The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton. The Belles #1. Unabridged downloadable audiobook read by Rosie Jones. ~11 hours. Blackstone Publishing, 2018. 9781538540626. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)
Happy Tuesday! It's a lovely, rainy day to curl up with a great book! Teen Tuesday features The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton. This fantastic fantasy was Ms. Clayton's debut. A former eighth grader found it in the YA section and read it. When she returned the book, she asked if I had read it. Contrary to popular belief, I have not read every book in TMS library and had not read The Belles. She told me to try it. Since I try to read any book a student recommends, I put it on my list and read it with my ears. Wowzers!
If you enjoy fantasy, you will love The Belles. Everyone on the island nation of Orleáns is born with gray skin, red eyes and awful hair. Legend has it that the goddess of beauty blessed certain humans, the "Belles" with the power to grant beauty by using their gifts, arcana, to reshape any human form in any way as many times as the human desires, as long as they can pay for it and stand the pain. Orleáns is ruled by a queen, whose eldest daughter has been in a coma for several years and whose younger daughter is prone to cruelty and bizarre experiments. Camillia Beauregard is the queen's new favorite Belle, a position she has wanted all her life. Once inside the court, Camillia begins to unravel the history of the Belles and the truth behind their powers.
Terrific world-building, ever-increasing suspense after a slow-ish start lead to a cliffhanger ending that will leave readers panting for the next installment. The performance by a new-to-me narrator was also well-done. Unique voices and well-paced. I do wonder though about the penchant for audiobook producers to hire British narrators for fantasy. Orleáns felt vaguely NOLA or French to me. Still, it was an intriguing listen.
