Beautiful Creatures

I really enjoyed this book - I adored the characters, they were all interesting and quirky and likeable, and I even liked the characters you weren't supposed to like. Ethan is a teenage boy, growing bored in his small southern town, who only thinks about getting away from Gatlin. Until Lena moves to town, that is. Lena is reviled by her town and classmates; she lives in the forbidden creepy mansion Ravenwood, with her uncle, who the town fears and mocks. He is the Boo Radley of Gatlin, and as much as I like Boo, Macon Ravenwood is a little cooler. His house is magic, and the interior can change on a whim. This is one of the things I loved about the book- the magical whimsy throughout. I of course loved Marion Ashcroft, the librarian, show more who you also find has a bit more up her sleeves than just being the public librarian.
Lena is a caster- and so is her family. On their 16th birthday, the fates decide if they are a good caster, or a bad caster. Which way will they turn out? Which way will Lena go? Lena is a powerful caster, yet she surprises the reader by also being just a regular teenager, with a crush on a boy. There is a battle against the clock of good versus evil, and to be honest, you don't always know which way it will go!
This book is rich in its charms, with the small southern town, eccentric characters, magic, a loyal dog, and romance. I very much enjoyed the world that Garcia and Stohl created. show less

I love a southern gothic novel with all of its dark secrets, rich atmosphere and spooky happenings thrown in and authors Kami Garcia and Margie Stohl deliverer in a big way. From the first pages I was hooked. What is the mysterious link between two teens who have never met each other? What's going on with these strange dreams? Ever since Ethan's mother died he has been having dreams; dreams so realistic that he wakes up with mud under his fingernails, dreams with a girl that he did not know but that he knew he was in love with.

Ethan is a typical small-town high school student counting the hours before he can graduate and put Gatlin, South Carolina, in his rear-view mirror forever. For his entire life he has lived in the same town and show more attended classes with the same classmates and the same teachers. Everyone knows everyone and if anything happens, everybody knows about it and nothing ever changes.

Then she arrives. Lena is the first new student Jackson High has seen in years and is instantly the center of attention although not in a good way. If her unusual outfits and black nail polish aren't enough, word soon spreads that she lives with her uncle, Macon Ravenwood, Gatlin's eccentric recluse that nobody has seen for years yet everybody knows stories about. Almost immediately the tightly-knit community closes ranks against her. But not Ethan. Even though he knows he is committing social suicide he is inexplicably drawn Lena.

And then things start changing in ways that Ethan never saw coming.

What I Liked: Beautiful Creatures has sort of a 'Romeo & Juliet' thing going with casters (witches) and mortals instead of Montagues and Capulets. Ethan and Lena make great star-crossed lovers and the sense of impending doom that pervades the whole story makes it evident that this is not going to end well. I've never been to keen on teenage romances but I'm willing to make an exception in this case, mainly because the authors did such a great job of developing the characters of Ethan and Lena. The psychic/spiritual bond between them combined with the opposition they get from just about everyone else makes it hard not to cheer them on and hope for them to prevail.

Kami Garcia's southern roots show through in the level of detail included about life in Gatlin. I've never spent any time in small southern towns but I really felt that I had an understanding of life in Gatlin was. This also is apparent in the way that the supernatural aspects of the story are drawn, relying heavily on rural American folklore. This went a long way toward making an otherwise fantastical story easier to accept.

My only problem with Beautiful Creatures is the pace of events. From the beginning, the reader is aware that something big will be happening at the end but, at over 600 pages, it seemed to take forever to get there. That said, I really wanted to know how it would end so I kept reading, and I'm glad I did. Also, the cast of supporting characters, while well-rounded, tend to be stereotypical. I guess this is by design, though, as you can't tell a story about a small-minded community without populating it with small-minded people.

