Published: 2009-2012
Pages: 2,038
Source: Bought/Borrowed
Rating: 4 Stars
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.
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.
In short: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl make an excellent team and have written a great series with the Caster Chronicles.
I absolutely adored Beautiful Creatures when I read it in late 2010, back when I was a newbie blogger. I do think my tastes have changed since then though and if I had read Beautiful Creatures now, as I did with the other three books in the series, I can't imagine I would be quite as enamoured with it as I have since fallen a bit out of love with paranormal YA. But it was with some amount of relief that I found that my tastes haven't changed hugely and I was able to delve back into the little world of Gatlin and the big world of the Casters, no problem.
Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl demonstrate with ease their adeptness in writing great characters and in setting the broody Gothic atmosphere of Gatlin. I am just in awe of their skills, particularly because I can't comprehend how anyone could share the authoring of a single POV book with someone else and still have such smooth passages and transitions that you would never think it wasn't written by one person only. My understanding is that they each write their own passages and then trade and edit each other's work as they go. They must work quite well together!
I am happy to report that I enjoyed the rest of the series after Beautiful Creatures, even if I was perhaps not as engaged in the story as I once was. The pacing can be a bit slow at times, but more patient readers will appreciate the attention to detail in the descriptions. The town of Gatlin is as much a character as it is the setting for the series and I absolutely love that about these books. I have also grown quite fond of the characters - particularly the side characters, whom are numerous and yet as richly developed and animated as Ethan and Lena, and whom also provide much needed moments of levity among the dark undertones of the series.
So it is with satisfaction that I can officially cross off a series from my lengthy series-to-be-finished list! And I'm all the more satisfied because this series is one that had a good conclusion, as well as an elaborate and well thought out journey on the route there. I may have fallen a bit out of love with the Caster Chronicles since I read Beautiful Creatures so long ago and I may not have been as engaged with the story as I once was, but I am happy that each subsequent book was a solid read and that I enjoyed them. I am so impressed with the work that Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl do together that I would gladly read more from them again!
Author Links:
Kami Garcia Website
Kami Garcia Twitter
Kami Garcia Goodreads
Margaret Stohl Website
Margaret Stohl Twitter
Margaret Stohl Goodreads
