The Belles, by Dhonielle Clayton

[rachelmanija]

In the city of Orleans, everyone is born gray-skinned, red-eyed, and wrinkly, except for a handful of girls known as Belles. Through a combination of magical or advanced-tech tools and magic or mutant powers, the Belles have the ability to mold the gray people into beauties of any kind, though their work must be re-done on a monthly basis and is very painful.

Unsurprisingly, this creates a beauty-obsessed society and high demand for Belle services. One Belle is appointed the favorite, to serve at court; others are sent to teahouses. But what happens to the old Belles? And if you can make people beautiful, you can do other things to them as well…

The worldbuilding is very vivid. Is this a plausible-to-reality world that has the economics worked out? No. Is this a compelling vision of world that makes sense in its own fever-dream terms? Yes. Teacup pets like kitten-size lions and bears are popular, messages are sent by color-coded balloons, and fairy-tale motifs abound. In terms of atmosphere more than prose style, it’s much more reminiscent of Tanith Lee than of its more obvious inspiration, Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies. I love setups in which it might be magic or might be advanced tech or might be both, and The Belles is all-in with that. Beauty standards are not white-centric, which is nice.

As far as I was concerned, the heroine and her specific story were just a window into the world, and I enjoyed the book on that basis. I have a fondness for this sort of candy-colored decadence. There’s an obligatory heterosexual love triangle but it’s perfunctory, which on the plus side means it doesn’t take up much space. Most of the relationships are between women and girls.

I suspect that this story could have been told as easily and well in one book as the two or more it will actually be, but I’m there for the sequel nonetheless. Bring on the teacup dragons!

Content notes: sexual assault, description of animal cruelty, mild-to-moderate body horror, death of a lesbian character (other lesbian or bi women survive), tabloid headline about a trans person transitioning via Belle that wasn’t negative about it but some readers were offended by how it was phrased.

Plot speculation: The Belles seem to be lab-created clones, so either they’re all clones of the original mutants or else the Belle abilities can be engineered in. This, plus the lack of Belles now as opposed to previously, suggests that either something is going wrong with the process or someone is deliberately rationing them.

That makes me wonder if the grayness is also deliberate. Is some shadowy cabal engineering society this way for profit or power?

The mamans all die right before their “daughters” are presented, so either they have a deliberate expiration date or are killed (most likely), or the Belles inherently don’t live long. I assume the Belles that don’t become mamans are all disfigured. Maybe if the mamans were allowed to live longer, they too would become disfigured?

I think the short lifespans of the Belles, whether by murder or expiration date, is deliberate and done so that the Belles will be a rare and prized commodity, and the people who control them will have power.



Spot the fairy tale reference! We have the magic mirror from Snow White, the sleeping princess from Sleeping Beauty, and more that I forget now.

The Belles



And the sequel:

The Everlasting Rose (Belles, The Book 2)

Comments

[ambyr]

Oh, good, I was curious what you'd make of this one! I found the worldbuilding fascinating, though as you say it works best in fairytale terms.

[havocthecat]

I had heard a review that it was a Bury Your Gays kind of novel with regard to FF, so I've been leery of it, so-- Yes on that front? No? I would be very interested in your opinion on it before I gave the book a try.

[iamshadow]

The sequel is really really good. And there's a stub for a book three on Goodreads, so bring it on. I am 100% here for more.

[chomiji]

The write-ups on Big South American River et al. sounded like something I would hate, but on the strength of the discussion here, I have started it. She does have a very involving voice, doesn't she?