Author: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Series: Caster Chronicles, #1
Blurb: 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
Ethan Wates and Lena Duchannes have never met, at least not in the real world. But they have seen each other in their dreams. When Lena moves to Gatlin, it's clear that their connection is far more than a coincidence. Lena is extremely closed off and very different from the people in town, but Ethan vows to uncover all the secrets surrounding Lena and her connection to him. And it's a lot more than he bargained for.
I love that Beautiful Creatures is unlike any witch story I've read. Of course I haven't read too many, but the stories I've read about witches are nothing like this. There is so much lore behind the Casters (which is what Lena and her family of witches are called). Nothing ever changes in the town of Gatlin. The citizens have lived in Gatlin their whole lives, living in the same houses their parents lived in, and their parents lived in the same houses that their parents lived in. Generation after generation. This include Lena's uncle Macon Ravenwood who is considered to be the town shut-in, or as everyone liked to refer to him: Gatlin's own Boo Radley. When Lena moves to town, the citizens of Gatlin are distraught. They don't like change and Lena is an outsider, meaning she doesn't belong. And because she's a little different, they pick on her even more. The book was steadily-paced in leading up to the reveal of the curse of the Duchannes family. I love the flashbacks of Lena's ancestors as she and Ethan work on discovering how her family was cursed and how to stop it. I love that we have Gatlin as it appears to be, but then there's the other side of Gatlin. The one that only few know about. The dark side of Gatlin. And if these people knew what was really going on, they would probably have a heart attack.
I had a hard time connecting with the story at times. I'm not entirely certain why that is, but I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that it was written in Ethan's POV and I'm so used to reading in a female point of view or at least switching back and forth between a male and female. I also felt that at times the story went a little too slow. I kept waiting for some big action which didn't happen until the very end of the book. Even though there were small bits of action every now and then throughout the book, I felt like the build-up to the main event we were waiting on took forever to get to, and then only partly happened. I also had trouble liking Lena. Some parts of her were likable but a lot of the time she was just annoying and a little self-centered. She had no control over her powers so when she got angry, things happened. She continuously rejected Ethan, over and over again, because she was afraid of going Dark. Even AFTER they discovered their connection with each other which just utterly confused me. And she often went against her uncles wishes about keeping her safe just to try to have a "normal" life, putting herself in danger more than once. She was acting like a spoiled little girl.
Overall, Beautiful Creatures was an enchanting read, full of interesting and powerful characters. If you love witchcraft, people with powers and a town full of secrets just waiting to be discovered, you definitely want to pick this one up.
I love that Beautiful Creatures is unlike any witch story I've read. Of course I haven't read too many, but the stories I've read about witches are nothing like this. There is so much lore behind the Casters (which is what Lena and her family of witches are called). Nothing ever changes in the town of Gatlin. The citizens have lived in Gatlin their whole lives, living in the same houses their parents lived in, and their parents lived in the same houses that their parents lived in. Generation after generation. This include Lena's uncle Macon Ravenwood who is considered to be the town shut-in, or as everyone liked to refer to him: Gatlin's own Boo Radley. When Lena moves to town, the citizens of Gatlin are distraught. They don't like change and Lena is an outsider, meaning she doesn't belong. And because she's a little different, they pick on her even more. The book was steadily-paced in leading up to the reveal of the curse of the Duchannes family. I love the flashbacks of Lena's ancestors as she and Ethan work on discovering how her family was cursed and how to stop it. I love that we have Gatlin as it appears to be, but then there's the other side of Gatlin. The one that only few know about. The dark side of Gatlin. And if these people knew what was really going on, they would probably have a heart attack.
I had a hard time connecting with the story at times. I'm not entirely certain why that is, but I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that it was written in Ethan's POV and I'm so used to reading in a female point of view or at least switching back and forth between a male and female. I also felt that at times the story went a little too slow. I kept waiting for some big action which didn't happen until the very end of the book. Even though there were small bits of action every now and then throughout the book, I felt like the build-up to the main event we were waiting on took forever to get to, and then only partly happened. I also had trouble liking Lena. Some parts of her were likable but a lot of the time she was just annoying and a little self-centered. She had no control over her powers so when she got angry, things happened. She continuously rejected Ethan, over and over again, because she was afraid of going Dark. Even AFTER they discovered their connection with each other which just utterly confused me. And she often went against her uncles wishes about keeping her safe just to try to have a "normal" life, putting herself in danger more than once. She was acting like a spoiled little girl.
Overall, Beautiful Creatures was an enchanting read, full of interesting and powerful characters. If you love witchcraft, people with powers and a town full of secrets just waiting to be discovered, you definitely want to pick this one up.
I rate this book:
The Caster Chronicles Series
Short Story
I'm in the middle of this one, and I agree with you on a few points you made. Glad you enjoyed it, I'm enjoying it too!
ReplyDelete-A.
Great review! I really enjoyed this one, but I definitely see what you mean by Lena seeming to be a spoiled brat. ;)
ReplyDeleteBrandy @ A Little of the Book Life
Wonderful review, Kelly :) I am kind of on the fence with the whole Caster Chronicles. My sister read the first book back in January and she was not impressed. She read the Norwegian translation and said that her opinion might have been colored by a crappy translation. Sooooo I might pick up the original one in English seeing that you liked it as much as you did, Kelly.
ReplyDeleteI have this on my TBR list. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDelete