Beautiful Creatures Review

Sixteen moons, sixteen years

Sixteen of your deepest fears
Sixteen times you dreamed my tears
Falling, falling though the years....
I never knew why the official fan site was called “Caster Girls” until I read Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and then all became clear! Ethan is the 16 year old male, protagonist who lives in the sleepy, backwards town of Gatlin in the heart of the Deep South. Gatlin is a town rich in history and tradition; generations of the same family live and die there. It’s a place where nothing. Ever. Happens. UNTIL NOW.

After Ethan experiences a series of weird dreams, a strange girl arrives in town and he feels an instant connection to her. With her outwardly gothic sense of style and her unfortunate family (her uncle is the creepy guy who lives in the big creepy house which he never leaves), Lena is different and as such is instantly hated by the ‘in crowd’ at school. On top of all that, Lena is hiding a secret. Her family is cursed and she believes that she will be ‘claimed’ by her 16th birthday as either a dark caster or a light caster. I know what you’re thinking. What the heck is a caster? Right? I’m going to let you find out yourself by reading the book! Needless to say that Ethan becomes her only friend and as their relationship develops, more and more secrets are slowly revealed. Town secrets, family secrets, you name it; it’s pretty much all out there by the end! And you’ll just have to read the book to see what happens!

It’s a classic good vs. evil storyline only sometimes the lines become a bit blurry and it’s hard to know WHAT side people are on. Are people truly ALL good or ALL evil? *I* don’t think so and for me, this comes across in the book quite nicely.

This is the first book I’ve read in a LONG time where it’s written from a male point of view. At first, it felt a little weird and I found myself thinking “would a guy say this? Would a guy act like that?” but then I relaxed into it and stopped thinking about it so hard! It was also surprising since the authors’ are female. I’m also wondering why they chose to write the book as a ‘twosome’ but I’m guessing that information is somewhere on their website.

At the beginning of every chapter, there are some numbers at the top of the page and it took me a little while to realise that this was the date! Americans write the date differently to everyone else and this made it even more confusing. I wonder if the authors’ considered this when they wrote the book and envisaged it selling to an international audience.

Overall, a beautifully written gothic story set in a rich, lush, southern setting. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters as well as the town which was an entity in itself. Can I also just say the library concept was an inspiring idea! I understand that there is a sequel due in the fall and I can’t wait!

You can visit the official fan site “Caster Girls” website here. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl can be found on Facebook and Twitter. I believe the official website for Beautiful Creatures is here.