Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Pages: 563
Published: December 1, 2009
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Goodreads Summary:
"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."
Review:
While I realize that many people loved this book an incredible lot, let me just start off by saying, sadly, that Beautiful Creatures was just not for me. I heard so many great and amazing things about it, and I had high expectations for it. Alas, it was far from my expectations for it.
Don't get me wrong, like I said before other people have enjoyed it with all their heart, it just wasn't my cup of tea. However, Kami & Margaret work astoundingly together; the writing is fantastic. If not for the plot and characters, I'm sure I would have enjoyed the book!
Onto the characters of the book: Ethan Wate. Now I'm not sure how much I liked the fact that the whole story was told from Ethan's point of view, but I couldn't get used to hearing a guy talk. I think it would have been a lot better if they switched back and forth from his and Lena's point of view. But Ethan was a very strong, brave character to me, and he didn't care what anyone thought about his friendship with Lena. Lena. Ohhh Lena Duchannes. She was the character I didn't like. I'm sure Kami & Margaret did such an incredible job of describing Ethan's peers hating on her, which got me hating on Lena. But she just wasn't the lovable female protagonist for me. Which basically, if the female protagonist isn't lovable, I can't really enjoy the rest of the book. Their love connection also was very weak. Maybe it wasn't the main part of the book, but the sections with intimate moments was just not enough.
Beautiful Creatures covers much information about history, the Civil War, and actually, yes, many aspects of To Kill A Mockingbird. I loved To Kill A Mockingbird, and I love how Kami & Margaret brought it and weaved it into their own story. That's one thing that I liked. The whole Casters concept was strange to me as well, why didn't they just stick with witches?
All in all, Beautiful Creatures was not for me. I will not continue reading the rest of the Caster Chronicles Series.
Too bad you didn't like this book! Personally I loved it so much and I can't wait to read Beautiful Chaos ("18 lunes" in french because I live in France lol). Different strokes for different folks, I guess :)
ReplyDeleteI tried starting this book, but yes couldn't get into it, hopefully when I pick it back up it'll be good, great review(:
ReplyDeleteI couldn't even finished it! But I try so hard! I was like: I gonna love it so how... But maybe as haleyeliseread said if I pick it back later... Cause I hate not finishing a book! Luv the blog BTW :)
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