Review: Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1)

Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1) by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Synopsis:
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.

Quick Review:
I’m gonna to try to keep this short and sweet and not rave like a loon about how much I loved this book since it has been out for a while now.  I’m sure you have already read it or heard all about it. As usual, I’m the last to get a clue.

If I was brilliant enough to be able to write a novel, this is exactly the book I’d want to write. Why? Beautiful Creatures is 500+ pages of everything I adore in books: the supernatural, family, first loves, mystery, history, The South, food, strong characters, references to other great books, poetry, authors, and quotes, and of course, at the heart of it all, there was a swoon worthy boy, Ethan.

I spent a lot of time with this book. In fact it took me all week to finish it, mostly because I wanted to take the time to really enjoy it, and I’m totally guilty of rereading more than a few passages because I wanted to make sure I understood each element of the story; although, I’m not sure how successful I was at accomplishing that.

In one way, I couldn’t finish the book fast enough, and in another, it ended too quickly.

More than anything, I really enjoyed the character development of Ethan, and luckily for me, a large part of the book focuses on who he is as a person. It felt like his every thought was illustrated very delicately and at the end, I knew so many intimate details about him, things I’m not sure he would want me to know because his thoughts, dreams, fears and doubts were so very personal.

I mean, readers were actively involved in every part of his life, including his interactions with his aunts, his dad, his friends, and his girlfriend. And don’t ask me to explain why, but something about ‘seeing’ him spend time with his aunts felt like the most intimate of all. Maybe because it was about him simply being who he is, a beautiful creature, a kind young man who truly loves the little family he has left.

Unlike Lena, I was probably an unwelcomed intruder in Ethan’s head, but he is such a loving, good hearted person, he didn’t let it faze him one bit. Also, understandably, he had more pressing things on his mind. Like how to save his girlfriend from going dark.

Still, when Lena was listening in on his thoughts and more disturbing, when she commented on them out of nowhere, I felt so violated for him! All I could think was lay off Edward Cullen Lena. Let the boy sort it out himself.  Yet, Ethan seemed to genuinely not be bothered by having Lena in his personal realm of thoughts, which I had a hard time accepting for some reason.

Not that I have anything against Lena, but it did take me a very long time to warm up to her. I guess because I was so instantly in swoon with Ethan it bothered me when she called him ‘stupid’ or ‘an idiot.’ Yes, I get that she was struggling with some pretty major issues, but he was never anything but extremely kind, gentle, and sweet to her, and she almost took that for granted past the point to where I could forgive her. Almost.

Probably, the biggest reason I couldn’t like Lena is because she didn’t seem to like herself. Maybe this is an old school way of thinking but I believe you have to love and accept yourself before you can begin to love someone else. Lena never did love or accept herself, so I’m not even sure if I ever trusted her love for Ethan. She is still a character that interests me because I think she has some great potential; I’m just not sure where to put her.

Towards the end, during The Claiming when it came time for Lena to choose a side, I’ll admit, I struggled with a lot of what was happening. And there were more than a few things that seemed completely lost on me or that disappointed/upset me greatly. Like being so attuned to Ethan’s voice by reading the story in his POV, only to lose it, even if it was briefly, to Lena’s POV. Or that there was this big build up to The Claiming on the sixteenth moon, and then no actual claiming took place. What? Why?

Yes, I was a little more than lost a few times with the supernatural elements in the story. Still, overall, I love it. My only wish is that I really would have liked to see more happiness and laughter in Ethan and Lena’s relationship. Everything around them was so ‘heavy’, and they were dealing with so much, but it would have been nice to let them step back from all of that for a bit to just be goofy teenagers together. Ethan’s best friend, Link, and his aunt provided some light humor to break up the intensity in the story, but it didn’t feel like enough.

Oh wow. Is this really me keeping things short and sweet? Really, Missie?! *head desk* Sorry. Fortunately, Ethan’s story continues with Beautiful Darkness, which I’m so happy was released earlier this month. Can’t wait to read it. If you have read Beautiful Creatures or Beautiful Darkness, please link me to your reviews. I’d love to check them out. These are the type of books that definitely deserve some good book discussion, and I’m eager to do just that; discuss!

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Posted at 4:47 am  •  Labels: 2010, 4 stars, Book Review, paranormal romance, trailers, witches, YA, YALSA's Teens' Top Ten 2010