Reviews

Beautiful Darkness by Margaret Stohl, Kami Garcia

itsklaudia's review

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3.0

This book was definetely better then the first one . I really liked it . :)

thepaperwitch's review

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2.0

The book takes trudging through to get to a decently exciting middle, followed by a little more trudge, then a decently, but fairly predictable ending. The only reason I am still planning to read the next book in the series is because a) I don't like leaving books behind and b) the adults and the background content are still what grab my attention. I really am not very interested in either Ethan or Lena or their teenage angst, but I am interested in the Caster world they are involved in--especially the librarians!

As for the writing, I'm afraid I'm not too satisfied with the need to repeatedly re-describe the situations rather than just moving the story along. It gets held up in re-repeating of known information. It has the making of a tv show that is desperate to keep viewers well into the 5th season--by keeping the nearly unbelievable chain of events (and that says a lot, given this is fantasy novel) going rather than letting them end gracefully. I am actually preferring the movie over the series so far.

macpau_'s review

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4.0

It was amazing!!!! I liked Lena better in the first book no doubt but I loved all of the twists in this book so I would have to say I loved this book more.

Spoiler MACON.

Everything revolved around Macon in this book and omg it made me fall in love with him.

I can’t believe Macon and Lila were in love! OMG and she went to Gatlin for Macon!!!!

And Ridley lost her powers!!!!!!! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!! And links a incubes! I literly have too many emotions right now!!!!! So i’m happy macon is back, and omg as soon as they said that Abraham is back I was like holy shnnaps! It was crazy!


LAKJDFADSF. MY EMOTIONS, DAMMIT.

mjk1221's review

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3.0

This book was infinitely better than Beautiful Creatures. It was faster paced, you were already connected with the characters, more intrigue, and wayyyyy less moping about the impending Claiming. However, the book still dragged in certain places and was much too long in my overall opinion (just as I thought Beautiful Creatures was). There is still a little too much moping for me, but I liked Liv and the flushing out of new information and deepening Link as a character. In fact, I think I enjoyed the flushing out of many characters compared to Creatures. Creatures was very much about Ethan and Lena and this one had them more of an undercurrent. So between the two, I find this one much more satisfying than the first, but I still don't think much of it past a 3-star rating. Perhaps if the book was shorter, I'd give it a 4.

khalessie's review against another edition

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4.0

This book was mysterious and intense. There were so many twists and turns. It was a good sequel.

sanaastoria's review

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4.0

[4.5 Stars] I love this series and loved this book, perhaps not as much as the first, but I am quite intrigued to read the next! I do think like the last book the final climax just wasn't as satisfying as I would like and it frustrates me, but the story and the books are just so intriguing that I can't help but devour them! I can't wait to pick up Beautiful Chaos!

jamchow's review

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2.0

2.5

This was fine except again it drags tf on for no reason.
I despise Lena (what even is this conflict just pick the freaking light, your whole m.o. before was I don’t want to be dark so you know it’s up to you ugh just freaking annoying), Ethan is so meh boring now- I love the side characters and wish they were the mains. Macken & Jane $ Ethan’s dad I like that plot line. I like Liv is a new character. I’m frustrated by now Link being a succubus when Ridley is finally human what was the reason. Also I just feel like there’s way too much going on, they’re trying to tackle too much and it’s not working because I forget what everything is and who everyone is. It’s just frustrating because I don’t hate this series like I thought I would.

tas_takes_down_the_man's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Really enraptured by this story. Loved the first one and this sequel  did not disappoint. 
I’m enjoying the inclusion of Ridley and Link’s storylines in this book. 

mtngrl85's review

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5.0

I loved this book! So much better than the movie!

wanderlustlover's review

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5.0

Still, and even more, falling deeper and deeper in love with series. I'm going to end up devouring the whole thing likely before the movie for book one. (At least I'm hoping to be able to accomplish that.)

I love how much of this series is Ethan, and Ethan's point of view, and how he is an unreliable narrator, and we know that because teenagers are unreliable and they don't know everything, and so watching Lena fall apart knowing things both she knew and Ethan didn't, and not knowing what was going on with her, for a goo 90% of the book was so powerful and I was so impressed.

I'm in love with getting more Gatlin, and all it's Down South-isms, another famous event. I loved out brand new character, and the unexpected twists and turns both she, and a good half-dozen of our very well worn in characters took. I love how the hinted histories in book one were examined jut a little more in this book, drawing even more out (and making me dizzy with longing to figure out what can fill two more books).

I love how the ending is not an ending, but a whole other beginning. I love how the climax comes between 90%-95% of the book, again, and we still deal with all manner of fall out and trying to collect what just happened before the story comes to a close, as much ended as it is rebegun. I love when people find their own patterns for how to handle layout like that, without copying everyone before them.

Most of the formatting issues i had in book one were totally gone here, so I'm going to bolster this one up to five. Hopefully somewhere around the middle of this week I'll be able to dash myself head long into book three and four.