Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1)

I know there are many readers who loved this book and will totally disagree with me, but I just couldn't get into Beautiful Creatures. I really wanted to and as I was reading I waited for the moment when I would start enjoying it but I just felt like reading this book was a chore.

One of my biggest pet peeves with this book was that it's so long and the action didn't even pick up until I was at least two thirds through the book. There was a lot of back history on the town and that's not the part that bored me. Rather, Ethan and Lena spent so many days doing absolutely nothing and instead of skipping that part and giving the meat of the story, I guess I was supposed to be excited about... nothing much.

Most of the townspeople and classmates like Savannah and Emily were too one dimensionally evil and I hate to say it, but I just didn't care about Ethan and Lena, especially as a couple. It felt like they talked more to each other in their heads than in real life, so I actually didn't feel a real connection between them. Like I said, I can't quite explain it but I just couldn't get into them.

When the ball finally started rolling towards the end, I was very indifferent to the whole thing. Was I surprised about the ending? I guess. Was it satisfying? No. The pieces just didn't fit together like I thought they would and I never had the "aha!" moment.

The reason I finished the book is because of what I did like about Beautiful Creatures. Amma and Macon were my two favorite characters by far and completely reminded me of a pulpy South: a superstitious seer and a Southern gentleman. I actually thought they would make a nice couple, you know, if they didn't disgust each other. Link, Ridley and the Sisters are also some of my favorites and they had very distinct and colorful voices. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl definitely gave the supporting characters a rich depth that I felt the main characters were lacking.

Overall, I was disappointed with this book because of the good things I had heard, but I pushed through regardless. The book was clearly well written but I think it could have been shorter so that it had more of a punch. I am only slightly tempted to read the second in the series, Beautiful Darkness, because I am a little curious about where the story could possibly go. Meh, we'll see.

Great read

This book was so hyped, I may have gone into it with too much expectation. I think the bones of a good story are definitely there! But I had a hard time with the narrator. Ethan doesn't think or sound like a boy. I live in a household full of boys, and he just didn't ring true for me. However, he was very poetic and romantic so I'm sure there are many female readers who will respond to him. He just didn't do it for me. I like my boy characters to sound like boys.


I also had a hard time with the constant southern stereotypes (especially when so many of them were a mish-mash of stuff from distinctly different regions all over the south). I found myself rolling my eyes when EVERY southerner was a bigot who went to church, worshiped cheerleading and sports, and had a mile-wide prejudice about outsiders. The authors also mixed voodoo, uptight Baptists, and witchcraft into their small town. It felt like it was trying to be Louisiana, the Appalachian mountains, and rural Alabama all at once. It just didn't work for me.

I did love the backstory and the flashbacks. There's certainly a very compelling story here. And while the pacing, the narrator, and the setting didn't work for me, I'm sure there are many who will love this book and its sequels.

Reader reviewed by Rose

Beautiful Creatures

By Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Ethan Wate (who is desperate to escape his small town in the Deep South) has repeating dreams about a girl he has never met. When the girl moves into a mansion nearby, Ethan is determined to figure out what the connection is between them. Eventually, the girl (Lena) is going to be pulled to the dark side, and they have to find a way to save her&

Crappy description, but the book is good.

Likes

A.     awesome cover

B.     fast read

C.     gripping plot

D.     pretty good characters

Dislikes

A.    None

Reader reviewed by jedi145

This book is amazing. The characters were rounded and the romantic relationship was realistic. The plot was action filled and exciting.  It is from a male POV which is really different for a paranormal romance. It is really long, which I love. The town has a neat background. The authors did some research on the south and I always love authors that have done research for their book. The writing is really good and the plot is unique. 

Reader reviewed by Maura (Monster Of Books)

The
characters, the story/plot, the idea, everything. I loved everything.
The only complaints are, you'll see later. If you read The Story Siren's review site, then you'll know that once she wrote that she doesn't exactly know why she likes something, she just does.
This is the same thing, I can't pinpoint why I exactly like this book.
But I can tell you that my top two, absolute favorites, books of 2009
are Hush Hush and Beautiful Creatures.
I also really related to both Ethan & Lena in the story. Maybe more
Lena than Ethan, but still it was nice. It was nice to relate to a
character whose going through a problem that similar to yours *not
identical of course* and by the end of the book, the reader doesn't
feel not alone. The ending will definitely leave people wanting more,
and people will be happy to know that there is a sequel on it's way :) Do I recommend this book?
Absolutely!!! It's fast paste and you'll never have the feeling of not
continuing to read it because it keeps you guessing and wanting more.
Also the plot twist was, in my opinion, brilliant/wonderful. I never saw
it coming. Teen Vogue was comparing this to having Twilight-like buzz,
but for anyone who hates Twilight don't let that scare you off. This
book is NOTHING like Twilight, and in my opinion it's the most original
book I've ever read. But I still recommend this book to everyone,even
Twilight-likers or Twilight Haters.
**SPOILER**:
At the end of the book, Kami & Margaret do something that is quite
interesting. The whole book is in Ethan's POV, but at the end when
Ethan is unconscious instead of going into a new chapter they turn to
Lena's POV. That's right we get a few pages of Lena's POV. And in my
opinion, I really liked that and thought it was sort of cool idea. I
would really like if Kami & Margaret would rewrite Beautiful
Creatures and put it in Lena's POV. I mean, you know how Stephanie
Meyer was going to write that book of Twilight in Edward's POV? I would
really like to see that done with Lena's POV. Because half way through
Beautiful Creatures, while Ethan was narrating, I was wondering what
Lena was doing.

What I didn't like about, Beautiful Creatures, was
at times it felt a bit to rushed in describing things. Like one thing
would happen, and then the next and you would have to reread that part
to get your mind processing it. Another thing was at times, stuff would
randomly pop up that was never mentioned before and your like: What?
Like a good example of this is in the first chapter *I believe*. Ethan
wakes up and he finds out that his window is open and he has mud/dirt
in his bed and his I-pod is playing a song he doesn't recognize. I would
of enjoyed it more, if there had been mention of this before, because
you kind of loose the emotion that it's trying to portray. In my honest
opinion, the only chapter I felt was really rushed was the first
chapter. There was a few others, but not as bad as the first. I think I
would of enjoy it more if it slowed down a bit.

A
really good book and a amazing start at, what looks like, a wonderful
series. The whole Ethan/Lena relationship reminded me a lot of
Romeo/Juliet, which was nice because my favorite Shakespeare play was Romeo And Juliet.

Reader reviewed by Alex (Tales of a Teenage Book Lover)

Reader reviewed by john

                   Beautiful Creatures is a very good book.  I absolutely loved it!  Enough to read it a second time and I plan on reading it a 3rd and 4th time.  I just love the atmosphere of the book and the setting( same thing?) and it was just really good.  More than good. . Great!.  I loved Ethan, it was a good twist the authors, K&M, took with having a male as the teller of the story when most paranormal romance novels are told in a females point of view.  One of the things that was weird was how when Lena and Ethan were hanging out at Greenbrier and Lena started re-shaping the clouds and Ethan saw it and reacted like it was nothing.  Yeah. . . I notice the small stuff.  I don't know about you but I would of been like "How did you do that?!" and ran away.  Well, I wouldn't have run away!.  Hmm, maybe it takes a lot for Ethan to be freaked out.  I loved all the charecters, and yes!, even Ridely.  She's actually my favorite charecter.  You can kind of tell that she isn't totally emotionless and does feel remorse for some of the things that she does.  I hope she is in book 2 and the rest of the series.  Not to sound mean to the authors but I can describe this book as the paranormal version of To Kill a Mockingbird.  Seriously!  Both stories take place in the South, both stories have a town "creep" that nobody ever sees.  Both stories have a maid, but Amma isn't really a maid in Beautiful Creatures, but she does do all the cooking and cleaning and whatnot.  Not to compare books, though, I rarely compare books.  Beautiful Creatures  was one of those books that when you're reading the action scenes in the book you don't have any clue what's going on, and then you read it a second time and it's crystal clear!  Yeah, that was how the book was for me.  I love the magical powers that Lena and her family has.  The book was really original and creative.  For me, it was one of those books that you feel you've read a million times before ( in a good way!) and it just feels so right to read it and you can't really put it down because it's just so good.  I can't wait for Beautiful Darkness to come out in October!  I'm getting it @ midnight if possible!