My final assessment is that Beautiful Creatures is a fun read with well-crafted characters and an imaginative plot. I recommend it highly for young adult readers. show less

Like another of the reviewers of this book, I am not a 'teen romance' fan. Most are, I find, smarmy and unreadable. This, however, is another animal entirely. Well written, well developed, and with an extremely well created backstory, 'Beautiful Creatures' kept me riveted. Especially, I must say, because the audio I listened to was masterfully done. Including sound effects and music in this audio edition of the book created an atmosphere that drew me in, kept me enthralled, and gave the whole book a tone, a flavour if you will, that took this haunting novel into a whole new atmosphere. I would highly recommend the [...] edition - even if you have read the book, the audio version will open you up to whole new possibilities within the show more 'covers'.

"There are only two kinds of people in our town - The Stupid, and The Stuck."

Small towns, especially small towns in the South, can be many things. Open and accepting, giving and warm. Or insular, inbred, and with a degree of self-satisfied pomposity, for all their tiny minds and vicious ways, as any rabid jackal pack. This small town is, indeed, a poster child for insular, self congratulatory ignorance, where an education makes you an outsider, and anything 'different' brands you a rouge and an outcast. The characterizations are marvelous - never 'over the top' but certainly indicative of the human condition. The cheating and lying, the petty, and not so petty, hatreds are all spot-on. Ah, yes, it did indeed bring back memories!

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

The development of the Casters is not only beautifully written, it is original. The development of the Duchannes', and the Ravenwoods, reeks of the age and truth of history. Of the dichotomy of good and evil, of black and white, and the billions of shades between. They speak of truth, of the truth of time and space, and all those quiet and unknown things which live in those quiet corners of the human psyche.

All in all, a rich and satisfying read - though I do agree that the ending left me somewhat at a loss, as others have stated. I will be glad to visit this world again, and will if these ladies are going to write another book. I look forward to learning more of the Ravenwoods and Duichannes', and, of course, Ethen, his wonderfully wacky aunts, and the loving, and mysterious, Ahma. Another thing I loved about the book - the strong women characters, both historically and in the modern story line. There is, of course, the romantic aspect of the story, which is very strongly written, but it isn't actually the most important part of the story, in my eyes. The strength of the relationship between Ethan and Lena is stronger than just a 'romance'. It twines back through history, the beginning of the story rooted in the history of the South, the history of magic, and the strength of a young girl forced to make an incredibly difficult choice. Overall, quite satisfying.

Now, if someone would just point me to the music - it is absolutely haunting, and I would love to add it to my library! show less

Beautiful Creatures was reading today was absolutely FANTASTIC. Like, I'd put the book down, walk by a mirror, and be like "...wait a second. That's me. Oh, right, this is the real world. Becky, not Lena and Ethan." It's that well-written. You can completely forget about the real world and just get lost in the characters and their story.

This novel tells the story of Ethan Wate and Lena Duchannes. The people of Gatlin, South Carolina are pretty much stereotypical Southerners. Their families have lived in Gatlin for years and years and years, and they still have Confederate flags and talk about the War of Northern Aggression or the War for Southern Independence, and nothing ever changes. Ethan Wate is the only one who seems to want to show more leave. So when Lena Duchannes moves to town and things start happening, Ethan can't help but be drawn to her.

A strange song called "Sixteen Moons" keeps popping up on Ethan's iPod. The weather goes crazy around Lena. And strangest of all, they have the same dreams - about each other. As their friendship grows and changes, they discover a mystery, a curse, and things that Ethan never could have dreamed he'd encounter in Gatlin. Danger, mystery, romance, magic, and a sense of something bigger coming... this novel has it all.

The conflict, the mystery, and the danger are all wonderfully developed, and the story moves quickly (so don't let the length of the book scare you off). But the action does not at all take away from the characters. Ethan and Lena are two very complex, very real characters who really can make you forget about yourself for a few hours. I completely adored this book. Not an exaggeration. Read it, you guys, it is made of awesome. Beautiful Creatures is a beautiful book. show less

Fantastic novel that draws the reader into the supernatural world of Casters (witches). And of a mortal named Ethan Wate, the narrator in the story who loves Lena (a Caster) from the moment he started having dreams about her before even setting eyes on her.

Only downside to this novel was that I felt it was overly and sometimes unnecessarily long. Trimming the 562-page book down to about 480 pages would not have diminished or detracted from the wonderful story that was unfolding.

