November Book Review: A Great and Terrible Beauty
I finished this novel in two days time; the first and second of November. And now, my review as part of my 101 Things in 1,001 Days list .
My disclaimer: My opinions are, of course, my own. I'm pretty sure that if I gave a book to my best friend and had her read it she'd have different opinions and would probably write a different review, hence: please remember that my opinion on this book is not the end-all nor is it shared by everyone. Also, I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum in the case that anyone who reads this review feels like reading the book in question. If you DO happen to read any book I happen to review, I'd totally dig it (dig it? Is this the 70's?) if you left me a comment and let me know how YOU felt about the book.
Quick Facts:
Title: A Great and Terrible Beauty
Author: Libba Bray
Genre: Fiction/Fantasy
Age Group: Young Adult-Adult
Length: 432 pages
This is the second book I bought in October, but one that I was hesitant to buy. High fantasy isn't really my thing and I was afraid that this novel would be too "fantastical" for me to stand. But after the first few chapters, I found that this wasn't the case, and was glad to be wrong.
A Victorian boarding-school in England sets the scene for this other-wordly tale of a clique of four girls. Each girl was sent there to be "finished" and raised as young women bred of marriage and home-life, each one of their stories are unique, and each seek something more than embroidery and perfect dinner manners.
The story closely follows 16-year old Gemma who is sent to the finishing school of Spence after her mother is mysteriously murdered--a murder which she for sees through a vision. Fitting in at Spence is hard at first, finding only a little companionship in her roommate; the poor, plain girl named Ann. For this, she is snubbed by the crème de la crème of her school: the commanding Felcity and the beautiful Pippa. Through struggle and a bit of blackmail, Gemma joins herself and Ann into Felicity's and Pippa's circle, finding out that they have more in common than they could ever realize. The four girls become a tightly woven sisterhood, so much so that Gemma confides in them the nature of her visions and even the mysterious power that she seems to hold. With this power, Gemma opens a door into a dream world where she and the other girls can go and make anything possible and escape, for brief moments, their futures as Victorian wives. In this dream world, her mother's spirit remains and warns Gemma of impending danger. Now that her mother was dead, she warns, "they" would soon be after Gemma. In order to save herself and rebuild the mystical Order that her mother once belonged to, Gemma must find the strength to put right what her mother had once done wrong.
All right, so it's not exactly an easy story to explain or summarize, but you should get the idea. Victorian times, Victorian finishing school, a group of girls and supernatural goings-ons. This book was easy for me to read, and read quickly! Each character is so imperfect (even Gemma) that it makes for a very interesting read far so than had they all been perfect best buddies. The plain and simple truth is, these girls are like any other snotty clique in high school--they'll turn on you the moment they are through with you, their whim comes and goes with the breeze, and they have insecurities that tend to cause them to do harm to others. But with these imperfections come a greater understanding of their characters and genuine sympathy for each. This book is a just a tip of the iceberg, as it's the first to a trilogy as I understand it, so I'm fairly sure that the supernatural/fantasy element to this book will grow with the next. If the author can keep feeding me the fantasy along with great big helpings of historical believability and normalcy (as normal as a group of girls gets!) then I think I can stomach anything she throws at me. It was also a big help to view the main character without any romantic involvement (although she does hint at a growing crush, we aren't buried in her swooning), of which I'm sure will change with the second book--so romance lovers don't despair yet.
All in all, I found it to be a great read and I'd recommend this book to a friend--in fact, I already have!
My disclaimer: My opinions are, of course, my own. I'm pretty sure that if I gave a book to my best friend and had her read it she'd have different opinions and would probably write a different review, hence: please remember that my opinion on this book is not the end-all nor is it shared by everyone. Also, I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum in the case that anyone who reads this review feels like reading the book in question. If you DO happen to read any book I happen to review, I'd totally dig it (dig it? Is this the 70's?) if you left me a comment and let me know how YOU felt about the book.
Quick Facts:
Title: A Great and Terrible Beauty
Author: Libba Bray
Genre: Fiction/Fantasy
Age Group: Young Adult-Adult
Length: 432 pages
This is the second book I bought in October, but one that I was hesitant to buy. High fantasy isn't really my thing and I was afraid that this novel would be too "fantastical" for me to stand. But after the first few chapters, I found that this wasn't the case, and was glad to be wrong.
A Victorian boarding-school in England sets the scene for this other-wordly tale of a clique of four girls. Each girl was sent there to be "finished" and raised as young women bred of marriage and home-life, each one of their stories are unique, and each seek something more than embroidery and perfect dinner manners.
The story closely follows 16-year old Gemma who is sent to the finishing school of Spence after her mother is mysteriously murdered--a murder which she for sees through a vision. Fitting in at Spence is hard at first, finding only a little companionship in her roommate; the poor, plain girl named Ann. For this, she is snubbed by the crème de la crème of her school: the commanding Felcity and the beautiful Pippa. Through struggle and a bit of blackmail, Gemma joins herself and Ann into Felicity's and Pippa's circle, finding out that they have more in common than they could ever realize. The four girls become a tightly woven sisterhood, so much so that Gemma confides in them the nature of her visions and even the mysterious power that she seems to hold. With this power, Gemma opens a door into a dream world where she and the other girls can go and make anything possible and escape, for brief moments, their futures as Victorian wives. In this dream world, her mother's spirit remains and warns Gemma of impending danger. Now that her mother was dead, she warns, "they" would soon be after Gemma. In order to save herself and rebuild the mystical Order that her mother once belonged to, Gemma must find the strength to put right what her mother had once done wrong.
All right, so it's not exactly an easy story to explain or summarize, but you should get the idea. Victorian times, Victorian finishing school, a group of girls and supernatural goings-ons. This book was easy for me to read, and read quickly! Each character is so imperfect (even Gemma) that it makes for a very interesting read far so than had they all been perfect best buddies. The plain and simple truth is, these girls are like any other snotty clique in high school--they'll turn on you the moment they are through with you, their whim comes and goes with the breeze, and they have insecurities that tend to cause them to do harm to others. But with these imperfections come a greater understanding of their characters and genuine sympathy for each. This book is a just a tip of the iceberg, as it's the first to a trilogy as I understand it, so I'm fairly sure that the supernatural/fantasy element to this book will grow with the next. If the author can keep feeding me the fantasy along with great big helpings of historical believability and normalcy (as normal as a group of girls gets!) then I think I can stomach anything she throws at me. It was also a big help to view the main character without any romantic involvement (although she does hint at a growing crush, we aren't buried in her swooning), of which I'm sure will change with the second book--so romance lovers don't despair yet.
All in all, I found it to be a great read and I'd recommend this book to a friend--in fact, I already have!