Review: Beautiful Darkness

Review: Beautiful Darkness (Caster Chronicles #2)

Authors: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Publisher: Little Brown

Pages: 503

Rating: 4/5

Summary:

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.

I read the first book in this series, Beautiful Creatures, a while ago and fell in love with it! For some reason, I never got the chance to pick up the second one until now. I enjoyed it, but I liked the first one better.

The beginning and middle of the book were a little slow. The majority was about Lena being depressed and Ethan trying to figure out why. Fortunately, the last 3rd of the book was great and I couldn't put it down! Ethan and his mortal friends ventured into underground passageways to look for Lena who finally has to choose whether to turn Light or Dark. Another character named Liv was added to the story and she and Ethan might just be a little more than friends...

I like Ethan as a main character. It is always fun to read a book in a male's point of view because it doesn't happen too often. Lena, on the other hand, bothered me throughout the book. She isn't emotionally strong and is sort of whiny. It is frustrating when girls spend most of the book complaining about how her and her love can't be together when really, there is no reason they can't. My favorite characters were Link, Ridley, and Anna. They are all so different and fun to read about.

One of my favorite elements about this book is the way Kami and Margaret incorporated so much southern history into the book. They even wrote the book so readers can't help but to read in a southern accent! When the characters talked, there were never any G's at the end of a word and instead of the word "of" the letter "a" was in it's place. They really are brilliant authors.

The ending of the book is mostly a happy one. Most questions were answered but it certainly left room for another book. Overall, Beautiful Darkness was a good read and I can't wait to read the 3rd in the series, Beautiful Chaos. If you want to see the cover and release date, click here.

What did you guys think of this book?