Book Review: Nocturne by Alyssa Wees
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating: 2 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Del Rey (February 21, 2023)
Length: 240 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Nocturne by Alyssa Wees weaves a compelling story and it’s quite imaginative for a retelling. That’s why it pains to say I found it quite disappointing.
In this strange and very different reimagining of the Beauty & The Beast fairy tale, we follow a promising young ballerina in 1930s Chicago who suddenly finds herself standing at the crossroads of fate when her talent attracts the attention of a wealthy patron. Growing up in hard times following the Great War, Grace Dragotta only had one dream: to dance for the Near North Ballet Company and become their prima ballerina. After losing her family, the ballet becomes her life, and through hard work and dedication she finally achieves her goal.
But as it turns out, things aren’t that simple. Grace finds out that her new coveted position comes with strings. It turns out that Master LaRosa, a enigmatic prince and philanthropist of the arts had arranged for her to become prima ballerina after making a hefty donation to the company. As part of the arrangement, Grace must also travel to LaRosa’s estate and live with him there, but for what purpose, she has no idea. All she knows is that her new master’s mansion is as otherworldly and mysterious as the man, and that she must unlock its secrets in order to discover her purpose.
While I really don’t want to knock Nocturne too hard because in truth the story is quite creative, admittedly this book can also be a little confusing. The beginning is the most straightforward and easiest part to understand, but unfortunately it is also the slowest. With a mother who wasted away from illness and a brother who was gunned down in the streets, Grace has a backstory that is both tragic and traumatic, but it also takes forever to unfold.
By the time she makes prima ballerina and is whisked away to some rich prince’s palace, the pacing starts to pick up, but this is also when things start to get weird. Once Master LaRosa’s true nature is revealed (and It’s honestly quite predictable), we next start down this endless winding path of him telling Grace what to do—what to eat, how to dress, when she can leave the house and only to go where he wants her to go. He’s a “Beast”, that’s clear enough, but then he also shows her his creepy portal which is a gateway to the realm of death and asks her to marry him, making it clear he will not stop until he gets the answer he seeks. For Grace, the situation is complicated, and not only because he is her patron. In spite of herself, she finds herself drawn to the master and his proposal because of the power only he can give her, even knowing that accepting it will cost her everything. Only her love of life and dancing prevents her from saying yes.
But issues surrounding this whole disturbing scenario aside, deep down I know the author is only trying to mirror the original source material. Truth be told, what I actually struggled with the most was the writing style, which was purple to the extreme—one of the worst examples of overly flowery and convoluted prose I’ve ever seen. Wees seemed more interested in showcasing her ability to come up with fancy metaphors and use a thesaurus than anything else. It became almost unbearable to the point where it took a lot away from my enjoyment and any interest to follow the plot or connect with the characters, when so much of the text is just insubstantial fluff. It’s hard to relate to or sympathize with Grace and her troubles when it’s all being overshadowed by the over-the-top prose.
Ultimately, I can’t say I would recommend Nocturne. It’s a unique take on a fairy tale classic for sure, but the execution was somewhat marred by the flowery writing style which negatively impacted my ability to engage with the story and characters. I wanted to like this book so much, but it just wasn’t for me.
The BiblioSanctum 
That’s a bummer. I became intrigued with this one when I saw it’s pretty cover and that it was a retelling of The Beauty & the Beast had me more intrigued! But then I read reviews that all complained of the flowery prose and it pretty much scared me off. Lol. It’s nice every once in awhile but not as a whole storytelling point. Sorry to hear it was a disappointing read. Nice honest review though!
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Yeah it seems like I wasn’t the only one who was bothered by the purple prose! It really is blatant overwriting, I just couldn’t ignore it sadly!
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If the writing style doesn’t work, it can ruin a story. It’s happened to me too.
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Yes, it was very distracting!
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Great review, Mogsy. And I applaud you for wading through the whole book – it would have been a DNF from me pretty smartly. I trudged through far too many literary reads where style trumped substance when I was a young woman to have any patience for that sort of nonsense, these days:)).
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Except the more I pushed myself to finish the book, I’m afraid the more disgruntled I felt, lol. 😛
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That is always a problem when you’re reading something you don’t like:)). I’m still filled with admiration!
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Aww, that’s pretty disappointing.
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Wish it had been better 😦
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Well shoot. I had this at top of my tbr too! I guess life just isn’t worth living anymore.
😉
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I know, I’m sure your soul is crushed with the disappointment 😛
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You must have had a good week to be replying to all these comments. My phones been buzzing all evening!
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I just realized how behind I was in answering comments…I’m really bad at that!
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The synopsis sounds amazing. I hate that it didn’t work out for you. That’s always the worst when the synopsis is promising but the story is lackluster.
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So true! And a shame too when the writing style is too distracting.
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I just want to say “ouch”!
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Yeah, it was a bit painful 😛
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Hmmmm… That’s too bad. I don’t mind a little purple prose mixed in here and there but it can get very old very fast when overly done. Sorry to hear that was the case with this one.
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Me neither, I can overlook a bit of purple prose but it was relentless here.
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Slow and then also confusing? Yeah, I tend to give up really quickly
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Thankfully it was short enough that I was able to push through and finished reading quite quickly.
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Purple prose…. Enough said! And thanks for the warning… 😉
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I’m usually pretty good with just overlooking purple prose, but when it’s hard to when it’s extreme like in this case.
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Well, I’m glad I resisted the pretty cover and didn’t request this one!
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You dodged a bullet there!
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That’s disappointing. An interesting premise, for sure, but the writing being too flowery would irritate me too…
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Yeah, it’s a shame when one aspect is weaker than the rest!
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