fantasy book reviews Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl Beautiful CreaturesBeautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

fantasy book reviews science fiction book reviewsHalfway through Beautiful Creatures, I remember thinking, “Hey, this is like The Witching Hour, but for teenagers!” The Witching Hour is probably my favorite Anne Rice book of all time, so this is high praise coming from me. It’s different, of course — Beautiful Creatures is much more PG-rated and unfolds at a faster pace — but both are big, meaty books featuring antebellum mansions, hidden witch families, curses generations in the making, and one pure love to stand against evil.

Ethan Wate seems like an ordinary teenage boy. Beneath the surface, though, he’s itching to escape his tiny hometown of Gatlin, with its closed minds and stagnation. (I loved the little detail about how Ethan was preordained a “smart kid” because of his parents being professors, and because of this, nobody really even bothers to read his papers before slapping a good grade on them. Ethan writes random things in his papers to see if the teachers will catch it, and they never do. I had a friend in high school who really did this!) In Gatlin, nothing ever happens, nothing ever changes. Until Lena Duchannes comes to town.

Lena is the first new girl Gatlin has seen in years, and her eccentric uncle and offbeat clothes make her an instant pariah. Yet, though his friends give him grief for it, Ethan is drawn to her. He’s sure she’s the girl who has been haunting him in the strange dreams he’s been having. Ethan and Lena strike up an unlikely friendship that leads to a lovely, gentle romance… and that’s when things really get ugly. Ethan and Lena don’t just face social ostracism. Their very lives could be in danger, as Lena is under a curse that will come to fruition on her sixteenth birthday.

There’s so much here that I want to praise. Beautiful Creatures is one of those books that feels rich, dense, satisfying. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl spin a complex plot filled with secrets and twists, and in which almost nothing is ever extraneous. The pace is just right, not so fast that it feels rushed, yet fast enough that Beautiful Creatures never feels bloated despite its length. The high school cattiness and drama, which are overdone in some YA novels, are handled perfectly here. The drama never just pads out the story. It always serves to advance the plot or develop a character, or both.

And speaking of characters, Garcia and Stohl have populated Gatlin with a host of unforgettable folks. There are so many I loved, I can’t list them all. Amma, the voodoo-wielding housekeeper. Macon Ravenwood, the town recluse and Lena’s uncle. Ethan’s widowed father, falling apart after his wife’s death. Ethan’s three crazy aunts. Lena’s cousin Ridley. The librarian (cutely named Marian), who is Ethan’s last link with his late mother. I could go on. Even the snooty high school kids feel fully drawn, and they’re interesting even when I don’t like them much.

The plot unravels a bit at the climax, spiraling into a complex series of twists and loopholes, sometimes leaving me wondering, “OK, what just happened here?” The story doesn’t end with Beautiful Creatures, and at novel’s end, I was left with more questions than answers. Thankfully, though, it’s not a cliffhanger per se. Several mysteries are left for later books, but I feel that Beautiful Creatures can stand alone if a reader doesn’t mind ambiguities and loose ends.

I recommend Beautiful Creatures to any teen or adult reader who enjoys a haunting, layered story of love, family, secrets, and magic both light and dark.

The Caster Chronicles — (2009-2014) Young adult. Publisher: There were no surprises in Gatlin County. We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere. At least, that’s what I thought. Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong. There was a curse. There was a girl. And in the end, there was a grave. 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.

Beautiful Creatures:

Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl The Caster Chronicles 1. Beautiful Creatures 2. Beautiful DarknessKami Garcia & Margaret Stohl The Caster Chronicles 1. Beautiful Creatures 2. Beautiful Darkness 3. Beautiful ChaosKami Garcia & Margaret Stohl The Caster Chronicles 1. Beautiful Creatures 2. Beautiful Darkness 3. Beautiful Chaosfantasy book reviews science fiction book reviewsfantasy book reviews science fiction book reviews

Dangerous Creatures:

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The Untold Story:

CLICK HERE FOR MORE STORIES BY KAMI GARCIA AND MARGARET STOHL.

Author

  • Kelly Lasiter

    KELLY LASITER, with us since July 2008, is a mild-mannered academic administrative assistant by day, but at night she rules over a private empire of tottering bookshelves. Kelly is most fond of fantasy set in a historical setting (a la Jo Graham) or in a setting that echoes a real historical period (a la George RR Martin and Jacqueline Carey). She also enjoys urban fantasy and its close cousin, paranormal romance, though she believes these subgenres’ recent burst in popularity has resulted in an excess of dreck. She is a sucker for pretty prose (she majored in English, after all) and mythological themes.