The Belles (Dhonielle Clayton)

Some context: when I was about 8 or 9, I would create lavishly illustrated stories about girls who wore "foofy" princess dresses (me and my younger sister's Term of Art for the kind of thing worn to the ball by Disney's Cinderella). Invariably there was a Mean Girl, almost always blonde, with maybe a couple of henchgirls. The star of these little costume dramas was sweet and brainy and less elaborately dressed, and always a brunette.

The Belles is pretty much the same story, only 100 times more lush and elaborate, with added torture and body horror.

In Camellia Beauregard's world, everyone is born red-eyed and grey-skinned. They would stay that way if it were not for the Belles, young women with the secret of Beauty. As far as Camellia knows, she and her sisters are the only Belles in existence: all six of them for everyone in the land of Orleans. Both the reader and Camellia should probably think about this a bit.

All the Belles want to be the royal Favorite. In the book's opening scenes, Camellia loses the competition for this coveted post to her sister Amber. They have an ugly little spat, and Camellia is sent off to a "teahouse" to minister to members of the public. She soon finds herself overworked and short on sleep, because nights at the teahouse are filled with unpleasant sounds, like sobbing. But before she can solve this mystery, she is surprised to be summoned back to the palace in place of Amber, who has been sent off in disgrace after badly messing up some of her beauty clients.

We soon meet our villain, Princess Sophia, who is the default heir because her sister is in a mysterious coma. By the time Camellia fully realizes what happened to Amber and why the true heir is in an everlasting slumber, a gay character has been tortured to death with beauty treatments. You have been warned.

Clayton has a compelling voice, and I kept turning those pages even as things got worse and worse, and despite some overly precious writing. Cute excessive hyphenation abounds: the Belles have their hair styled in "Belle-buns," which are often ornamented with "Belle-roses." People have tiny "teacup" animals as pets, ranging from monkeys to dragons. Everyone's coloring and other physical characteristics are compared to foods. Food itself is described in lavish detail, and 90% of it is sugary, from cakes to fruits. There is a passing mentioned of meat skewers with garlic, and I think someone eats a mouthful of salad at some point. The poor salad doesn't rate any additional description.

Camellia eventually starts to show some interest in using her powers for something other than beauty treatments, and I guess I'll have to read the sequel to find out how that goes. But my brain felt really sticky and sugar-comatose by the time I finished this.

This book is a finalist for the Lodestar Not-a-Hugo for Young Adult works. It is not my first choice.