Following the conclusion of my book read -- which took about eight nights of reading -- I rewatched the Beautiful Creatures movie (from 2013) based on the novel. And while I liked the film, WOW!, the studio changed a lot of things that were not in the book. show more Some of it vital. There is no mention of Marian the librarian. Larkin is barely involved. There is nothing about Ethan's dad. And the last twenty minutes of the film are somewhat different from the novel. But I will say the last few minutes of the film had me in glorious tears. Totally loved the ending that the movie decided to go with. Sadly, the movie panned overall so no sequels in the Caster series ever saw the Hollywood lot. show less

"Mortals. I envy you. You think you can change things. Stop the universe. Undo what was done long before you came along. You are such beautiful creatures."

I adore this book SO much. I might have been influenced though because I saw the movie (like 10 times) before I read the book. I LOVE the movie!! I'm so upset that there's most likely never going to be a sequel. I was so blown away by the movie, it will always be one of my favorites. And I will forever wonder why it didn't do as well as it should have! It was so visually stunning and the story is great.. it breaks my heart that this isn't as big as I want it to be, as it deserves to be! The book itself was fantastic. It was in depth and it made me feel like I was right there in show more Gatlin alongside Lena and Ethan. Like I was Boo following them around. I also really enjoyed that they took a typical southern small town setting and threw in this new world that would shake it up. Oh and the term "Casters" sounds more sophisticated/intellectual/mature/respectable, I would rather be a "caster" than a "witch" being I'm light or dark; good or evil. The only thing I can come up with as to why this story is so controversial (and by that I mean why there's so many mixed reviews as to how many people enjoy this book and how much more dislike it) is because it is a slow read. I feel you really have to use your imagination to get lost in this book, which is why I said I might have been influenced because I had a lot of the images filled in for me already. I personally feel people judge the relationship between Ethan and Lena too harshly. It sounds like a pretty normal highschool relationship to me. BUT THE ENDING!! I won't give away anything but be prepared for multiple curve balls! I stand by this book. The writing is great, the story telling is captivating, it has good morale, it's relatable AND IT HAS MAGIC :D I can't wait to see what happens with Lena and Ethan in book 2 (Beautiful Darkness)! show less

This book and I got off to a fantastic start. I absolutely loved the prologue as it established the setting and the tone of the novel beautifully. I daresay that it was some of the best establishment of setting that I have seen in YA fiction and actually found myself re-reading just that portion. Then it kind of all spiraled downhill for me.

You see, I was hesitant to pick up Beautiful Creatures due to the extravagant amount of pages it contains. It's incredibly rare for me to find a book longer than, oh about 300 pages that I actually enjoy. Too often I find that there isn't enough going on in the story for the book to warrant so much excess. I also find that these longer books contain too much fluff. Unfortunately the first problem show more was alive and well in Beautiful Creatures. I really believe this story should have been cut down to at least half its size because there really is not that much happening. Basically Lena and Ethan are in love right away without any buildup. Lena is doomed because of a curse placed upon her as a consequence of the actions taken by one of her very dead relatives. Ethan and Lena only have so much time and have to find a way to reverse the spell. There are some small town issues with outsiders and finally a brief confrontation which results in a whole lot of nothing. Now do you see what I mean about the length being a tad unnecessary?

The lack of story wasn't the only thing that bothered me. If you have read any of my other reviews then you are well aware of how much I despise these romances that just appear out of nowhere and are love at first sight. Sure, Ethan had been dreaming of Lena before they actually met but that doesn't create a solid foundation for any kind of love. He barely even knows the girl. I'm also not a fan of people throwing away every other aspect of their life just to be with this person that they have randomly fallen in love with. In real life that is known as an unhealthy relationship. Ethan became the male version of Bella to me. He quits everything else and spends every waking moment with or thinking about Lena. Gross. Just gross.

I was also incredibly disappointed by the ending. Throughout this story there is all this buildup and what you hope will be foreshadowing with the constant dream they both share and then the ending just feels like a major letdown. Nothing is resolved. If anything more problems are created so you feel like you just wasted all this time reading the book in the first place.

Overall:

I wish I liked this book, but overall I just don't. I won't be reading the rest of the series. show less