Review: Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this book up because the movie looked good and I wanted to read the book first. Didn't realize at first that it was a series, but there we have it. After reading this one, I can't say that I'm eager to read the next book, or that I will read the next book, but it's a thought. Maybe for a rainy day when I run out of other things to read.

Overall, the book was pretty good. That's why it got 3 stars instead of 2. I thought the storytelling was good but it was a bit too heavy on the sickly romance aspect. Then again, I'm not a teenager with raging hormones who feels like my heart will explode if the boy I like doesn't like me back. Been there, done that, really don't feel like reliving it.

The magic aspect of the book was interesting, although some of it seemed a bit far-fetched for a fantasy. I can tell it was very thoroughly thought-out, and I'm sure the next book gets further into it because by the end of this one there's a lot of magic happening.

Most of the characters were pretty one-dimensional. Lena was probably the most fleshed-out of the group, including Ethan, from whose point of view the book was written. The one thing I noticed is that he had more feelings than I've ever seen a male protagonist have. I was also very surprised that the book was from his point of view. But he was so in love with Lena from the start of the book that it was impossible to think of him as anything other than a love-sick puppy.

The storyline with Ethan's parents needed to really be worked on, because there is only one moment where we get a revelation about Ethan's mother's death and then it's forgotten like it was never said. His father is spiraling into a severe depression, but the only part that truly goes into it is when Ethan and Lena break into his study.

I appreciate the end of the book, it was pretty neatly wrapped up but still left the way open for the sequel. But as I said, it wasn't enough for me to pick up the next one immediately.

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