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bookishgenerations's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
breezy610's review against another edition
4.0
i take it back what i said in my previous review. I ended up buying the book because the second time and the third was much better. I re-read this book because there is a movie based off the book coming out at the end of the week and i wanted to brush up how what happens. with some unknown playing the lead character, i have a piece of mind.
suzie_'s review against another edition
Bad dialogue, characters don’t act in consistent manner
blurrypetals's review against another edition
5.0
Quite a bit better than I expected it to be!
I enjoyed the freshness this book presented. We've all seen the vampires. We've all seen the fallen angels. And yes, we've seen the witches and wizards before. But we haven't seen Casters. We haven't seen Gatlin or its secret history.
That's what I enjoyed most about this book. It still had all the components of your average, run of the mill young adult paranormal romance, but it had the slightest twist to it that made me devour all 500+ pages of it in less than three days.
My only issue was that I had NO mental image of Ethan in my head. Even little things like hair color and eye color dropped in there would have made him a little more real for me. But there was nothing. I knew he was tall. I knew he was in good shape. But...eh. I just had a hard time picturing Mr. Wate. Hopefully that'll be fixed in the next book.
Overall though, I enjoyed the voice Ethan brought us and the story he was able to tell us. Hopefully B&N will have Beautiful Darkness tomorrow.
I enjoyed the freshness this book presented. We've all seen the vampires. We've all seen the fallen angels. And yes, we've seen the witches and wizards before. But we haven't seen Casters. We haven't seen Gatlin or its secret history.
That's what I enjoyed most about this book. It still had all the components of your average, run of the mill young adult paranormal romance, but it had the slightest twist to it that made me devour all 500+ pages of it in less than three days.
My only issue was that I had NO mental image of Ethan in my head. Even little things like hair color and eye color dropped in there would have made him a little more real for me. But there was nothing. I knew he was tall. I knew he was in good shape. But...eh. I just had a hard time picturing Mr. Wate. Hopefully that'll be fixed in the next book.
Overall though, I enjoyed the voice Ethan brought us and the story he was able to tell us. Hopefully B&N will have Beautiful Darkness tomorrow.
hoarding_wyrm's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
beachybookstack's review against another edition
5.0
This is my first venture into any sort of witch (err Caster) book, and it was pretty good. At first I thought it was strange to be reading from Ethan's perspective but quickly got used to it. A bit on the long read for a Young Adult novel but fun nonetheless. I'm a bit curious to see where the next book takes the characters, but it'll have to wait til I finish my next book.
kmparsons's review against another edition
5.0
Harry Potter meets Twilight in reverse my two favorite series combine into one!
trin's review against another edition
3.0
This book is all about the setting for me. Yes, it’s a YA magical romance about people in high school in epic epic love—and, you know, whatever. I don’t particularly care about those parts. But the setting—the setting is just fantastic. The town of Gatlin seems so very, very real to me, in all its stuck-in-the-past small-town Southern glory. The community seems alive. The dynamics of high school are absolutely nailed—none of this Bella Swann “I’m the new girl and everyone LOVES me and wants to be my BFF and isn’t it just AWFUL” bullshit. Ethan, the narrator (yes, first person male narrator! also refreshing!), really struggles with the pressures to conform and fit in, and I found this, like all the non-supernatural aspects of the story, to be really vivid and realistically presented.
There are some wonderful details in the magical parts of the tale, too: the fact that Lena, Ethan’s potentially lethal true love (have I mentioned how much I enjoy this role reversal?), has a house whose decor changes depending on her uncle’s mood; the way Lena’s hair moves and twists when she’s working her magic. I do wish that almost every main character hadn’t in some way turned out to be involved in Caster society—it makes it seem less likely to me that the existence of magic and magic practitioners has remained a secret. (It was gang members! Gang members on PCPs!) But the gothic mood is consistently great, and while I was never as in love with Ethan and Lena as they were with each other, I was rooting for them.
There are some wonderful details in the magical parts of the tale, too: the fact that Lena, Ethan’s potentially lethal true love (have I mentioned how much I enjoy this role reversal?), has a house whose decor changes depending on her uncle’s mood; the way Lena’s hair moves and twists when she’s working her magic. I do wish that almost every main character hadn’t in some way turned out to be involved in Caster society—it makes it seem less likely to me that the existence of magic and magic practitioners has remained a secret. (It was gang members! Gang members on PCPs!) But the gothic mood is consistently great, and while I was never as in love with Ethan and Lena as they were with each other, I was rooting for them.
tipptych's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.5