Book Review: Beautiful Creatures

Young Ethan in Gatlin, South Carolina falls in love with the outcasted new girl called Lena in school and turns out she's a witch. Oh excuse me, she's a Caster because witch is somehow offensive. On her sixteenth birthdayshe will be claimed by the forces of Light or Darkness and she has no choose in the matter.

Julia here! This is a spoiler free review, I will not give away major plot points and only go over characters, setting, and overall writing skills.

To begin bluntly, this book is Twilight with the genders reversed and instead of vampires there are Casters. But it is actually better than Twilight, there is no possesive or abusive boyfriends, and the story is more relateable. That said though, it is pretty pandering to it's audience and that audience is teenage girls. The horror!

The atomosphere is well done, which it should because one of the two authors Kami Garcia very much wanted to draw upon her Southern roots. That said the town of Gatlin that the books place in feels contrived at times, not the place itself but it's people and especialy it's high school. I'm sure all reading this at some point have been bullied, some more severely than others but gosh this book has practically cartoon villians for school bullies. Maybe it's because I've never lived in a small town myself but most teenagers have better things to do with their time than what this whole school does to Lena. This is what I'm talking about pandering, specifically to the angsty teenage girl that feels lonely and I get that but that leads to my next critism.

Lena is so whiny! Get over it girl! You're better than the cartoony villianess cheerleaders picking on you, why do you want them to like you! I got over not fitting in school long before fifthteen years old, and I made some great friends that were fellow outcasts. As for you Ethan, there isn't a sixteen year old boy out there as perfect as you! Well at least you actually meet the hype, but that's another flaw. Ethan is nearly perfect, he has to deal with giving up fitting in, but he doesn't seem to like the town he lives in away.

I don't hate this book, the ending bugs me because it feels contrived in order to make a sequel and if I were fourteen I'd probbaly like the book. It just doesn't relate to me personally anymore and I'd say go ahead if you're interested if you enjoy syrupy romance and fantasy. Pretty easy read, I read the whole thing in three days.

 

Yay! Discussion is awesome!

Yeah, I was fairly vague about the Casters, so I'll clarify. Lena's family of Casters specifically are cursed to be Claimed by Light or Dark by their sixteenth birthdays. Why? I don't want to give it away, but to be more vague a past family member meddled with some unnatural laws and in exchange whole family was cursed.

Ethan and Lena dream of each other long before they ever met and they can read each others thoughts shortly after meeting. Etan seems strangely okay with this, and just wants to be with his beloved Lena! Oh the drama! Ethan and Lena being with each other seems to protect them from magic, specifically protects Lena from a Dark family member out to get her. Why? Spoilers.

The writing style is actually similar to Meyer's but better, would it sound weird if I said it felt held back? I'm not sure how to describe what I mean, it feels specifically designed to be at a preteen/teen reading level.

Oh my God, yes the "Mean Girls" do several things to spring hell on Lena. For halloween the whole damn cheerleading squad dressed in witch costume and drew on their faces exagerated crescent moons on their cheeks. Lena has a crescent moon birthmark, mary-sue alert!