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    Bryony and Roses
    Bryony and Roses
    Bryony and Roses
    Audiobook5 hours

    Bryony and Roses

    Written by T. Kingfisher

    Narrated by Justine Eyre

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Bryony and her sisters have come down in the world. Their merchant father died trying to reclaim his fortune and left them to eke out a living in a village far from their home in the city.

    But when Bryony is caught in a snowstorm and takes refuge in an abandoned manor, she stumbles into a house full of dark enchantments. Is the Beast that lives there her captor or a fellow prisoner? Is the house her enemy or her ally? And why are roses blooming out of season in the courtyard?

    Armed only with gardening shears and her wits, Bryony must untangle the secrets of the house before she-or the Beast-are swallowed by them.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateOct 13, 2015
    ISBN9781494586607
    Author

    T. Kingfisher

    T. Kingfisher, also known as Ursula Vernon, is the author and illustrator of many projects, including the webcomic “Digger,” which won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story and the Mythopoeic Award. Her novelette “The Tomato Thief” won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette, and her short story “Jackalope Wives” won the Nebula Award for Best Story. She is also the author of the bestselling Dragonbreath, and the Hamster Princess series of books for children. Find her online at RedWombatStudio.com.

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    Reviews for Bryony and Roses

    4.5/5

    346 ratings13 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Wonderful spin on an old story. What makes her work enjoyable for me are the protagonists. They make me laugh and are genuinely likable.
    • 5/5
      This is SO much of a better story than Disney's Beauty and the Beast! This one is going on my list of must read!!
    • 4/5
      Brilliant audio narration. I have yet to dislike a T. Kingfisher narrative. Her characters are realistic and sincere. I love this retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      To say this is a beauty and the beast retelling is just the tip of the iceberg— another wonderful reimagining of story by Ursula Vernon. I cannot express my delight in the gardener centered point of view, which often overwhelms the story in all the best ways. Love it.
    • 5/5
      There are so many versions of Beauty and the Beast, but few of them have the charm that this one does - or the complex twists and turns in the story. I loved that the plants in Bryony's garden actually were her friends and protected her where they could, and I loved that I wasn't entirely sure through most of the story who the green eyed man was. And I rather liked the ending. No spoilers though - read the book. :)
    • 5/5
      There are so many versions of Beauty and the Beast, but few of them have the charm that this one does - or the complex twists and turns in the story. I loved that the plants in Bryony's garden actually were her friends and protected her where they could, and I loved that I wasn't entirely sure through most of the story who the green eyed man was. And I rather liked the ending. No spoilers though - read the book. :)
    • 3/5
      I have read A LOT of beauty and the beast retellings, and because of that this was middle of the road for me as I’ve read some stellar ones.

      I love kingfishers writing. And there was a different enough spin on this to keep me engaged.
      Bryony was a good main character (although I preferred her sister Holly) and the beast was ok, a little dull tbh. The house was the most interesting character.

      The pacing was good.

      But overall it was just ok. Some bits felt cheesy or farcical. There’s parts I wish were developed or delved into more (ie the rose). I enjoyed it but wanted more from it.
    • 4/5
      A "Beauty and the Beast" retelling. I enjoyed this, though I did have a bit of a feeling of "when is it gonna start doing something?" for the first half or so. Eventually I was mostly content with the "doing something" bit, but my overall impression was still that it was a bit slow. I did, however, really enjoy Bryony as a character, and on the strength of that and the really enjoyable sentence-level writing, I'll be checking out more by Kingfisher.
    • 5/5
      Oh, wow. I love Robin McKinley's Beauty, and like her Rose Daughter - the author here explicitly mentions that Rose Daughter played a big part in triggering this story for her. It is _not_ the same story (any more than Beauty and Rose Daughter are - all three retell Beauty and the Beast, each is quite distinct in story and style). But I think that this will join those two in the "read over and over" category. Bryony is great; I like the Beast a lot; nice angles on the story; and Ursula Vernon/T. Kingfisher's usual slightly twisted view of things is the cherry on top. There's some very deep thinking here, about power and expectations and letting oneself get set in one way of thinking; there's also some seriously funny scenes (which are sometimes the same ones with the deep thought involved). Love it.
    • 5/5
      On her way home from a visit to the next town, Bryony is caught in a sudden spring blizzard. Sure that she will die in the storm, she is surprised to come upon an enormous manor house. She meets no occupant there, though food and fire and comforts are provided for her. When she starts to leave the next morning, the rose from her breakfast table tucked into her saddle bag, an enormous beast stops her at the door, demanding her future as forfeit for the theft of the rose. In one week, Bryony must return — and stay forever.I do love Beauty and the Beast retellings, and this is a very good one. It has a great deal in common with Robin McKinley’s Rose Daughter, so if you enjoyed that one, you’ll probably like this one, too. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Justine Eyre, whose talent is imminently suited for this sort of work. Fans of fairy tale retellings should certainly take note.
    • 5/5
      This is a new adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, and it's an excellent one.

