Book Review: Beautiful Darkness

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Released: October, 12, 2010
Publisher: Little Brown
Pages: 503
Series: The Caster Chronicles #2
Rating: 4 stars

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.

Beautiful Creatures is one of my favorite novels, so I was excited to continue the series and read more about my favorite characters and the fantastic town of Gatlin. However, I found Beautiful Darkness to be lacking in keeping my attention fully engaged. The book felt dragged out until the last 150 pages or so where things started to pick up. Throughout most of the novel, I just felt bored, annoyed, and even confused at times. But I didn’t let that stop me from reading because I knew it’d be setting something huge up for book 3.

Even though there wasn’t as much action like in the first book, Beautiful Darkness was still as beautifully written with a great set of characters. I just love Link and his spunky attitude. We didn’t get to see much of him in the first book, but that isn’t the case this time around. He has a rather big part to play. Ethan is always a joy to read about. He’s sweet, smart, and realistic. Real emotions and believable choices. He’s cares for his girlfriend deeply and when she holds him at a distant, he doesn’t let that falter his determination to help her. I like Lena in the first book, but I was just really annoyed with her in this book. I understand that she’s going through some tough times, but I wish she would stop feeling sorry for herself and do something about it.

Once the action started to pick up, I found it hard to put down until I knew what was going to happen. The ending was completely satisfying and I can’t wait to see how the story unfolds from here.