Review (2): Beautiful Darkness

Beautiful Darkness

by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Release Date: October 12, 2010

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

Pages: 503

Source: Library

Website: http://beautifulcreaturesthebook.com/

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 Lene 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 suffereing a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that tests 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 seems. 

(From Goodreads)

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Why I Read This: I really enjoyed Beautiful Creatures, which is book 1 in the Caster Chronicles series, and wanted to know what happened next.

Characters: The characters in this book are really interesting and they each have their own distinct personalities. My favorite would definitely have to be Link. He was a very minor character in the first book, but he is a big part of the second. He is a very fun character and I find myself laughing out loud to certain things he says throughout the book. Ethan, the main character, is also a pretty cool guy. He is very smart and sweet, but not as entertaining as Link. He has a very important role in the Caster world that, at first, he was a little tentative to believe. He eventually excepts this big responsibility and uses it to his advantage. The only character I don't really like is Lena, and I know she goes through some hard things throughout the book and there wouldn't even be The Caster Chronicles without her, but she just annoys me. She's always complaining and feeling sorry for herself which just makes me want to skip the parts she's in. She does get less annoying at the end, but not enough to make me change my mind about her.

Relatability: This book is very relatable because of the normal things the teenage characters face. Yes, the book is filled with Dark and Light Casters, Incubus' and a whole bunch of other supernatural beings, but that's not all it's about. It's a story about love, lose and friendship which are three topics anyone can relate to.

Cover: I really like this cover. It's simple, yet gives us an inside look to the story inside the book. I'm pretty sure that it's supposed to be a picture of the Tunnels which is the main setting for the story.

Overall Impression: The beginning dragged on a bit which is why I had to take away 1/2 a star, but after the action-y things started to happen, I couldn't put the book down!

Rating: * * * * 1/2