You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
"Beautiful Darkness" has great illustrations and a storyline that juxtaposes cute fairy-like characters with that of the dead girl they climbed out of, as well as their cold indifference to violence, death, and their treatment of others. They seem like a nice, cooperative community on the outside, but when you get down to it, you really see the selfishness and apathy of these individuals. Overall, I found the allegory a little difficult to understand and make sense of sometimes, and struggled with pinning down a meaning or moral of the story. However, that's the point of it: it makes you think, reflect and realize that there is no one "right" answer to life. My best guess at the meaning of it all though? Life, though it might seem bright and joyful on the outside, is actually much more sinister. It is filled with terrible people that will chew up and spit right back out those who are "different" or "too nice," and to survive, these people must learn the rules and expectations of this game of life.
It felt a little like multiple small comics (those one page comics you know) in a book that form a longer story
Unsure if that what it originally was
Unsure if that what it originally was
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
tense
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Never before have I set down a book and think, "What the eff did I just read!?" as strongly as I did when I finished Beautiful Darkness. At first you think you're getting whimsy that gradually grows darker. No. You get whimsy for 3, maybe 4 pages, before the walls start caving in and you realize that the whimsy is a facade from the absolute beginning. From the moment the nature of Aurora and company's "house" is revealed, you're quickly dunked into an increasingly disturbing nightmare. The soft colors simply add to the nightmarish aspect. I'll be honest and say I don't know with 100% certainty how I feel about this one. It's definitely going to have me thinking about it for a while.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Reading this was like the bookish equivalent of watching a train wreck happen and you're unable to look away.
I'm honestly still mixed on how to rate this. Objectively, the art was great and it certainly did well to portray the muddled area between innocence, ignorance and casual cruelty. This story was not meant to have a 'happy ending' and neither was it trying to answer all the questions the reader might have. There was no HEA and my questions were left hanging by the end.
It was a disturbing, and often frustrating, read. And definitely something I should not have read at one in the morning.
I'm honestly still mixed on how to rate this. Objectively, the art was great and it certainly did well to portray the muddled area between innocence, ignorance and casual cruelty. This story was not meant to have a 'happy ending' and neither was it trying to answer all the questions the reader might have. There was no HEA and my questions were left hanging by the end.
It was a disturbing, and often frustrating, read. And definitely something I should not have read at one in the morning.
Graphic Novel BookClub October:
Ho-lee-crap. This book is weird, dark and crazy. My eyebrows kept crawling into my hairline the whole time. It's like Lord of Flies meets Heart of Darkness, mixed in with some foreign, snowy, ice land horror story I haven't found yet. I remembering being truly confused about caring in the first two-three pages, until that last page of the intro, when I suddenly went "....oh...uh....okay."
Then the tiny horrific thing started popping up but being normal. Not pushed out or changed. Not highlighted by the writing or the characters. There are still two pages of truly, awe-inspiring art work in the book (when the girl is waking up in the leaves, and when the man is at his work bench in the cabin), which makes it clear the artist is capable of stunning work and thus the art of this tale is a purposeful choice, though I am still uncertain to why at all.
Mostly I walk away from this one with a bizarre face (and a gratefulness that we were eating boozy ice cream while meeting over it).
Ho-lee-crap. This book is weird, dark and crazy. My eyebrows kept crawling into my hairline the whole time. It's like Lord of Flies meets Heart of Darkness, mixed in with some foreign, snowy, ice land horror story I haven't found yet. I remembering being truly confused about caring in the first two-three pages, until that last page of the intro, when I suddenly went "....oh...uh....okay."
Then the tiny horrific thing started popping up but being normal. Not pushed out or changed. Not highlighted by the writing or the characters. There are still two pages of truly, awe-inspiring art work in the book (when the girl is waking up in the leaves, and when the man is at his work bench in the cabin), which makes it clear the artist is capable of stunning work and thus the art of this tale is a purposeful choice, though I am still uncertain to why at all.
Mostly I walk away from this one with a bizarre face (and a gratefulness that we were eating boozy ice cream while meeting over it).
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Don’t judge a book by its cover. 🌱