored Belle Camellia is on the run, pursued by the minions of soon to be queen Sophia, whose obsession with beauty has already killed several Belles. Sophia’s reign promises only more death unless Camellia can find the true heir to the throne and rally her allies, but the arrests of several friends and the betrayal by those she thought were trustworthy has Camellia flailing for a way just to save herself, much less others. Camellia continues to be an intriguing character, and the cunning and ambition that grabbed her the powerful position as the favorite Belle are transformed into grim determination here to defeat Sophia at all costs, even as she begins to understand that Sophia is really just a symptom of decades of social norms that value appearance above all else. The [End Page 292] pacing is uneven, unfortunately, with the focus more on waiting than action, and the final confrontation with Sophia is both brief and anticlimactic. Nonetheless, Clayton is delving into heavy and provocative waters thematically, interrogating the equating of beauty and morality, both by Camellia and the people of Orléans, and revealing the coveted Belle position to be essentially glorified servitude. While readers will hope to see more of Camellia, she leaves them with plenty to ponder about the commodification of bodies and the institutions that support it.
