Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen. Sometimes life-ending. Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.
Authors: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Published: October 12, 2010
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Pages: 512
Rating: 4/5 stars
Description from Goodreads:
This is the sequel to Beautiful Creatures and picks up Ethan's story the day after the events that occurred on Lena's birthday. While you can read this book without having read Beautiful Creatures, the story will make more sense if you have the background knowledge of the first book.
The story takes us back to Gatlin and finds Lena in despair over the death of her uncle on her sixteenth birthday. Ethan does not remember the events that happened that night or how Lena saved his life, so he does not understand her ambivalence toward him. While she loves him, she feels guilty that by saving him her uncle had to die. Her grief is driving a wedge between them and their relationship is very strained. In order to help Lena pull out of her grief and to find answers of his own about his mother's death, Ethan explores the Caster world under Gatlin and beyond. The book finally answers many questions I had in the first book. We find out what really happened to Ethan's mother, as well as what her connection to the Cater world was. We also find out what special powers Ethan has and how he relates to the Caster world around him. I was surprised more than once at relationships between the many characters in this book, and loved how the authors wove events from the past into what is happening in the present.
This is another epic novel at 512 pages, but once again it allowed the story to develop in a way that left me satisfied and the action kept my interest throughout the book. It is darker than the first book, with much of the book set in the underground and the continued battle between Light vs Dark. The sequel is every bit as good as the first in the series and left me wanting more. Fortunately it looks like we can expect two additional sequels, the next in the Fall of 2011. The authors have a website where you can find more information: Beautiful Creatures the Book.
Rating:
An excellent, fun read you will enjoy
