Beautiful Darkness

Such a beautiful story! And it's all so true, even in the real world, to find our purpose, to find ourselves, to find the truth.
I thought this book was even better than the first of the Caster Cronicles, I loved all of it! ( )

I liked the first book in this series but this one just left me feeling very meh about it. Lena is somewhere between light and dark and trying to find her place in the caster world and Ethan is still trying to find a place in her world. Even if she keeps pushing him away. He finds out more about his mother and her past and about his place in the world of casters and mortals.

I'm left not really caring much after finishing this book, about anybody involved, except maybe Amma, and Link, and no real urge to read the rest of the series, I may return to it some other time but right now, nope. Eventually I may come back to see what happens to Link. ( )

Thoughts on the way... ( )

The sequel to "Beautiful Darkness" was not as immediately compelling as the first book. In this one, Lena believes she is responsible for the death of someone she cared for and thus pushes Ethan away. But Ethan's adventure through the Caster tunnels to find and save Lena during most of the book makes up for the slow start. In the end, Lena's Caster fate is decided--more or less, anyway. ( )

Lena's 16th moon has passed and the decision was not made. However there are consequences and Macon is dead. Lena is feeling guilty about his death and both the choices she made and did not make. So when Ridley and a newcomer John Breed appear she is easily influenced by promises of a better and less complicated place. Ethan is left behind trying to understand what has happened and feeling both rejected and scared for Lena at the same time. He cannot help but seek her out to try and understand what is going on. And the seventeenth Moon is appearing faster than it should. All of this makes for a compelling sequel to Beautiful Creatures.

This sequel was slow to begin with and suddenly contained all the angst that I had been pleased to note was absent in the first book. However I persevered and I'm glad I did. I enjoyed this story. It is well constructed and keeps the reader guessing and searching for the next piece of a very complicated puzzle. The characters continue to gain depth. I particularly enjoyed getting to know Link in this book. I wait impatiently for my copy of book three to arrive. ( )