Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Beautiful Creatures is a book for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider. The heroine of the story, Lena, has powers she doesn’t understand and often cannot control. She’s very beautiful, but doesn’t fit in anywhere. Her presence is especially suspicious in a town where nothing ever changes and anyone different is immediately suspect. There were elements of the storytelling that I enjoyed very much, although I can’t say that anything really took me by surprise. The authors borrowed from the formula that is selling many a YA paranormal love story these days. Boy meets girl. Girl or boy is very different. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl must fight against evil powers and find a way to be together despite the fact that one is a normal human and one is not. Sound familiar? Also, one scene in the book could have been taken right out of Stephen King’s Carrie. Even so, the formula works, the writing was good though it dragged in some places, and the main characters were well-drawn. The secondary characters were stereotypical and underdeveloped, but such was the case in the Twilight series and look how well it did. There are four books in the Caster Chronicles, and I plan to read them all. Mostly I’m interested in following the relationship of Lena and Ethan to its conclusion. What can I say? The story may be formulaic, but it’s still enjoyable.

View all my reviews

On a side note, I met the authors at the Decatur Book Festival over Labor Day weekend, and they were delightful. I’m also looking forward to the movie that is currently in production. I’ll be sharing these books with my 20-year-old daughter. She loved Twilight, so I know she’ll enjoy The Castor Chronicles.