Beautiful Creatures (Beautiful Creatures, #1)

by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

[Angie]

Beautiful Creatures is one of those books that I went into hesitantly. There’s a lot of hype surrounding this book, especially with the movie out now, but there’s also a lot of hate for it. I wasn’t sure which side I’d come out on, but I landed somewhere in the middle. Definitely closer to the hate side though. I didn’t hate it at all, but there are way more negatives than positives that I can point out. I really enjoyed the basic story, but there are a lot of world building and characterization issues that kept me from rating it higher. It’s also way too long, so the story drags quite a bit in places.

First, I enjoyed having a male POV, especially since Ethan is a mostly normal human. This reminded me of Twilight‘s set up, and I’m saying that as a compliment. I liked seeing the paranormal world from a human’s perspective for a change. However, I can’t say that I really liked Ethan, or how he was portrayed. From the very first chapter he has this “I’m better than everyone” attitude going on. Essentially he thinks everyone in the South (or at least in his town of Gatlin, South Carolina) is a stupid idiot (his words, not mine) and close-minded and fake and, well, stupid.

He makes sure we know that he’s not like that at all because his parents are educated. Okay, great. Ethan is full of himself and everyone in town is a horrible Southern stereotype. Ethan also makes sure that we know he lives in the South, specifically in Gatlin. The first third or so of Beautiful Creatures is spent with Ethan repeatedly saying things like, “In Gatlin…” or “The people of Gatlin…” and “That’s how things are in Gatlin.” Over and over and over. Okay, we get it. You live in Gatlin, which is full of stupid Southern people! Wonderful. Move on!

When Ethan isn’t reminding us of where he lives and how he hates everyone, he actually did come across as a nice guy. He’s the only person to be nice to Lena, but I had a feeling it was mostly to prove that he’s not like his close-minded classmates. And because he’s been dreaming about her forever. Of course, he gets tangled up in her supernatural problems and agrees to help her. Although I do question his motivation for doing so, since a few times he said he wanted to get the help over with so they could do some more kissing. Typical teenage boy.

Okay, enough about Ethan. I hate American History. Seriously, it was my least favorite subject in school. However, I kind of liked how the Civil War played an important part in Beautiful Creatures. I do like Historical Fiction, so maybe that’s why. Whatever the reason, I do think that the historical aspect was well mixed with the paranormal.

Now for my world building issues. The first being the word Mortal used to describe humans. I know it’s common among paranormal books, but usually the supernatural species using it are immortal, so it makes sense. Are Casters immortal? I have no idea. I didn’t get the impression that they were, so calling non-magical people Mortal doesn’t work, if they’re in fact mortal also. I would have liked some clarification on this.

The other problem was the big reveal about the family curse at the end. I’m not going to mention specifics in order to avoid spoilers, but I think you’ll still be able to get my point. In typical paranormal romance fashion, Lena and Ethan have issues being together since she’s a Caster and he’s a Mortal. However, when she’s about to be Claimed on her birthday, she’s told that they found a way for her to be with him. But no one says what this way is. Just that it exists. Why is Lena all of a sudden special and can have a human boyfriend? I hate lazy cop outs like this. I want a reason why!

One more thing about Lena’s Claiming. It suppose to happen at midnight on her birthday. So why does it happen at midnight AFTER her birthday. Days start at midnight, so her Claiming should have been at the beginning of her birthday day not the next day. It’s a small thing, but it really bothered me.

And finally, there’s the whole school situation. Although this can probably be attributed to everyone being “a stupid idiot.” Would a principal really take three teenage girls at their word without even attempting to get the other side of the story?! I don’t think so. These awful girls are trying to get Lena expelled just because she’s different, so they blame all kinds of things on her. Sure, Lena did cause that window to break, but not in the way they made it sound. First of all, if she threw something at a window it would break outward. It wouldn’t spray glass INTO the classroom. Yet, the principal doesn’t realize this. He doesn’t even let Lena defend herself about any of the false accusations, and at the “meeting” he doesn’t even want her uncle who is her guardian to speak! Um…no.

Despite this extremely negative review, I did like Beautiful Creatures. At least once you push aside all of the above problems. I just can’t exactly pinpoint what it is that I liked, and I hate that I’m making it sound worse than it is. Maybe I’m just a sucker for anything paranormal, which is most likely true. But there was something about this book that kept me reading, so I would recommend giving it a try. The ending isn’t really a cliffhanger, but the very last lines do open it up for the sequels, which I may or may not read.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.