Rebel Rose

“Rebel Rose,” by Emma Theriault is the first book in a new Disney series called “The Queens Council.” It mixes some historical events with the fairytales that the Disney films are based off of. This novel takes place after the events of The Beauty and the Beast movie. Belle and Lio (in this book his name is not Adam) are on their honeymoon traveling the European continent. They make a pit stop in Paris. They know revolution is on the rise in France which will eventually overthrow King Louis and Queen Marie Antoinette. Belle reluctantly doesn’t want to become Queen in Aveyon which is a principality of France so she must decide to take the role or let her husband’s kingdom fall into ruin. Honestly it was a nice idea but it was executed poorly.

Pros

I like the idea. This new series has potential. Especially since book 2 is Mulan’s story and book 3 is Jasmine. We see LaFou again. I also could picture Versailles and really all of France during this turbulent period.

Cons

Unfortunately there were a lot of them. Orella the sorceress who cursed Lio into his beast form to bring Belle and Beast/Lio together felt very farfetched. In the movie it didn’t seem as though the sorceress knew of Belle to begin with. Also the bad guy in this story you could tell who it was right away. The story moved way too slowly. I also could not stand Belle in this book. How did she go from being brave and wanting adventure, to now just wanting to go back to the castle? She also doesn’t want to become a royal but Belle you did marry a prince. Didn’t you think that becoming a princess/queen would come with it?  Thank goodness by the end she became less annoying.

Overall

It was a nice idea but not executed well. Its ashame as this is the second Disney Beauty and the Beast book I didn’t like. The first one was The Twisted Tale, “Tale as Old as Time.” I will continue to read the series since different authors are writing the series. I can’t wait to read Mulan’s book, “Feather and Flame,” which comes out June 14^th 2022. Jasmine’s book most likely comes out next year.