The Beast Is an Animal

This book has a dark fairytale feel to it, but maybe it's strongest parts are the horrors based in reality. A lot of the book is about how Alys sees herself and how others perceive her. In a time of witchhunts, religious pressure and fear of the unknown, she loses a lot and has to go through hardship and pain, being afraid of how much she is connected to the bad things happening. Especially the first half or 3/4 is really dark and depressing, but also really compelling because of it. I totally enjoyed the story, there were things near the end that didn't entirely work for me, but that was such a small part of an otherwise really good plot, and the ending itself was awesome. I didn't much care for the love interest. He was too perfect. Sure, Alys deserved that after the life she had before, but it just made him not that interesting, especially compared to the cast of really convincing and interesting characters inhabiting the book beside him. However, not that much of the novel was about him, so it's not a big problem. The other characters influencing Alys' life were much more multilayered and memorable. Her adoptive mother left the biggest impression on me. I wish there had been more scenes with the beast, I would have loved to learn more about him. All interactions between Alys and him, as well as with the sisters, had a great atmosphere. Even though there are familiar elements, this story feels like something special and I would totally recommend it.