Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers, December 1, 2009
Pages: Hardcover, 563
Series: #1, Caster Chronicles
Book Synopsis (from Goodreads): Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.
Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.
In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.
Book Review
I know there are many readers who loved this book and will totally disagree with me, but I just couldn’t get into Beautiful Creatures. I really wanted to and as I was reading I waited for the moment when I would start enjoying it but I just felt like reading this book was a chore.
One of my biggest pet peeves with this book was that it’s so long and the action didn’t even pick up until I was at least two thirds through the book. There was a lot of back history on the town and that’s not the part that bored me. Rather, Ethan and Lena spent so many days doing absolutely nothing and instead of skipping that part and giving the meat of the story, I guess I was supposed to be excited about… nothing much.
Most of the townspeople and classmates like Savannah and Emily were too one dimensionally evil and I hate to say it, but I just didn’t care about Ethan and Lena, especially as a couple. It felt like they talked more to each other in their heads than in real life, so I actually didn’t feel a real connection between them. Like I said, I can’t quite explain it but I just couldn’t get into them.
When the ball finally started rolling towards the end, I was very indifferent to the whole thing. Was I surprised about the ending? I guess. Was it satisfying? No. The pieces just didn’t fit together like I thought they would and I never had the “aha!” moment.
The reason I finished the book is because of what I did like about Beautiful Creatures. Amma and Macon were my two favorite characters by far and completely reminded me of a pulpy South: a superstitious seer and a Southern gentleman. I actually thought they would make a nice couple, you know, if they didn’t disgust each other. Link, Ridley and the Sisters are also some of my favorites and they had very distinct and colorful voices. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl definitely gave the supporting characters a rich depth that I felt the main characters were lacking.
Overall, I was disappointed with this book because of the good things I had heard, but I pushed through regardless. The book was clearly well written but I think it could have been shorter so that it had more of a punch. I am only slightly tempted to read the second in the series, Beautiful Darkness, because I am a little curious about where the story could possibly go. Meh, we’ll see.