Beautiful Creatures
- ISBN13: 9780316042673
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product DescriptionThere 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 gir. . . More >>
Tags: Beautiful, Beautiful Creatures, Creatures, Curse, Dreams, Epicenter, Gatlin, Generations, Gir, Graveyards, Lena, Murky Swamps, No Surprises, Remainder Mark, Wate
Posted on December 18th, 2009 at 12:58 am
I can’t help but agree with the previous reviewer, S. Power, who summed it up thusly: “It’s really long. ”
I’ll take it further:
It’s *really* long, drawn out, and I found it to be more superficial than anything.
The story is written in the first person, which I am about sick of seeing (it seems a book doesn’t qualify as a paranormal without it being in the first person anymore). . . but the problem falls in that in order for a book to be a success as a first person story, the voice must be strong and compelling, and Ethan’s voice is neither.
Most of the 600 + pages are nothing but build up after build up. . . but without the sense of that build *going* anywhere. By the time the book comes to its idea of a climactic conclusion, I was hard-pressed to care anymore. The characters had been too 2-dimensional for me throughout the story. And the culmination of the entire plot of the story? Are you *kidding* me? I think I’m *still* waiting for it!
Lastly. . . The title? What’s the deal with the title? I don’t see how it applies to anything in the story. Most times, there’s *some* kind of connection, even if a vague one, between the title and the story. Frankly, I felt the title more interesting than the book.
Pass on this one, folks, unless you’re stuck at an airport between flights, and there’s a looooooong layover, that happens to time perfectly with the end of the book because you’ll be so glad to finally get on the plane that the anticlimactic ending won’t annoy you.
2:3 stars.
Rating: 2 / 5
Posted on December 18th, 2009 at 3:56 am
Beautiful creatures is a book about a boy living in a small town who is enthralled by a new girl who moves to town and then spooky things start to happen which link them.
Sound famillar?
This book is close to six hundred and fifty pages long and it feels like it’s that long. One hundred and fifty pages into the book and there still isn’t a plot that makes me want to pick the book up. The action happens slowly and isn’t compelling, that paired with a book that’s over six hundred pages makes for a bad combination.
I’d skip this one and read somthing that’s more enthralling.
Rating: 2 / 5
Posted on December 18th, 2009 at 3:57 am
A boy meets girl, girl has mystical powers, everyone in the backwards little Southern town hates her because she’s different story. The book has a bit of a spooky feel that might be a little much for younger readers though it never gets gory or TOO scary. This wouldn’t be a bad introduction to the supernatural/horror writing genre for younger readers.
While not a bad book it feels a little too. . . sanitized. The cruelty of cheerleaders and debutantes (and their parents) towards an ‘outsider’ just didn’t seem all that cruel. Most of it’s laughable grammar school name calling and shunning. There’s one fight between jocks, it’s a push, a shove, someone falls. . . and then it’s over. Nobody acts out, sasses or talks back to their parents or teachers. No one even swears. They just don’t feel like real teenagers.
The writing is decent the characters are well developed and fairly well rounded though towards the end they seem to get a little stupid just to fit into the plot. Not exceptional but worth reading.
Rating: 3 / 5
Posted on December 18th, 2009 at 4:56 am
I was so incredibly excited to read this book. It seemed to be everything I enjoy – YA, paranormal and long enough to last more than a night.
Unfortunately, it was too long. And the story dragged on. And on and on and on, with nothing happening. I eventually had to start skimming ahead to get to something good.
There is an amazing, and and suspensful story hidden among the depths of beautiful prose. I wish the book had focused more tightly on the plot and the pacing.
I’m going to quote one of the other reviewers who hit on one of my pet peeves. They worded it so perfectly:
“I initially liked that this story was told from the point of view (except for an awkward section at the end) of a teenage boy. However, the number of times I was absolutely clear the narrator WAS a teenage boy were few. . . The voice in this book was so feminized and adult it was hard for me to remember the person doing the narrating should be a spotty, horny, bored, awkwardly bright kid, rather than the slickly defined construct of what a teen girl hopes a teenage boy would be. ”
I love YA books from the male perspective. But immediately upon reading Beautiful Creatures, I was aware that this was a male character written by an adult female. It felt off. And it really did feel like the viewpoint of what girls *hope* a teenage boy would be like, without actually being like a teenage boy. I work with teenagers, and there are some great young men out there. But they are still boys. Their thought process is different. Their perspective is different. This book could have easily switched Ethan and Lena’s roles without changing anything other than the pronouns.
Overall, the book move way too slowly to hold my interest and even the good parts sprinkled throughout weren’t enough to redeem the endless pages where nothing happened.
Rating: 2 / 5
Posted on December 18th, 2009 at 6:59 am
I came across Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl on the Amazon Editor’s Picks of the top 100 books of 2009. . . with what appeared to be an intriguing plot and a gorgeous book cover, I thought I couldn’t go wrong.
I was wrong. This young adult book is about a small town and a teenage boy, Ethan, who is stuck in it. The town is pretty stereotypical–nothing changes, people are narrow minded and everyone knows everyone else’s business.
It seems that ever since his mom’s death, Ethan’s dreams are filled with a strange girl whom he is trying to save but is unsuccessful. In comes Lena, the girl whom Ethan has been dreaming about and who is a supernatural being, along with her hermit uncle and bizarre family.
During the Civil War, a curse was cast, which will directly affect Lena on her sixteenth birthday. The countdown begins as Ethan and Lena together try to save Lena’s future. Does Ethan save Lena? I won’t divulge the end, but I will say that all of the effort is fruitless (not necessarily the outcome, mind you, but the effort, like the continual skipping of school to research a book that they think will have the answers they need to reverse the curse. Not the best example for our young adult audience).
Even with curses, sci-fi details and an introduction to the vocabulary of the supernatural (Caster, Natural, Witches, Spells. . . ), the book is full of fluff and is a complete disappointment. This book doesn’t even compare to the Twilight series.
Lesson learned; don’t judge a book by its cover.
Feel free to comment on this review, your thoughts on the book or suggest a book for me to review on my blog: [. . . ].
Rating: 1 / 5