      Bryony and her sisters, Holly and Iris, grew up as the daughters of a wealthy merchant--the wealthiest merchant in the land, he made sure everyone knew. After the death of their mother, though, their father grew more and more reckless in his investments, wand finally, when Bryony was fourteen, lost everything. Now the girls are living in a little cottage none of his creditors wanted, in the out-of-the-way village of Lostfarthing. Their father has died, taking one last risk that didn't pay off.

      It's been three years, and the girls are eking out a living. Bryony has become a skilled and dedicated gardener. This dedication leads her to visit a neighboring village to get seeds from some particularly hardy rutabagas, and on the way home she is caught in a dangerous snowstorm. When she finds a manor house that shouldn't be there, she has little choice. Despite a rational fear of magic, she and her pony will die if she doesn't take refuge there. She doesn't meet the Beast until the net morning, when she attempts to leave with the beautiful, perfect rose that was on the table for her meals there.

      We all know the basic story. Kingfisher plays with the complexities of it, giving us no only a smart, tough "beauty" and an alarming yet likable Beast, but a truly terrifying villain, and a kindly if sometimes prickly House. Even the relatively minor character of eldest sister Holly has depth and interest, and Iris, even though much less seen and heard from, has some texture and richness.

      This is a really lovely rendition of an old favorite, well worth your time to either read or listen to. Recommended.

      I bought this book.
    • 4/5
      An enjoyable retelling of Beauty and the Beast, substantially darker in some ways (especially with respect to the original Beauty) and lighter in others. Bryony is a gardener from a now-impoverished family; on her way back from getting some rutabagas, she encounters a manor where no manor should be. The manor is itself a character, with a different agenda than the Beast’s. I liked the changes that were worked on the basic story, including Bryony’s earthily realistic terror.
    • 4/5
      This is a delightful retelling of Beauty and the Beast.I was impressed that it did some different things with the original story without undermining the romance. I think that bringing new things to the table with this fairytale sometimes just takes too much time and focus away from the heart of the story, and that impacts how convincing and positive the eventual romance is.That’s not the case here. Quite the opposite.I loved the dynamic between Bryony and the Beast.I was also impressed with the way Bryony and Roses is partly inspired by, and a response to, Robin McKinley's Rose Daughter, and yet it is clearly its own story. (It reminded me of a cross between Rose Daughter and another fantasy novel book about roses that I quite like and would mention by name if the connection didn't feel so spoilery.)Bryony is a gardener, but she's particular sort of gardener, with a different relationship to roses. She is also, even though she lives in a pre-industrial kingdom, much more modern in her manner of speech and attitudes. I saw some reviews complaining about this, but I really liked it - this isn't trying to be historical fantasy so why not do something like that, something different? “I did bring seeds,” she admitted. “But some of these plants are my friends. I wasn’t going to just leave them.” She ruffled her fingers through the lavender.“Oh good,” said the Beast dryly. “Here I was afraid that I had kidnapped a sane person by mistake.”