Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles, #1)
Synopsis (From Goodreads):
There were no surprises in GatlinCounty.
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.


My Review:

This book is great, though a little slow for most of it. It wasn't dreadfully dull, but it was no thriller - great for when you don't have a huge list of books to be read and you're bored. Don't get me wrong with all this talk of how slow it was, I really did enjoy it and think that these two authors have a bright career ahead of them in writing, I just couldn't get into it for a little while.

The end, however, was really exciting, but I was a little disappointed by the ending. It wasn't exactly a cliff hanger, but it did make me shout "WHAT?!" in the middle of my class ... :) , so it caused a bit of a reaction from me and earned my disapproval ;) .

Its written from a male's perspective which I thought was a nice change from all of the other teen books out there, maybe this will be a hit with guys as well as girls .... I found the characters to be realistic, though they seemed to leave most of the physical appearance to the reader's imagination.

The setting is in Gatlin, a small town in the middle of nowhere. Nothing really changes there and everything is predictable and boring. Ethan Wate (the main character) is desperate to leave the town that seems as if its suffocating him, until Lena Duchanes, Old man Ravenwood's niece, moves to town and throws him into a different Gatlin (not literally), a Gatlin where there are magical beings and creepy books that burn mortals when they try to touch them and cursed lockets that transport you to a different time through visions. Suddenly Gatlin doesn't seem so boring and predictable.

Basically, its an awesome book and i love it, but it can be a little slow at times. I really enjoyed the magical vibe it gave off and the thought that there are Casters and other magic creatures out there just waiting to be discovered. I'm not sure if I'll read it again though. The male perspective was nice, but at times reaching (he seemed more feminine than a guy's brain should be, but I wouldn't really know since I've never been in a guy's head). I liked the characters and how they brought out my emotions (I got P.O.ed at Emily and Mrs. Lincoln ;) and sad at the end when ... stuff happened), they seemed pretty real to me. It was a good story, I enjoyed reading it and I recommend that you read it too. :)

My Rating of This Book:

Profanity: Mild (like, one swear word, if that)
Sexuality: Mild (Some kissing)
Drugs and Alcohol: None
Violence: Mild