Reviewed by Amber (The Literary Phoenix) on
Vampires and YA have a history. In the early 2000s, Twilight took the world by storm and everyone and their mom was reading vampire YA. In fact, Twilight is one of the things that helped solidify YA as a genre. But the vampire waved burned up in the sun quickly (sparkled up in the sun?) and I think plenty of us look back on that era and cringe. It’s been taboo ever since.
Renée Ahdieh took a risk with The Beautiful.
This book was well approached – if I had to compare it with any pre-existing vampire story, I’d say it comes the closest to the Sookie Stackhouse series. I’d also say that while we’re all excitingly looking for vampires, The Beautiful isn’t actually a vampire books. There’s vampires involved, but it’s a romance first and a paranormal story second. For all the hype, we see very little of vampires.
Marceline, the main character, has a secret boiling inside of her that shapes much of her view of self-worth. There’s the romantic struggle to or to not love someone that feels Shakespearian. Renée Ahdieh wanted the reader to fall in love alongside Celine. Our love interest, Sebastien, is one of the traditionally “tall, dark, and handsome” types that is sure to win the hearts of many readers. In particular, those who fall for the villain are going to fall for Bastien.
Where Renée Ahdieh shines in The Beautiful is her conversation about fashion. Celine – a former Parisian with a passion for fashion – is at her best and brightest when designing clothing, and is lucky (unlucky?) enough to fall in line with Odette. Her patron has money to spare, and the girls become friends. The descriptions of parties and ensembles are elegant. Renée Ahdieh did her research in this area, and it shines through in the way she writes about it. I also very much appreciated the grace with which she rolled French phrases into the dialogue and Celine’s thoughts. They flowed naturally and were atmospheric and accessible to non-French speakers.
One thing that drove me crazy? I feel like so many scenes in this book were just a means to an end. The flow felt forced and structured. I’m not sure if this is going to come off to too many casual readers, but I felt there were conversations that existed solely for the purpose of encouraging the relationship and therefore the emotional toll at the end. They felt so clunky and obvious in their design; I think the lack of subtlety made it less effective for me. I felt the ending was very predictable, and walking away from the book, it was not… memorable. Its structured made it the type of book you read because it’s hyped, but not the type you’re dying to pick up and devour again.
This is all personal to my experience with The Beautiful. I know many people are excited for this book, and the romance will delight the romantic souls out there in the audience. Renée Ahdieh is a good writer, but I simply don’t believe this is her strongest work. And if you’re coming in for vampire goodness, this book will not deliver in that respect. There’s a little mystery, a little drama, a little New Orleans, but The Beautiful is missing that “wow” factor.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 19 July, 2019: Finished reading
- 19 July, 2019: Reviewed