Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & M Stohl

Title: Beautiful Creatures

Series: I Think is Beautiful Creatures.

Book #: 1st

Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Pages: 576

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Reading Level: Young Adult

Rating:

"No Alarms, and No Surprises."

- Radiohead

There were no surprises in Gatlin County.

We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.

At least, that's what I thought.

Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.

There was a curse.

There was a girl.

And in the end, there was a grave.

Taschima:

As one of the most expected YA books of 2009, Beautiful Creatures has created high expectations. And after reading it, I gotta say, it excels.

Ethan Wate comes from a little town, raised in the same little town, and his greatest desire if to G-E-T O-U-T. He can't understand his father's desire to stay, or for in fact his mother's. When she was alive anyways. Since then his father is non existent. Besides this, his life is completely normal. He is part of the in-crowd, and much like them. Until the dreams start. Or most likely the nightmares. He fights for his and some girl's life on this dream, but she always slips away. And the only thing he knows about this girl is that she smells of Lemons and Rosemary, and that without much sane reason he loves her.

This book is wow. I felt like Kami and Margarate took YA by the Y and the A, completely turned it upside down and did a work of art while they were at it. By now I expect the female point of view, the mysterious bad boy, and some kind of supernatural excuse to keep them apart. Oh boy, not such thing with this one.

Of course there is a girl, a boy, and maybe a curse, but you get it with a spin that makes you love the story even more. First off the POV is a MALE'S POV. That was shocking enough. I heard this book had some kind of romance in it, so a male POV in the story took me by surprise. It's completely refreshing.

And while there is certainly some romance in this book the authors managed to not make it the main point of the story, while making it the main point of the story. Ugh, and it's REAL. You can feel everything they are feeling; you understand why they are feeling it. It's not just hormones, you can call this love. They fight, they scream, but still they have a connection. Oh and a big plus, they don't say the L word as soon as in other YA novels. It is there, they know it, they just don't feel the need to BRAG about it.

Now the curse. The plot line was extremely interesting. They use a little bit of everything, magic (black and white), historical facts (some real and some invented of course), secrets, mysteries, riddles... They pulled the same old rabbit out of the hat, but instead of a old normal white rabbit you get one that has all the colors of the rainbow.

All the characters added something to the story. Ethan is the believer; he never gives up. Lina is the girl who has gone through so much, she just can't help but be a little cynical/negative about her whole destiny. They balance each other out. Oh and the other characters... well if you like dark humor they were some sort of comic release, at least for me. Marco (Lina's uncle) had me laughing a number of times. Again, you have to have a weird sense of humor.

Kami and Margaret managed to turn something ordinary into something extraordinary. From old to new. From boring to I-have-spent-over-4-hours-on-this-book-'till-I-finished-it. And I am not even kidding. You know how we sometimes over use the phrase 'keeps you at the edge of your seat'? Damn, I am going to try to invent a new phrase, but for now this is exactly what this book did for me. And I'm sure if you give it a try, one way or the other, it will work for you too.

*Tomorrow in celebration of Beautiful Creature's release I will have an interview with Kami Garcia and M Stohl. Be here and be punctual hahahaha ^^