Showing posts with label kami garcia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kami garcia. Show all posts

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Review - Beautiful Darkness (Caster Chronicles, #2) by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Darkness (Caster Chronicles, #2)Title: Beautiful Darkness
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Series: 2nd (Beautiful Creatures)
Pages: 503
Published: October 12th 2010 by Little, Brown and Company 
ISBN: 9780316077057
Source: Personal Copy







Description: Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.  Sometimes life-ending.  Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it. I Give This ...
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 I was a little worried when I cracked open this one.  It's been quite a few years since I read the first one.  The details were extremely fuzzy, and I have to be honest that they never really came back to me.  But, I read on and really enjoyed the story.

I think what threw me for a loop was that Lena is definitely not that same character that I remembered.  Lena has always seemed intense, but managed to make the best of her situation.  Plus, she had a deep connection with Ethan.  All that seems lost in the beginning of this book.  I understood part of it because her uncle Macon died during her claiming ceremony.  But,  I thought she took to much blame upon herself.  She was trying so hard to convince herself that she was evil.  Before hurting anybody else she loves, including Ethan, she begins to follow Ridley and a mysterious newcomer.  They promise her peace and land rumored to exist.   But, what will the cost be to get there.

Ethan is the rock in this book, a character trait and perhaps a flaw as well.  I'm truly glad that he never gave up on Lena.  Even though we eventually learn there is a reason for his connection to Lena, he knew that her actions were not a reflections of who she really was.  All he needed to do was to lead her the right way.  It was making her see that the choices she made the night of her claiming did not make her evil.  He will follow her through to the end, even defying those who claim the world she lives in is to much for her.

I love how we learn more about the Caster world in this book.  I don't remember the first one giving away this much detail, from the keepers role to the tunnels.  It's much more involved than I thought.  I loved the introduction of Liv to the story.  It gave it the slight indication of a love triangle, even though I knew that there really was no one else for Ethan but Lena.  And as always, I loved Link and Ridley.  I'm looking forward to the next one.  Perhaps it won't take me as long to read it. 


Saturday, March 20, 2010

Cover of the Month!

Two future covers were released this week that I loved!  The first is for Torment by Lauren Kate.  I haven't read Fallen yet, but have to say that the cover for both books are great.  The second cover of the month is for Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.  I loved Beautiful Creatures and the simple features of black and gray with that splash of color on the covers is what draws you in.  Here are both... what do you think?


Torment (Fallen, #2)     Beautiful Darkness (The Caster Chronicles, #2)

Friday, February 26, 2010

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures

Title: Beautiful Creatures
Author(s): Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Published: December 2009
Pages: 576
ISBN:
9780316042673
Source: Purchased Copy

Description: 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.


I Give This Book 4 Stars!

I've noticed the the reviews of this book seem to be situated on both sides of the spectrum with very few in the middle.  You either love it or you hate it.  While not 5 star worthy in my opinion, I really liked it!  I found the male narrative to be interesting and refreshing.  And despite that so many say that he isn't a believable "male" teenager, I think he is.  I don't think we can say what the typical a male teen thinks (we may know how they act, but I think that is entirely different).  I also really liked Lena.  She was the opposite of what a lot of female characters are in today's teen fiction.  I think we get a good look at how she struggles to fit in, and with understanding her own growing powers.  I loved the cast of characters.  Each had something to add to the story, and I thought they were well developed.  I was curious how dual authors would work in this story, but I honestly would not have known if both names weren't on the cover.  The story flows together seamlessly.   The only drawback, in my opinion, was the ending.  I'm not sure why, but I felt that it was a bit of a let down.  You get so much tension and suspense built up to that point, and then I felt I didn't get the resolution I wanted.  Not enough to drag down the book to much.  You can bet I will be reading the sequel (I can't imagine that there won't be one).


 

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