Fairy tale and science fiction combined - one of my all-time favourites. An extra copy - will probably bookray.

From the back cover;

On her sixteenth birthday, Beauty, daughter of the Duke of Westfaire, sidesteps the sleeping curse placed upon her by her wicked aunt, the fairy Carabosse - only to be kidnapped by visitors from another time and place, far from the picturesque castle in fourteenth century England.

She is taken to the world of the future, a savage society where, even amongst the teeming billions, she is utterly alone. And as she travells magically to places both imaginary and real, Beauty eventually comes to understand her special place in humanity's destiny. As captivating as it is uncompromising, Beauty will carve it's own unique place in the hearts and minds of readers.

'Beauty slips it's message like a knife through skin and brain and bone ... It is brilliant and subtle and fabulous'
The New York Times Review of Science Fiction

'Remember reading? Really reading, I mean. The way I read in childhood - for knowledge, for transformation, for survival - that's how I found myself reading Sheri S. Tepper.'
Carol Sternhell, Village Voice

Gyd (Spain)
loopy1 (UK)
Davitraka (USA)
foovay (USA)
sarajenni (USA)
Guinneth (USA)
Rendiru (USA)
katayoun (Iran)
morpha (USA)
busybooklover (USA)
jayda (Australia)
starbytes (Malaysia)
miss-muffet (UK)
janetcarolina (Peru)
kymberlie (USA)

Yay! The book has arrived this morning. I'm in the middle of HP & the Order of the Phoenix but I'll read as fast as possible.
And thanks Deerskin for the absolutely beautiful bookmark!!

I started enjoying the first 100 pages, then suddenly it didn't held my interest. I tried hard but I couldn't get into (Chinanga chapters). I even thought of stopping :O. But I did not as I'm obstinate enough. And my interest grew again in the last 1/3.

I'm sorry to be such a disappointment Deerskin, but it seems all the reviews of this book in BC-world are very good, so I'll be the only one not enjoying this book.
To be sent this week to Loopy1, back to UK :)

This book arrived safely this morning and I look forward to reading it. The bookmark's lovely, too. Is this going to be a custom with this book?
Thanks Gyd and thanks Deerskin :-)
More once I've read it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A nice twist on the fairytales, and lots of thought-provoking stuff.
The only thing I objected to was a comment made by the main character about abortion and retarded babies. Apart from that it was great. DH borrowed it for a day and enjoyed it too. Thanks for sharing, off to Davitraka next, since I've already received her address :-)

Just got it. Have one other BookRay to finish first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~FINISHED

I thoroughly enjoyed Tepper's prose. But, the book got overly preachy sometimes. This distracted me during some longer passages. There's quite a few imbedded storylines, which I found to be enjoyable. Definitely worth the read.

Mailed out yesterday to Foovay.

Just arrived. I'm busy with finishing up my novel for NaNoWriMo at the moment, but as soon as that is done I am looking forward to this book. Love Teppers work.

This is a marvelous book. Masterful weaving of fantasy, "fairy tales", old lore, and futuristic science fiction.

I got this in the mail on Saturday, but forgot to register it until today. I'm very excited to read it. Thanks for the opportunity.

Wow. I thought this book was exhausting. There was so much. It was very different from other retellings. It was more of a (excuse the movie term) a reimagining, from top to bottom, of fairy tales and religion. Honestly, it wasn't my favorite book. I thought there was maybe a little too much. While I thought it was well written and there were times when I couldn't put down the book, there were other times when I felt more like I was slogging through. I can't definitely see how others have enjoyed it though. Thank you Deerskin for letting me read it. I'm about to PM Guinneth for his/her address.

Released on Saturday, April 10, 2004 at ... by mail :) in Sent to a fellow BookCrosser, Bookring Controlled Releases.

I'm sending this on to New Hampshire as part of a bookring. I hope you enjoy it!

Got this yesterday - thanks! I forgot I had signed up for this one, so it was a nice surprise. Can't wait to dive in.

I *LOVED* this book. I took it with me on a trip to Atlanta last week and was just riveted - I couldn't stop reading until I'd finished it. I thoroughly enjoyed the weaving together of various fairy tales and Celtic faery lore with the very grim (much more so than anything the Brothers Grimm imagined) tale of the future world. The time travel was skillfully used here, I thought. Tepper is an extremely talented writer who always has some very important things to say, hidden within her well-told stories. Honestly, several passages in 'Beauty' made me weep.

For example, the video documentary that Beauty watches on the last whales:

"Water, gray and cold, with lights in it as bubbles, rising, bright shadows in the water and vast distances, with everything moving and shifting, so there is no up or down. Singing in the water. Deep, organ tones, one, then two together, then a third. Soft, hurting sounds.

Bill's voice, his deep voice, the one he uses when he does the narrations. 'These are the last whales, and this is their last song. Though they are unaware of it, this pod of whales is the last of the great sea creatures to swim the seas of earth. Cells have been saved in the hope that some future time will allow their regeneration, though as things stand today such hope seems dim and distant.'

