A review by ricksilva
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Sixteen-year-old Gemma Doyle witnesses the terrifying murder of her mother in colonial India, seemingly by supernatural forces. Back England and enrolled in a girls boarding school, Gemma discovers a diary of a former student who sought the secrets of an ancient Order of sorceresses, and the power of a dream-dimension called the Realms.

In spite of warnings to stay clear of these secrets, Gemma and three friends begin to explore their own magical potential, eventually finding their own way into the Realms in the hope of changing the fate that awaits them all back at their dreary school.

This story careens headlong toward tragedy with little effort on the part of any of the main characters to stop it, in spite every possible warning. 

The characters are definitely not always likeable, but they all do grow beyond their original simple impressions, and the character development helps keep things interesting and keeps the reader engaged even as terrible and obvious mistakes are made again and again.

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