At one time, Ethan Wate thought of his southern hometown Gatlin as a place that always stayed the same. That is, until he met a mysterious stranger named Lena Duchannes. Her arrival to Gatlin brought with it the revelation of the secrets this town has been keeping all along. In fact, for generations, the Duchannes family has been cursed in Gatlin, where seemingly impossible, supernatural events really come to pass.
Though Lena and Ethan long to stand side by side, throughout all changes, there is a tragic loss that threatens their bond. Once this happens, Lena hides secrets and Ethan finds that he can no longer pretend he does not see the darker side of Gatlin. These dark visions draw him further down into the mire of the Gatlins history, where he finds himself circling in the vast underground labyrinth in the South.
The film Beautiful Creatures was released in America in February 2013, and introduced us to the world of the Caster Chronicles. One of the highest rated young adult fantasy series, the story of Ethan Wate and Lana Duchannes is masterfully crafted by two American authors.
Kami Garcia was raised near Washington D. C.. Yet she has ties to the south, where these tales are set, and she has always been fascinated by the supernatural. Margaret Stohl has a background in the video gaming industry, where she applied her creative writing first. Though they created the Beautiful Creature series together, both women now live in California and work separately.
"This book really gave me a new appreciation for love triangles. Usually, when I'm reading a book, the main character/speaker is the one choosing between two people. And, as the reader, I LOVE to have an opinion on who the character should end up with. Reading from the perspective of someone who is one of the options is so much more frustrating. I found myself angry at Lena because she was giving Ethan the cold shoulder. (I suddenly feel bad for all those characters in other books...). On another note, I thought Beautiful Creatures was crazy, but I didn't know crazy until Beautiful Darkness. My mind was seriously blown with every advance in this book. (view spoiler)[Ethan is a Wayward? Ethan's mom was in love with Macon? John Breed is some sort of hybrid? Abraham is alive? Ridley lost her powers? Lucille is a Caster animal? Macon is alive? LINK IS AN INCUBUS?! Mind. Blown. My mind was so blown by this book that I refuse to even try to speculate what's going to happen in the next book because if I think something is going to happen, I'm just going to be more surprised by what happens. (Not that this is a bad thing. It's totally great. I love not being able to predict what's going to happen (Unlike Ethan when he watches movies... Ha, I think I'm fully)). I can't wait to see what happens in Beautiful Chaos. Hopefully there is some more Ridley/Link action and more information about the mysterious John Breed! (hide spoiler)]"
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Kiersten (5 out of 5 stars)