The organ voices again. Incredibly sad. Jaybee's camera focuses on an eye set in a great wrinkled socket. The eye looks at me. Oh, there's knowing there. They know. They know they are the last. All these seas are their tears, they have wept them all. All the oceans of earth are made up of tears. Whale tears, elephant tears, the tears of forests, the tears of flowers, the tears of everything beautiful cried out to make oceans."

For cripes sake, I cried again while copying that passage! Anybody who cares about our planet cannot fail to be moved by the message in this book. The vision of the future presented here was just devastating. The hope found at the end was both welcome and poignant.

Thank you for sharing this one, Deerskin. I really appreciated the chance to read it!

Sending this off to Rendiru tomorrow. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! :)

What is better than coming home early from work? Coming home early and finding a book in the mailbox. :-)

I'm looking forward to reading this - I just have to finish my current book. Thanks for sharing this deerskin!

I really enjoyed this book. Although I was hoping for a different type of ending, this one was very appropriate. If I had had an uninterrupted day, I probably would have read this in one sitting. (So unfortunate that work, sleep, life, etc. get in the way sometimes. ;-) I'll pass this on as soon as I get jayda's address.

Edit 5/14/04: I'm still awaiting a response from jayda. I'll PM again in case the first one didn't get through.

Sorry about the delay. :-( It's been crazy here for the last couple of weeks. I mailed this off to katayoun today - I never got a response from jayda.

got here yesterday! i got 2 books before this, but will try to read as soon as i can, i'm looking forwar to reading it. there cards of san francisco and oregon in here that look real beautiful.
ok, will journal again as soon as i start reading to let you know the status and thanks deerskin and rendiru.

started the book today, hopefully will be done by next week.

update: sorry totally forgot to post my comments. well, i don't know it was interesting since i did read all of it and wanted to know how the story went, yet there were times when i felt that the book was written by more than one person and these two had nothing in common! i must say that i didn't like the future episodes at all, i was so one dimensional and doomsday-like. and i REALLY liked all the other fairy tales in it, and the ways she had looked at them and had put them in were really fun.
thanks alot deerskin for this ring, i've wanted to read this book a long time now and now i have.

mailed today to morpha since i didn't hear from kymberlie. it should be there in a month i hope, that is postal gods willing and also touch wood!

Just arrived yesterday from katayoun. No rings or rays in front of it, so I will read it as soon as I am finished with current book.

katayoun, it took less than a month, but the envelope had been opened (probably by customs) then tied shut. Good thing it wasn't raining when it was delivered! Thanks for the beautiful postcard.

Thanks deerskin!

Neither Tepper's worst nor her best. I was disappointed by the end and long before the end, had guessed the nature of the strange heat Beauty could feel within.

The scenic descriptions are at times exquisite, and I love Tepper's wry sense of humor. (Beauty's name for her scheming would-be step mother is Weasel-Rabbit).

'Twill be mailed to busybooklover tomorrow.

Thanks, Dee!

Got in the mail yesterday! I started reading it (shame on me!) I have another ring book ahead *gasp!* Okay.. I will REALLY have to be disciplined to NOT pick this back up until I finish the other (As Nature Made Him; The boy who was raised as a girl)... Thanks to all before and especially ♥ DEERSKIN ♥ for starting this ring!

I have tried unsuccessfully what seems like a zillion timed to read this book.. I'll have to surrender and admit defeat on this one... I JUST couldn't find the rhythym that I know would come if I kept at it. I'm PMing jayda in Australia for her adress.. My sincere apologies to all for the UNreasonable delay. I'm usually so much better at moving rings along-- I had so desperately hoped I would find the connection to this one that I had a hard time allowing myself to give up... *sigh* UPDATE: 5/12--I had no response from Jayda... PMing next on list starbytes 1/18/06- awaiting response from Starbytes. Will mail Global Priority to speed it up a bit. Sorry for delay.

RELEASE NOTES:

I got as far as 122 pages and I had to admit I wouldn't get any further anytime soon. Mailing Global Priority to Malaysia (Starbytes) Happy Travels! Thanks to all before and after for your incredible patience!!!

Thanks busybooklover and deerskin! The book has arrived safe and sound and I'm really looking forward to reading it after all the intriguing journal entries I just read. Will come back with my thoughts on the book!

Update 7th May 2006: Sorry for taking so long with this book. I loved it so much! It's not what I thought it would be, and it's not your average fairy tale. Instead, it's tragic and profound and insightful all at once. I'm going to try get my own copy of this book one day. I'd definitely love to re-read it again, but at the same time it's such a deep book that I couldn't re-read it too soon. Thank you so much for sharing...I really loved it! But it's time for the book to move along in its travels. Going to miss-muffett as soon as I get her address. :D