It had been a year or so since I had read the first one, and after completing this installment I would strongly suggest, for continuity sake, that people do not allow that lapse of time. Recall that this is an updated erotic version of the sleeping beauty fairy tale. The Prince in this medieval version wakes Beauty from her 100-year sleep not with a kiss, but egalitarian relationship. Tristan provides no shocking revelations really, and the age-old struggle for dominance and power is left as the answer. Nicolas then professes his love as Tristan's heart soars, for he, Tristan needs the discipline to complete himself. This was a rather difficult read, I can't say I particularly enjoyed it, but it was interesting on other levels. As some other reviewers have noted the plot thins considerably and all we are left with are the power struggles acted out through sex. Thankfully, things picked up a bit, as noted, towards the end. For completeists sake I begin Beauty's final chapter, as she is kidnapped from the village and taken to the Eastern realms of a Sultan.

I agree with the reader who similarly made the error of starting in the middle. I've spoken to another who started at the beginning and with, so far, superior results. If you attempt to read this book before the first, you aren't really indoctrinated into the fantasy nature of the work, and hence try to interpret it in a real-world mindset. I kept wondering about the economics of feeding all these slaves - what on earth were the villagers getting out of it all, why didn't they just put the slaves to work in garment factories, blah blah blah --- completely missing the point. If you are going to read this book, do yourself the favour of reading the prequel first.