Beauty's Kingdom: A Novel

Written by A. N. Roquelaure and Anne Rice

Narrated by Paul Boehmer, Cassandra Campbell, Danny Campbell and 3 more

The erotic Sleeping Beauty trilogy now continues with a fourth novel by master storyteller and bestselling author of Prince Lestat, Anne Rice, writing as A. N. Roquelaure
 
Mega-bestselling author Annie Rice returns to where she left off in Beauty’s Release with the disappearance of Queen Eleanor in Bellavalten. Now, twenty years after they were forced to leave the kingdom to return to their homeland, Beauty and her husband Laurent agree to travel back as its king and queen, to uphold the ways of complete sensual surrender, with a twist: they now insist on voluntary servitude in Bellavalten.
 
Countless eager princes, princesses, lords, ladies, and common folk journey to Beauty’s new kingdom where she and her husband awaken their domain, ushering in a new era of desire, longing, and sexual ecstasy. Provocative and stirring, Rice’s imaginative retelling of the Sleeping Beauty myth will be hailed by her longtime fans and new readers of erotica just discovering the novels. This book is intended for mature audiences.


Read by Paul Boehmer, Cassandra Campbell, Danny Campbell, Sophie Eastlake, Dominic Hoffman and John Lee.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Audio
• Release date: Apr 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9780698410190

Reviews for Beauty's Kingdom

[Kristin Crewe · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

If you were a fan of the original trilogy please do not waste your time reading this. I kept hoping for her to give us the same kind of fire the original story gives but it just never happened. The story just seemed to drag on and on and be pretty boring, which was so very disappointing because I was really excited when I heard that she had written another book. Not to mention we got it all thrown into a more politically correct lens with things about consent and even a dash of trans drama thrown in.Yes consent is an important thing in real life but this was a fantasy story dang it. Even the trans bits I thought were handled kinda in an off way because I'm sorry I can't imagine in a kingdom that sex slaves are a thing that cross dressing or 2 spirited people had never been found till now and when they were it was something disgraceful ((old queen banishing people)) or to be hidden the whole point of the kingdom was celebrating sex and bdsm type things. Or the fact that **gasp** you could be a switch and love both dominating and being dominating. I have to go reread the original trilogy now to wash this from my brain hensforth if asked there never was a 4th book in my opinion.

[orionpozo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Anne Rice has written a fourth volume to the Sleeping Beauty Trilogy she wrote in 1983 under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty's Punishment, and Beauty's Release now have a companion volume called Beauty's Kingdom. The original trilogy was an erotic retelling of the Sleeping Beauty legend in which the prince who awakens Beauty after her 100 years of sleep takes her away from her familial home to live in sexual servitude in his mother's kingdom, a land where the children of the neighboring kingdoms are taken to serve and please the nobles of the court.

It has been thirty years between the publication of the final volume of the trilogy and the release of this fourth installment, but in Beauty's world a little over 20 years have gone by. She and her husband Laurent have retired and passed on their kingdom to their son. The old queen and her son have died while on an ocean voyage, and messengers visit Laurent and Beauty to ask if they would be willing to rule her mysterious land of erotic servitude. They agree to become the rulers of what is to become known as Beauty's Kingdom with the stipulation that from now on all erotic servitude be voluntary and no longer restricted to the nobility.

The book is in eighteen chapters, each told from a different person's perspective. Beauty is the narrator of five chapters, her husband King Laurent of two. Lady Eva, who was in charge in the queen's absence has four chapters. The story progresses slowly and without the brutality of the forced servitude of the original trilogy. Yet Anne Rice shows she still can write convincingly and beautifully on this subject. Some of the fans of the original volumes are disappointed, which can be expected. This is not volume four of the trilogy. It is a look back at the story by a more mature author and brings her readers for a new look at the setting with a different perspective. No longer is Beauty the passive yet erotically aroused submissive. She is now the queen and it is her vision that will bring the kingdom back to life and give it new meaning. Yet she is not a dominatrix like the old queen, and it is this difference that gives this new volume a life of its own.

[schlyne · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Anne rice goes back and actually address consent in this one, taking the books in a better context, and out of the whole sleeping beauty rape. (Also, if you are going to get up in arms about the whole sleeping beauty rape thing, look up the original sleeping beauty fairytale. Rape is involved.)