Reviews

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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lelise's review against another edition

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inspiring lighthearted tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I hate Valerie! She is awful to Nina solely out of jealousy and is unhappy because of the choices she decided to make.

I’m happy Nina’s cousin made Valerie leave.

I also love Nina and Hector’s development. I find it more realistic that he didn’t like her romantically at first, but it grew as they interacted. He did make me want to just in the book and jump him every time he did it think about how his actions would affect Nina. Overall it was an okay read. Most of my emotions were annoyance and anger, but I loved Nina.

lullibub's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

aotales's review against another edition

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2.0

As much as I respect Silvia Moreno Garcia’s writing in Gods of Jade and Shadow and Mexican Gothic, I cannot find any of that author in this story. I was wholly prepared for The Beautiful Ones to be entirely unlike the aforementioned reads but the whole of it played out as a sloppy, made-for-tv soap opera. It genuinely shocked me. The unique, captivating worlds that Silvia can create … just wasn’t here.

The magical, supernatural element that focuses heavily in the story blurb, plays little to no part in the actual book; a blink and you miss it sub plot. Further the whole elitist world of high society - The Beautiful Ones - again, play no real part. Rather the entirety is a drawn out, awkward love triangle between unlikeable, flat characters. Valerie is wholly repugnant, Hector is an annoyance, and Nina, who should be our bumbling but likeable ingenue, comes across naive and immature because she isn’t given any time to develop. Rather than splitting the narrative across the three characters the story would’ve played out much stronger if we could’ve remained in Nina’s point of view. Instead Valerie became even more horrible with each chapter from her perspective and Hector become more tiresome. Coupled with a meandering, unsurprising plot lacking in nuance or much description The Beautiful Ones just felt … empty.

Sadly, I cannot find much positive to say about this and no one is more surprised than me. I genuinely admire Silvia Moreno Garcia’s writing chops and the spaces she is carving out for women writers in fantasy, but this work just showed how much she has grown. I struggled through the first half and honestly skim read the last. If you’re a big Silvia fan … I’d skip this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

jenpaul13's review against another edition

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4.0

Society, manners, relationships, and telekinetic gifts shape the lives of those within the pages of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's The Beautiful Ones.

To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.

Antonina, who prefers to be called Nina, comes from a well-respected family and is going to spend some time in Loisail for the first time with her cousin and his wife Valerie, who is meant to teach her how to be a lady and be a part of their society. Nina, however, is highly strong-headed and keen to learn about her telekinetic ability and how to control it. After meeting a famous performer, Hector, with abilities such as her own, Nina and Hector form a friendship, which seems it's leading to something more; however, Nina isn't aware that Hector has a tumultuous history with Valerie, which creates complications for all three of them as they are continually thrown into each others' company.

This was an entertaining tale told from three perspectives that was highly reminiscent of Victorian literature, as it featured the familiar character types (read many stubborn and spirited characters) and a lack of communication serving as the basis for issues that arise in personal relationships. I was intrigued by the concept of Nina and Hector's telekinetic gift and what the status of a Beautiful One entailed, but they weren't really fully explored or explained, which was disappointing despite it not being essential to the themes explored within the narrative. Along these same lines, the world the story takes place in isn't fully developed either as it pulls from aspects of European nations, but also seems to try to be creating something all its own.