Beautiful Darkness (Beautiful Creatures, #2)

by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

[Kim Deister]

My review: This next book picks up not long after the first in the series, Beautiful Creatures, ends. In my opinion, this book is darker than the first, coming on the heels of personal tragedy within the story line. I think one of the things I loved the most was how grief was handled. It wasn't glossed over at all, giving it total reality.

The setting of a southern small town, along with the gothic elements, is a definite stereotype of southern living, and maybe a little over the top. But it works perfectly within the context of the story and sets the stage for even more secrets to be revealed.

There was much more development of the characters in this book, too, which really brought some of the characters to life. Interestingly, one of the characters that most came to life for me was one that was actually dead. Ethan was much more of a strong presence in this book, a lot of his story being his own instead of entwined with Lena's.

The angst level was a lot higher in this book, something that usually tends to annoy me. But it is something that really worked for this story. It added a pretty dark layer to the entire story and served to underscore a lot of the issues in the book.

Things to love about Beautiful Creatures...

--Answers. A lot of questions were answered in this installment of the Beautiful Creatures series.
--Questions. As many questions that were answered, there were all kinds of new questions that leave me wanting to start the next book.

Things I wanted more of...

--The mundane world. Most of the story took place in the Caster world and not nearly as much in the non-magical world. I missed the blend.

My recommendation: You definitely have to read these in order to experience the flow of the story. I think the story was better than the last and I recommend this one just as much as the first.