The Everlasting Rose: 06/24/19

The Everlasting Rose by Dhonielle Clayton is the sequel The Belles (2018). Camille and Edel and guard Remy are on the run while there is mayhem in the castle now that Sophia is trying to claim the throne but Charlotte, the rightful heir is gathering her forces from a secret location.

Whereas the first book was all about the pageantry of Orlean's beauty based society and the honored position a belle holds, this second offering is the darker side of the queendom. Beauty comes with an extreme price. It seems as steady as a late in life pyramid scheme.

There is also the nature of the belles themselves. It's not a natural one. It might be a supernatural one. It might be a scientific one that has been dressed up in a supernatural story that has been further romanticized to fit the over all beauty paradigm.

In terms of the road narrative spectrum, the The Everlasting Rose is a move in the fantasy genre towards the border with horror. In The Belles, the travelers collectively were the newly graduated belles who saw themselves as sisters. As the truth of their heritage becomes more apparent, Camille begins to see herself and her "sisters" in a different light. She wants to be a protector of the queendom. She also wants to free her sisters who are being held prisoner by Sophie's guards. This set up a new dichotomy of traveler: the scarecrow (Camille and Edel) and the minotaur (the other belles).

Otherwise, the second book maintains the narrative set up of the previous. There is still a journey to the capital city by an offroad manner.

Five stars

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