Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia, Margaret StohlReleased : October 28th 2010 (first published October 12th 2010)
Publisher: Razorbill (Penguin)
Format : Paperback
Pages: 503
Series: Caster Chronicles #2
Source : Borrowed from library
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Book Depositorysynopsis
Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.
Sometimes life-ending.
Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.
thoughts
*MAY CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS*I began to read this right after finishing the first part, Beautiful Creatures (
see my review here). I really enjoyed the first part, so I had quite high expectations for this one, too. And I really did enjoy the beginning. I though it was an excellent read, when I was half way through the book.
I loved to see the drama in Ethan's and Lena's relationship, I was also glad that Liv came to the picture. I wished that something would actually happen between Ethan and her, and sure, there was some hints, but in the end, nothing happened. Because the end half of the book was not good. I was pissed most of the time when I read it. Since the first half was so good, I didn't even expect the quality to dive. Not that bad.
The end half was just so clustered! There was way too much action and never any kind of preparation! You could sum it up like this (some serious spoilers!):
- Ethan has a problem
-> Old lady to the rescue, with bunch of ghosts, in the middle of nowhere
-> Nut aunt to the rescue, in the middle of Savannah
-> Three old ladies to the rescue, in the middle of graveyard
-> One hundred- year- old lady to the rescue, wondering in the Tunnels
-> One evil siren to the rescue, don't know why, but who cares
-> Dead mum to the rescue, any time there isn't any living to help
-> Dead uncle to the rescue
-> Dead uncle's living sister to the rescue, in a secret hidden place, to where she just happened to wonder??
-> Again, three old ladies to the help, and of course the ghosts came along, too
And that's not even half the gang hanging around! WHAT THE HELL??? Pardon the language, but.. Yeah.
What else. Ethan was turned into Aquaman, meaning total wuss with no brain or talent, just pining over some b*tch, who leaves with another guy, sure, they were only holding hands.. And what does Aquaman do? He blames himself and realizes how bad he has been and how the poor girl is suffering because of him, and that's why she's acting out. Yeah.
Let's also take siren's powers and turn one Mortal into Demon. Also, we find out, that Dead Uncle was saved by Dead Mum, and Dead Uncle is in Aquamans pocket for a while and somehow, Dark turns into Light, Demon into Caster, and though it was only his spirit, which was in prison, he also get his body back, somehow from somewhere, who cares about little things like that.
Of course, there's one-liners flying around. And there's little things like "It was Hunting Ravenwood, Macon's brother -- and his killer." and "With his white beard and Sunday suit, he looked more like Colonel Sanders than what he was -- a killer." That's annoying. Also the fact, that Hunting didn't exactly kill Macon, pisses me off. Through the book they are blaming both Lena and Hunting for killing Macon. I don't know anymore who killed Macon, but who cares, since Dead Uncle is very alive nowadays.
Overall, I'm pissed. In the beginning I was like "Wow, this is even better than the first one, yay!" and I was sure, that this would deserve at least 4 cupcakes! Then, I kept reading, and in my current state of pissedness (it's a word, I swear) I'd like to give it a one cupcake, max two. But since I can still remember the good beginning, I have to give this 3 cupcakes. Even if I didn't want to right now.
Rating: 
