Beautiful Creatures, not so beautiful book.

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

This book could have been so much more...with such an interesting plot, conflicted yet attractive characters and wonderful world building/setting (South, Civil War vs. present day). I could see why a movie was made based on the above factors: forbidden love, characters torn between two worlds, mysterious families and past, unbelievable power that could used to do good, as well as bad...and a haunted mansion with an attractive owner... I loved how the main character was a love-sick boy, not a girl as in most other YA books.

Unfortunately, there are several factors that did not contribute to a good rating for the series:

1. The story drags on too much without smooth transitions from one part to another. The story could be told in less than two books, 4 are just too many.

2. The characters are not consistent in their actions and beliefs. It's hard to really know and cheer for them, except that they love each other, just like Edward and Bella from Twilight. (Did I mention how much the beginning and plot of this series reminded me of Twilight? By the way, I DID like Twilight, so I'm not one of those anti-paranormal fans) The first person thinking of a new twist is a genius, all others are just copycats.

3. There are so many opportunities to make the 2 main characters likable, yet the author(s) failed; probably neither of them is good in writing from her heart to begin with. Not to mention the collaboration, which may also hinder the smooth flow of the story. It also happened to most of the supporting characters, so I feel sad for the extremely great ones, as Macon and Amma, since they would go down, with the series.

4. Terrible and unpolished writing and grammar, weak descriptives and word choices.

“Just as I lay down, she sat up. I sat up, she flopped back down. Awkward. That was my every move, when it came to her.”

"There was a curse. There was a girl. And in the end, there was a grave. I never even saw it coming."

"I knew what I was doing. You don't. You think you do, but you don't. She was in my head again, as it she'd always been there."

"Everything around me changed, and it was like I was somewhere else. I was in the garden, but not in the garden..."

I'm a serious note-taking and highlighter (with Kindle) when reading, and the only phrase I highlighted in this book was in the beginning: "There were only two kinds of people in our town. The stupid and the stuck." After reading the first two books of the series (and skimping through the third and the fourth), I seriously think a third person wrote that quote...

5. People can die and be revived as the authors pleased; as well as the characters gaining and losing their power(s). Anything goes. This is the main killer for me. This predicted the forever dragging on of the plot.

I wish some wonderful YA authors, like Roth, Taylor, or Oliver could take this series and rewrite the books so not to waste the characters and the setting.

View all my reviews