A Great and Terrible Beauty Review

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Publisher: 2003 by Delacorte Press
Hardback: 403 pages
Reading Level: Young Adult

Summary (from delacorte press):
It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to?

 My Review:

I'm starting this review with a note to self: (Rane, please write reviews right after finishing the book, as you originally planned.) I had so much to say about a week ago. I thought to myself, sure, I'll remember...how can I forget? Has that ever happened to you? If it has, you can relate to my frustration. Here's some positive thinking:

Now, if only I can  make this come true
(the mental aspect, that is...not the physical lol).

My REAL review of A Great and Terrible Beauty:

The cover of this book drew me in every time I saw it sitting on the shelf at Barnes & Noble. It's the corset. There is something great and terrible about it, isn't there? The average book buyer will automatically note the book is set long ago, sometime before the twentieth century (1895 to be exact). Thinking a little deeper, we might recall that the corset sometimes represents the suppression of women, which ends up being a huge theme in this book.

In a good book, there has to be at least one huge compelling factor to keep a reader reading. In this book, it was the characters. Gemma Doyle, the heroine of the story, and her friends at Spence academy are vivid portraits of girls from the Victorian era. There's the girl whose parents are forcing her to marry a suitor as old as her father, the girl whose parents shipped her off to school and have forgotten she exists, and of course, the girl who has no parents at all and is the school's charity case. Then, there's Gemma, who's spoiled and self-centered but quickly snaps out of it after her mother's "suicide."

In this book there are four very different characters with one HUGE commonality. None of them trust the adults in their lives. I kept thinking "SPEAK UP," you poor girl. TELL your parents how you feel. SEEK help. But, then I remembered the cover of the book, the corset strapping the girl in, molding her waist--and her mind--to fit societies standards. A girl had to suppress her feelings and do what was expected, even if it's not what she wanted. It's no wonder these four friends become obsessed with the magical realm where they can make their wildest dreams come true, whether it be a handsome prince or a beautiful face.

I floated through this book in about a day. That says something. Not only is it well-written, but it's beautifully written. At this time, I don't have much to say about the magical realm the girls visit. Next week, I will post my second Monsters, Myths & Oddities post, which will take a closer look. That being said, a tighter ending to the book, and a plot that didn't fall a tiny bit flat, would have upped my overall score to a four.

I did enjoy this book, and if you haven't read it, I hope you do. To read more of my thoughts about A Great and Terrible Beauty, please see my Book Crazies post from last week.

Cover: 5/5
Plot: 3.5/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Ending: 3/5
Overall Rating: 3.5

Clockwork Angel Review

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices Book 1) by Cassandra Clare

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Hardcover: 342 pages

Reading Level: YA (Fantasy/Paranormal Romance)

FYI: The first 121 pages of Clockwork Angel are available for FREE on Simon & Schuster’s website.

Summary: Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own. Click here to read the rest of the summary from Simon & Schuster's website.

My review: 

I’ve spent a lot of time talking about Clockwork Angel over the last month, first in my Monsters, Myths & Oddities post where I focused on demons, and then in my Book Lovelies post. What can I say? Clockwork Angel consumed many of my I-am-not-reading-but-wished-I-was moments.

So, what drew me in?

Initially, it was the descriptions of historical England (I'm a SUCKER for anything that takes place during the Victorian era). Then came the fascinating and creepy scenes starring the talon-fingered Dark Sisters who kidnap and force Tessa Gray, our heroine, to harness the powers she doesn’t even know she possesses. The third and final clincher? Will Herondale and Tessa Gray's meet-cute moment. That being said:

My feelings about Clockwork Angel range from a quizzical brow to a hunger for the next book in the series.

I love you vs. I don't

There's something special about this book.

Picture an old fashioned weighing scale. On one side of it, I'm placing what I love about Clockwork Angel, on the other side, everything I find wanting. The outcome is a harmonious balance between the two; it's a flawed, yet perfectly balanced ensemble of skillful writing, character development, plot, mystery, suspense, and romance. Just when part of the story strikes me as not quite right, I'm immediately distracted by something that's fantastic. Here are some examples:

• The contrived fighting scenes are overshadowed by compelling characters.

• The misuse of metaphors are forgotten because of the witty dialogue that follows.

• The "humanoids" are corny but the plot surrounding them is interesting.

This list could go on and on and on...

By far, one of the most compelling aspect of Clockwork Angel is the characterization of Will Herondale and Jem Castairs, Tessa's two love interests. Both boys are Shadowhunters (demon killers) and share an incredible bond, but they couldn't be more different. They both have feelings for Tessa but hold back because of separate issues. Will and Jem are tortured souls, carrying the burden of their pasts in different ways. Will is tight lipped, not wanting to give himself away. Jem is philosophical and kind but underestimates his appeal.

I didn't mention Tessa as being one of the compelling characters. She wasn't remarkable, but she wasn't annoying. She's a resolute character but flawed like any human. She can easily accept that the world is filled with Vampires, Demons, Warlocks, and Shadowhunters--and fall for one of them!--but is terrified of herself and her powers and remains so throughout the book. Though she's not compelling, she's still a good character, and I didn't mind having the story primarily through her point of view.

I could probably go on about this book forever. But, I have to stop somewhere! Here's my rating.

Cover: 5/5 (Loved it!)

