Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Book Review : Beautiful Creatures

 "History was a bitch sometimes. You couldn’t change where you were from. But still, you didn’t have to stay there." - Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Beautiful Creatures


I've only read one paranormal romance, Twilight, and have a "hate-like but still kind of annoyed" relationship with. Since then I decided to ward off teen paranormal romance

However, after reading about how many  teen paranormal romances were being turned into films I decided I had to see what the big deal was.

On a whim, I picked up Beautiful Creatures (for Kindle) because I liked the cover.

I knew nothing about the book when I started it, so I was thrown for a loop when I discovered our narrator was male. The novel takes place in small southern town of Gaitlin, South Carolina. The book takes  many  cues from  the Gothic tradition (yeah, English minor !). It has everything; mazes, destitute landscapes, ruins and ancestry  all set to a modern beat.

Sixteen year old Ethan Wate's narrative is flawless. He has the right amount of snark, charming and touching dialogue. Lena Duchannes, the mysterious new girl in town is constantly struggling between dwelling in nightmares and attempting to live. The interweaving of classic literature was a nice touch to the novel and blended nicely, but maybe became a little to ad nauseam.

While the romance takes center stage, this isn't just a story about unrequited love and attractive people, Stohl and Garcia use paranormal genre to discuss  teenage issues like bullying, peer pressure and conformity.

My biggest fear with this novel is that it is too often compared to Twilight and True Blood, it's literally on the back of the book. This novel is good enough to stand on its own and frankly offers a more whole and complex story than the first Twilight book.

Overall, I found the story to unfold nicely. There are so many interesting characters and conflicts, but is it enough to carry over for an entire series ?

Rating :


  1. Great review! I'll have to look into it.

  2. Nothing like Twilight and I LOVED that it was from the boy's viewpoint. I also enjoyed the small-town thing, with the local community being run by the DAR and anyone over a certain age still talking about "the War Of Northern Aggression". Should be a great movie and I notice there are a fair number of British actors in it. :-)




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