REVIEW: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Title: Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1)

Author: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Publication Date: March 31st 2001

Publisher: Penguin

Format: Paperback

Pages: 563

Rating: 4/5
Blurb: There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
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’ve been meaning to read this book for a long time now and with the movie due to be released February 14th 2013 (in Australia) I decided it was probably about time to get around to it. I’ve heard widely different views of this book- some people seem to think it is the worst thing ever written while others love it. I definitely lean towards the ‘loving it’ side.

At first, I wasn’t a big fan of having Ethan narrate the story as generally I tend to read books with female narrators or third person narration. However, I found that after I while it didn’t bother me nearly as much as I thought it would. I really came to like Ethan as a character, as well as Lena, Macon and Ridley. On top of this, I also enjoyed the flashback scenes with Genevieve and Ethan- they were absolutely amazing.

Another important aspect to me was how much the story flowed together despite having two authors. I personally couldn’t differentiate between the two maybe some of you were/are able to, but for me it all fit together like it was just one author.

One issue that I did have with the book is that there is a lot of focus on American history. I know for many Americans the division between the South and the North would hold a lot of importance, but as an Australian who has never learnt any American history whatsoever I found myself a bit confused through certain parts of the book. Obviously, this issue won’t be there for everyone but if you are like me, you will still be able to enjoy the story.

When the movie is released here in Australia, I will consider doing a movie to book adaption review sort of thing- hopefully that makes sense to you guys! Let us know if you’re excited for the movie!