Plot: 4/5

Characters: 5/5

Writing: 4/5

Ending: 3/5

Overall rating:

Since I loved Will & Jem, I want to give you a little preview of their characters through quotes (Pictures and descriptions borrowed from here).

  

Will Herondale
Seventeen-year-old Will is the sort of young man nice Victorian girls were warned against. He drinks, gambles, and enjoys the company of ladies of questionable virtue—at least, as much as he enjoys anything. Will hates everyone and everything, with the possible exception of Jem, and even that's in some doubt. Charlotte despairs of keeping him alive past the age of nineteen. When he finds himself oddly drawn to Tessa, his friends begin to hope that the Downworlder girl will prove Will's unlikely salvation—but as Tessa grows closer to the bleak secret that makes his life a prison, danger threatens to destroy them both if she ever finds out the truth.

"Are you implying that shreds of my reputation remain intact?" Will demanded with mock horror. "Clearly I have been doing something wrong. Or not something wrong, as the case may be."

He banged on the side of the carriage. "Thomas! We must away at once to the nearest brothel. I seek scandal and low companionship."

***

"So you're a Shadowhunter," Nate said. "De Quincey told me that you lot were monsters."

"Was that before or after he tried to eat you?" Will inquired.

***

"Dear me. Such harsh truths so early in the morning cannot be good for the digestion."

Jem Castairs
Brought up in the Institute in Shanghai, Jem's parents were killed by a demon who allowed Jem to live—but with a terrible price to be paid. Frail and silver-haired, Jem seems an unlikely demon-killer, but his skills and swift intelligence make him a formidable foe. He finds a kindred spirit in Tessa as both of them feel they are torn between two worlds, neither belonging completely to one or to the other. As Jem's affection for her grows, will Will have to hurt the only person in his life he's ever seemed to care about?

"I know you feel inhuman, and as if you are set apart, away from life and love, but... I promise you, the right man won't care."

***

"Sometimes our lives can change so fast that the change outpaces our minds and hearts. It's those times I think when our lives have altered but we still long for the time before everything was altered--that is when we feel the greatest pain. I can tell you though from experience, you grow accustomed to it. You learn to live your new life and you can't imagine or even really remember how things were before."

Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon

How did I like it? Here's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It's been months since the last time I read a YA paranormal romance book and felt so completely satisfied by the end of the story.

Need a recap? Click here for goodreads summary of Dead Beautiful.

Renée Winters is the main character of this story, and unlike so many other YA protagonists, this one doesn't get under my skin. She's not annoying at all. Her reactions to her parents death (don't worry, this isn't a spoiler. You find out her parents die on the back blurb of the book!) is completely normal and not an emotional overload for the reader. In fact, that's a good way of explaining this book. It has drama without being overly dramatic.
 

After her parents die, Renée is sent to a school where she meets Dante (awww, sigh, heart palpitations happening right this moment), a guy I could easily see every teen forming a crush on (and every 27 year old adult---sh! It's a secret). Let's face it, one of the things teens love about paranormal romance is 1) cool stuff happens that they wish happened in real life 2)they can have a bookmance with the hero. Okay, those are just my reasons. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce the hero of the story.

Dante Berlin (cool name btw) is a great hero. You don't have to be a bad boy to have bad ass bookmantic appeal. He's mysterious and stays mysterious throughout most of the book. You can't figure out if he's intentionally keeping the truth from Renée, or if he is just as clueless as she is. There is one thing I wish had more page space: the interactions between Renée and Dante. I felt the book, for all of its 455 pages, needed to show more building up to their romance. Yes, they are drawn to each other for inexplicable reasons (that become very clear by the end). Yes, they have some PG-13 steamy scenes. But, I didn't feel enough tension build between them before they got together. And, of course, it's always the tension that we readers like the most. Okay, by we, I mean me.

There were a few times near the middle of the book that I wondered where is this plot headed? The foreshadowing sort of...kind of...had me guessing where the end would take us, but it wasn't enough that I could actually solve all of the mystery until maybe the last 3 chapters. This is a good thing and a not so good thing. I think it was about half way through the story that I got a bit frustrated (this is normal with me...I'm always frustrated with a book in one way or another...I don't see it as a bad thing, either) because I wanted more to happen...FASTER. But, looking back, it was all worth it. In the beginning, and for most of the book, the plot seems a lot simpler than it actually is. It took a lot of "little" events to build up to an end the reader could understand.

I just want to point out a wonderfully written scene, one that I can appreciate from a writer's perspective.

Excerpt from Dead Beautiful, written by Yvonne Woon:

"Are you okay?" Dante asked, kneeling by my side.

I nodded, barely able to speak. "I'm fine."

"Stay here," he said, touching my cheek. "So I know you'll be safe." And with that, he grabbed a loose shovel that had fallen from the shattered hutch and ran out the door in pursuit of *Someone.*

Picking myself up, I followed him.

*Someone* was used to prevent a spoiler.

So, what is it I love about that scene so much? Dante tells her to stay put, and she follows him without any thoughts like, "I know Dante wanted me to stay here, but I had to follow to make sure he was ok yada yada yada." It would have spoiled the moment. It says a lot about Renée's personality that she didn't stall and think about it. She wasn't going to just stay there. She had to go see what was happening. Obviously, she had to, the book is from her POV. But, regardless, it was very well executed.

The last page had me re-reading. I don't mind that at all. I think the twist is great, and I can only imagine (and am quite excited) about all the things that can occur in book 2 because of it.


My overall rating: