Uptown Oracle Reads… Ensnared

Ensnared
Rita Stradling

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A Near Future Retelling of Beauty and the Beast

Alainn’s father is not a bad man. He’s a genius and an inventor. When he’s hired to create the robot Rose, Alainn knows taking the money is a mistake.

Rose acts like a human. She looks exactly like Alainn. But, something in her comes out wrong.

To save her father from a five year prison sentence, Alainn takes Rose’s place. She says goodbye to the sun and goes to live in a tower no human is allowed to enter. She becomes the prisoner of a man no human is allowed to see.

Believing that a life of servitude lies ahead, Alainn finds a very different fate awaits her in the company of the strange, scarred recluse.

With the new Beauty and the Beast film coming out I thought that a re-telling of the original would be a good read. Ensnared is about Alainn, who lives in a futuristic world where AI and robotics are the everyday norm and she ends up being stuck in a house like the original tale. The world was far in the future but still pre-dystopian which I thought was different to a lot of the books I’ve been reading recently. .

I mostly loved the futuristic feel due to exploration of AI, and the sentience of non-humans. There’s clear complications of AI and even the mention of the legality of them as people themselves. It’s so relevant in a world where we’re building robots and AI which are slipping into our everyday lives.

Although a retelling, I wasn’t fully sure where the book was heading so I was pulled in from the start. It does follow the overal story and tropes quite well though, so depending on what you’re looking for from a retelling this may be good or bad. The changes do advance the story however, and it’s questioned about the morals behind what’s happening.

Alainn as a character flourished when opposite her family, their dynamics were so interesting to watch. I epseically loved the relationship between Alainn and Rose, as it was a gripping story arc between them. Rose was uncontrollable and therefore insanely creepy in her scenes. With Rose, I really did wonder if it was going to keep the Disneyfied happy ending.

Whilst this is a retelling and romance is a big part of the Beauty and the Beast story, I didn’t really get on with this books’ romance. One half of the couple has never really met another person (properly) and falls for the other pretty quickly, but there’s also a few other aspects that felt like red flags too.

My other issue is that Alainn is pretending to be a robot, and the romance is when they still think they’re a robot. Many other stories have brought up valid points about robots, and how humans will treat them like sex dolls, or objects and most importantly something to be owned. Ensnared doesn’t really discuss the complexities OR the differences for how humans treat non-human objects which is unfortunate.

Another issue I had was the lack of world building. We know its in the future where there’s robots and AI. We also know people still go skiing and drive themselves even though there’s automated cars. However, the story is confined to the tower or Alainn’s house and so we dont really see much of the world. I would’ve enjoyed some more exploration and expansion on this world.

Positives of Ensnared

• Family Dynamics

Negatives of Ensnared

• Lack of world building
• Problematic romance themes

I received Ensnared by Rita Stradling from the author. This is an unbiased and honest review.

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