A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

-

 After the murder of her mother, Gemma Doyle is shipped off to Spence Academy in England. Gemma starts getting strange visions of the future. To make things worse, a strange man has been watching her. As Gemma embraces her newfound power, she starts to uncover the dark secrets surrounding Spence.

I kind of read this series out of order, but let's just ignore that tiny fact.

The main reason I decided to read this book is because I've heard so many great things about Libba Bray's books! I found this book and the third one at Reread Books for a total of $10. I got book 2 for free so I figured might as well read the whole trilogy! A Great and Terrible Beauty left me a little disappointed.

As usual, I'll start off by talking about what I liked. A Great and Terrible Beauty is a gothic fantasy set in 1893, England. The plot of this book was super intriguing. I liked getting to investigate the mystery of Mary Dowd through reading her journals. Though it was a little slow, I thought the story flowed fairly well. It had a lot of potentials and for a debut, it wasn't too bad.

Gemma was a pretty okay character. She was really stubborn. I didn't really hate any of the characters in this book.

The world-building is great and only gets better as the series goes on! I loved the setting of Victorian London. I also liked getting to explore the Realms.

Now onto what I don't like. This book was a bit racial content. The male lead for this book is a young man from India. He was sexualized quite a bit for his "exotic" appearance. All the other Indian characters in the book were either submissive and quiet or violent. I realize that society's come a long way from when this book was published in the early 2000s, but still, it wasn't the best representation.

I couldn't care less for the friendships built in this book. Compared to a lot of the other books I've read, Gemma never seemed as close with Felicity, Pippa, and Ann as other protagonists do with their friends. Felicity herself was so selfish and annoying.

The plot twists in this book were nothing exciting. It's not that I saw them coming, I just wasn't very excited or shocked about them.

Page count: 403 pages

Published: December 9, 2003

Genre: fantasy, historical fiction

Series: Gemma Doyle book 1

My rating: 3 stars

Trigger warnings: murder

Buy this book

~ ~ ~

Also by Libba Bray:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My 5 Favorite Quotes From Clap When You Land

-
Image
  Clap When You Land  was an amazing novel. On top of that, Elizabeth Acavado's writing was beautiful.  5 "The whole time she swallowed her words like bitter pills not realizing that they were slow dripping poison." 4 "Papi was a man split in two playing a game against himself But the problem with that is in order to win, you always lose" 3 "A queen offers her hand to be kissed, & can form it into a fist while smiling the whole damn time" 2 You do not let your words stunt unknown possibilities." 1 "Fight until you can't breathe, & if you have to forfeit you forfeit smiling, make them think you let them win." About Clap When You Land Camino lives in the Dominican Republic. Yaraha lives in New York City.  The two girls have never met but they have one thing in common: their father. When their father dies in a tragic plane crash, Camino and Yaraha's world turns upside down. To add to all the crazy in their life, they find ea
Read more

October Book Haul

-
Image
 I got so many new books this month I'm excited to read! About half of the books I got were graphic novels because I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately. Act Cool  by Tobly McSmith Act Cool  is a recent release that looks so good! Goodreads synopsis: Aspiring actor August Greene just landed a coveted spot at the prestigious School of Performing Arts in New York. There's only one problem: His conservative parents won't accept that he's transgender. And to stay with his aunt in the city, August must promise them he won't transition. August is convinced he can play the part his parents want while acting cool and confident in the company of his talented new friends. But who is August when the lights go down? And where will he turn when the roles start hitting a little too close to home?  A Tale of Sorcery by Chris Colfer Though I'm so excited to read the last book in the Tale of Magic  series, I am a little sad that Chris Colfer is taking a break from wri
Read more

Fairest of All by Serena Valentino

-
Image
Page Count: 250 pages (Hardcover) Published: August 18, 2009 My Rating: 4 stars Series: Villians book 1 Genre: Fantasy   While she may seem like a jealous queen after a young girl's beauty, she is so much more. They may have been logic and heartache behind the Queen's attempts on the sweet girl's life. The Queen struggles with her looks and the trauma from her childhood helps her accept the fact that she must become the fairest of them all.    This is definitely my favorite version of Snow White! From the Queen's early days as a child to her last moments, Serena Valentino took this seemingly innocent fairy tale and turned it into something dark and twisted. This is by far the most heartbreaking story of Snow White ever. At the same time, this book has enough plot twists to keep any reader entertained. You'll never believe who the magic mirror really is!      Even though Snow White has never been my favorite, this is definitely a book I would be willi
Read more