Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: December 1st 2009
Buy it from: Book Depository (free shipping worldwide!)
Gold star (4.95/5 stars)

Synopsis: There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that’s what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

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.

Review: I have nothing but praises for this mind-blowing book. It is always a pleasure to find a novel that is as thick as Harry Potter. With a novel that has over 570 pages, it is easy to find faults in it. But no, that was not the case here. I loved every single bit of Beautiful Creatures. The book was like a play. Every chapters played an important role, like how every actor matters in order to have a successful performance.

I thought both authors did such a terrific job in writing from a teenage guy’s POV. If I did not know who had written this novel, I might have even thought it was a male writer. No kidding. Ethan was a realistic, strong and thoughtful protagonist that probably will captivate the hearts of all the female readers. Lena and Ethan’s relationship is something every girl dreams for. A guy who is wants to be with you despite your weirdness, or in this case, Lena’s special ability. A guy who is willing to go all out to help you, even though you are ready to resign to fate. It’s not secret that Lena and Ethan are on my Top 6 YA Couples of 2009 list. The other characters, were brilliant. Though they might not be the main character, they were still equally fleshed-out, very refreshing indeed. The book itself was so intriguing that I did not realise that I had read over 100 pages already. I was so caught up in the world and the story and everything that I didn’t realise how deeply absorbed I was.

The setting and town history was incredibly very well crafted that they both fascinated me to no end. The magical aspect of the novel was not really the interesting bit, it was more of the setting and history, combined with it, that made it alluring. The action was creeping up slowly, small hints here and there that the ending was going to be big. And finally BANG! The climax was equally suspenseful as the rest of the book and filled with tension, fear and excitement. Beautiful Creatures was just that good.

However, I am skeptical about how Macon could keep such a huge secret from Lena. It was a bit unbelievable but I’m willing to overlook it and accept the reason stated in the book. Apart from that, my only other complaint is that I will have to wait 10 months for the next book to be out. I need the next book, NOW. However, the sequel will be worth the wait, and hopefully it will be just as fantastic as the first book, if not, better. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl are both authors you should watch for.

Beautiful Creatures will enthrall readers from the first page with it’s impressive writing and spectacular plot. This book was destined to be a best seller.