Dark, haunting and mesmerizing. These are the words that come to mind when I reflect on this book. Somewhere between Twilight and Harry Potter, Beautiful Creatures is a wonderful example of all that is good in Young Adult literature. Garcia and Stohl weave a captivating tale that pulls you in from the first page. The characters are honest and dynamic, the plot is whimsical and terrifying and the theme is timeless: are we in control of our own destinies or are they decided for us? Set against the prejudices of a backwards little town in the south and it's not so small-town inhabitants, Beautiful Creatures builds a world that is easy to lose yourself in. I'm not sure why it took me so long to pick this one up, it probably had something to do with the fact that the book is a whopper at 563 pages (I could seriously use this thing as a weapon if necessary), but since the movie has begun filming in New Orleans I decided I better get a move on. It took me awhile to plow through it, but it was totally worth the time. Beautiful Creatures has become one of my favorite books!


LIKES:

The Setting: The town of Gatlin is really something else. It's full of history, charming and quaint but also unforgiving and exclusive. This all leads to an incredibly dynamic setting for Beautiful Creatures. Gatlin has all the makings for the perfect setting for a Southern Gothic novel: moss-covered cemeteries, winding country roads, rows and rows of ancient trees and a crumbling plantation on the hill. But it isn't just Gatlin that entrances the reader, there's also the ever-changing Ravenwood: the oldest house in town and home to the town recluse, Greenbriar: the burnt-out rubble of what used to be Ravenwood's neighbor before General Sherman got to it and of course a secret, enchanted library that is literally underground. Color me spooked, I love it!

The characters: Part of what makes Gatlin such and awesome locale is the local population. There are so many wonderful characters, both good and bad, and they make this book something special. First there are our two main characters and lovebirds Ethan and Lena, they are so real. They are brave, but not fearless, intelligent, but not unreachable and completely in love with each other (which, lets face it, is pretty much irresistable). Then there is Amma, she is like Ethan's adopted grandma. She can bake like nobody's business, keep a teenage boy reined in and still find time to make voodoo dolls. I want her to adopt me. And there should be a totally different book just about Amma and Lena's Uncle Macon Ravenwood, the town shut-in who happens to look like a movie star. Their relationship is so antagonistic and funny that I really found myself wishing there was more of it in the book. I need to know their history together. Ravenwood is a true Southern gentleman who holds none of the prejudices of his fellow Gatlin-ites. He is fiercely protective of Lena and is an all-around entertaining old excentric. Finally there is Ridley, she is Lena's cousin and ex best friend who went "dark" on her 16th birthday. Her character holds a complexity that isn't truly showcased until the end of the book. She is evil, of course, and she appears to like being that way but you get the feeling that maybe there is something else going on there that keeps you wanting more. Plus she's just tons of fun.
The message: The best part of the story, though, has to be the message. I'm a big believer in creating your own destiny with what you are given. Lena has to face the possibility that her free will might be taken away and that she will not be able to control her own fate. This sends her on a quest to take back the reins become the author of her own destiny.
The cover: I mean, seriously, could it get any spookier or more ominous? I probably wouldn't have taken so long to read the book if I hadn't kept staring at the cover all the time.

DISLIKES:

Nothing, seriously. I really couldn't think of anything in this book that I didn't enjoy. If I had to choose, maybe Marian Ashcroft would be a little annoying in person (who speaks in quotes that much?) but she had her role in the story and at times could be really amazing.

I loved this book! I'm so happy I finally picked it up and I can't wait for the film (release date is set for February 13th, 2013). I would recommend this to anyone who loves romance, a spooky setting and, of course, a little magic.

beautifully writing like a true love story.... I true enjoy it.