Review: The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy

For a long time, my best friend Elizabeth was more in touch with herself, sexually speaking, than I was. Don't get me wrong, its not that I was prude or anything. I just never took the time to fully understand and appreciate what it was about sexuality that interested me. I never thought that it was important to understand my fantasies, or even develop any for that matter. We liked to joke that the only reason she was more sexual than me was because she was kind of a slut. This, of course, was not true, but I was a bit embarrassed at my lack of sexual prowess, and she knew it, so she went along with the joke to make me feel better.

Then for Christmas one year she gave me one of the most touching gifts I have ever received; her personal copy of A.N. Roquelaure's "The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty." Inside the front cover was a hand-written inscription; "This book changed my life. I hope it means as much to you as it has to me."

Elizabeth had no doubt picked up the book after seeing that A.N. Roquelaure was the pen name of her then-favorite author, Anne Rice. The story goes that Rice, attempting to prove that female erotic writers could be just as successful as males, adopted the pseudonym because it was more ambiguous. The Sleeping Beauty Novels, of which "The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty" was the first, were a huge hit (in fact, they earned more than Rice's famous "Interview With a Vampire"), solidifying Rice's status in the world of classic erotic fiction.

"The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty," "Beauty's Punishment" and "Beauty's Release" make up the Sleeping Beauty Trilogy, a passionate bdsm series based very loosely on the story of Sleeping Beauty. The young princess Beauty is awakened after her 100-year slumber to serve as the sex slave to a handsome prince. The prince takes her to his kingdom where his mother, the Queen, rules over her and dozens of other princes and princesses who have been sent to the palace by their parents to learn obedience. After failing to become fully obedient in the first novel, she is sent to the village to be further trained in "Beauty's Punishment." When the village is ransacked at the end of the second novel, Beauty is sent to another far-off kingdom, where she serves as a slave before finally coming into her own in "Beauty's Release."

Beauty starts as a frightened, disobedient and privileged child and, by the third novel, grows into a strong, sexually-aware woman. Her transition is aided not just by the lords and ladies that serve as her cruel and loving masters, but also by the friendships that she makes with fellow slaves, particularly the Prince Alexi.

One of my favorite scenes in the first novel is one in which Beauty watches as Alexi is impaled on a statue for his disobedience. He is mounted anally on a phallus, his erect penis sticking out largely in front of him. Another phallus is placed in the statue's hand and inserted into Alexi's mouth. Beauty watches as Alexi is put into position. She aches to calm him by giving him an orgasm and taking away the semi-pain caused by his arousal, and she is about to go out and save him when another guard comes to relieve him. Beauty watches the male guard perform oral sex on Alexi, creating a tantalizing scene combining voyeurism, bdsm, bisexuality and masturbation. Such vivid scenes are a staple of the series.

All of the servants are kept in a constant state of arousal; the males always with erect penises, the women always wet and at the edge of climax. Rice uses this to create a steady underlying tension, so that even after orgasm is achieved by one character the reader still feels sexual pressure oozing off the pages.

Rice weaves a tale of love, hate, power and sex using tantalizingly vivid imagery. She holds nothing back, uses no subtleties, and is not afraid at the potential to offend. There are plenty of erotic scenes to go around, but she also pays close attention to character and plot development, a detail which is sometimes forgotten in erotic literature. For me, and for many readers, the back story can be just as important, if not more so, then the sex scenes themselves.

Rice also uses a technique in which some chapters are told from the point-of-view of another character. Though this can be confusing at times for those who are not used to such a literary device, I found it insightful to be able to read about things from another point of view. I thought this was particularly useful when comparing Beauty's growth as a new slave to Alexi's skill as an experienced servant.

The only down side of this series for me is that it seems a bit long at times. The first novel had no problem holding my interest, but I liked the second one less, and was not overly enthusiastic about the third book either. I understand that Rice probably felt as if she needed three books for Beauty to truly grow, however I lost a bit of the thrill after "The Claiming." I have to admit that, had I not read "The Claiming" first, I may not have developed the admiration for these novels that I have. That said, I was nevertheless moved by Beauty's transition, and even saw a bit of myself in her at times.

After I raved about "The Claiming," Elizabeth gave me her personal copies of "Beauty's Punishment" and "Beauty's Release" the following year for Christmas. This series opened a world to me that I had never known before. I felt instantly more in touch with my sexuality after finishing the first, and by the third I had developed an incredibly open-minded sexual spirit. I had never considered bdsm prior to reading the novel, and do not practice it now, but the novel did allow me to understand the intense eroticism behind it. I strongly recommend "The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty" to any reader who is interested in exploring a different side of themselves, or for anyone who loves a good bdsm read.