eBook
English language
Published Aug. 11, 2010 by Penguin Publishing.
In Ethan Wate's hometown there lies the darkest of secrets . . .There is a girl.Slowly, she pulled the hood from her head. Green eyes, black hair. Lena Duchannes.There is a curse.On the Sixteenth Moon, the Sixteenth Year, the Book will take what it's been promised. And no one can stop it.In the end, there is a grave.Lena and Ethan become bound together by a deep, powerful love. But Lena is cursed and on her sixteenth birthday, her fate will be decided.Ethan never even saw it coming.
Author was clearly trying to go for a moody Southern Gothic vibe. I only remember cringe-worthy cliches and stereotypes. This was back when I was, in fact, young enough for this book when it came out in 2010.
This book started out really well. The characters were interesting, the plot was cool and fun. It was a satisfying read, for a while there. It ended up loosing its charm toward the end. The characters became a bit too moody, and the plot became a bit convoluted. In the end, I wondered why it had to keep making turns upon turns. There is no reason that the plot needed to be that convoluted. I liked the characters, but really, the plot got in its own way.
Beautiful Creatures is a YA book that is geared towards the younger end of that group.
Everything is set in black and white terms. There is good and evil but very little in between. It is not only the supernatural world that split into two camps. The southern small town is full of petty bullying idiots. As opposed to more intellectual outsiders.
Beautiful Creatures also lacks depth. It is a teenage high school love story with supernatural characters tacked on.
There is no backstory to those powers, it is not explained why there are two camps, what do the good and evil camps stand for? what are their goals? What do they do with their powers in their own lives?
At one point we are told that the supernatural world was also split during the American Civil War, a war who's history is a major part of this book. However …
Beautiful Creatures is a YA book that is geared towards the younger end of that group.
Everything is set in black and white terms. There is good and evil but very little in between. It is not only the supernatural world that split into two camps. The southern small town is full of petty bullying idiots. As opposed to more intellectual outsiders.
Beautiful Creatures also lacks depth. It is a teenage high school love story with supernatural characters tacked on.
There is no backstory to those powers, it is not explained why there are two camps, what do the good and evil camps stand for? what are their goals? What do they do with their powers in their own lives?
At one point we are told that the supernatural world was also split during the American Civil War, a war who's history is a major part of this book. However it is never explained who supported which side and how this effects the relationships within the families to this day.
Everything is explained only as far as it directly affects the relationship between our two lovebirds.
It is surprising that a book that deals so much with historical events fails so miserably in connecting between them and the present situation. It seems like the Civil War is just there to help mock those southern morons.
I didn't hate this as I was half-expecting. There are a great many things that annoy me about it, but most of them can be summed up with the (disheartening) realization that I'm just too old for teen romance. I had steeled myself for an experience like Twilight, and that did this book a disservice. This isn't an insidious pop culture tragedy of a height and magnitude so great that it can only be described as "A Hot Mess". This is just a supernatural teen romance - and believe me, in this context the "just" is a good thing. I'd consider letting a child of mine read this, and I may even read the sequels.
Just remember, kids: spit in Fate's eye and tell Destiny to go screw itself.
I had to read this before the movie premiered (it's my thing, I like to have my own picture in my head for a story before a movie imposes someone else's picture). It's very formulaic. Star-crossed teen lovers with a paranormal twist which is now it's own genre these days. Refreshingly, the story is told from the male protagonists POV which gives 'Beautiful Creatures' a small leg-up on other books in it's niche. All in all, this was a fun read that would appeal to both Twilight & Sookie Stackhouse fans. Picking up the next book soon, & looking forward to the film release.
Difficult. It's not that I hate this book. I also like it a little. Just not that much. ;)
It's a pity that I can't share the euphoria which goes around the Litblogs. The atmosphere in the story was depressing. Okay, it's not an easy life that Lena und Ethan have but still I think it could be less tragic at some times.
I never felt that connected to the characters. Neither Ethan nor Lena. They were just.. there. At no time I felt with them.
But to conclude with something positive: I love the cover! It fits perfectly to the plot and the story!
Not sure if I'll read the second part.
