A Great and Terrible Beauty

A Great and Terrible Beauty
by Libba Bray

This book was not Great or Terrible...more like Ok and Bad or - Nice and Disappointing, how about - Average and Mediocre or, Small and Silly. OK I am getting carried away, I feel bad, guilt is choking me, Libba if you are reading this, which I am sure you're not but if I was an author and I was reading this I would be highly offended and so on the off chance that you are reading this I'm sorry. It really wasn't Terrible...it just wasn't Great either. It had a lot of promise...some intriguing ideas and a good love story in the making but it just didn't fit. The characters never seemed to be consistent. One minute they were evil and rude to one another the next they were bonding over whiskey in a cave. I felt like there wasn't any payoff in the end. We didn't get to meet the villain, didn't get anywhere in our love story, and no clarity on what the book was trying to say. Sorry but not a recommendation. Skip this and read good ol' Harry Potter if you want some real magic!

A Great and Terrible Beauty

Okay...well, what to say. The book has a strong start that kind of sucks you in right away with a girl witnessing the murder of her mom and this mysterious magic power. I'm thinking it will be kind of a Harry Potter- a magic girl being sent off to a boarding type school in England. But it turns in to Harry Potter meets 'Lord of the Flies' and 'the Exorcist'. The book is clean as far as language, but has some serious creepy and disturbed undertones. I must note that I listened to this on CD and the lady did REALLY creepy voices for the bad character. Maybe it's not so bad reading it yourself.

And it's slightly annoying because there is a love story but it doesn't have a very statisfy ending. I know its because it's a trilogy, but still...and I have a question in the comments for those who have read the book.