Creeping beauty by Andrea Portes

Creeping Beauty presents a twist on the Sleeping Beauty fairytale. The main character Bitsy is 17 years old and a princess in a land where the expectation is that she will soon marry. Pricking her finger on a spindle, Bitsy enters another world.

This book introduces the reader to a host of unpleasant and fallible characters that lack depth and appear superficial. The context in which they live is not fully developed and the promise of a rich alternate reality is unfulfilled. While aspects of the content would sit better with a YA audience (including the description of extreme violence), the story lends itself to a much younger audience and this ultimately leaves the reader feeling dissatisfied.

The inclusion of the journal writing of the King (Bitsy’s father) provides the reader a window into the world Bitsy has left behind. The reader sees the King as leading the search for princes who will save the princess by waking Bitsy from her slumber.

It is difficult to connect with Bitsy as a main character. Her observations and impressions of the world she has entered are simplistic and do little to expand the understanding or experience of the reader. The use of language is uneven, with Bitsy using turns of phrase that jar and appear disconnected with the time and place.

A persistent theme in the book is the importance of the personal appearance (beauty, youth and clothing). The theme not only remains unchallenged but appears to be confirmed across the story. While Bitsy is not a passive princess, at times the reader feels discomfit with the degree to which Bitsy conforms to gender norms and needs to be saved from fates determined by male behaviour, both in her real life and the alternate reality she falls into.

What has been posited as a feminist take on the Sleeping Beauty fairytale falls short of the mark.

Themes: Good and evil, Relationships, Beauty, Multiverse.

Linda Guthrie