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A review by vermidian
The Graces by Laure Eve
4.0
My real rating would be more like 3.5 stars, but I rounded up for Goodreads's purposes because it would tip the average a little closer to my ideal rating.
This book is not initially as magical as one might anticipate. In fact, most of the first two thirds of the book remains fairly mundane. It isn't until part two where the magic really starts to come out, which is sort of a pity because that second part is, by far, the better part of the book. I actually think the book suffers from the first part being too long. The first part is lengthy and, while it builds character relationships fairly well, it makes the book feel more like it's about economic class differences and unbalanced relationships than magic. Maybe that was the goal. I'm not sure. But it felt way too long.
The other thing that I found unsettling about this book is that there's never any sense of happiness in the book. Not one moment feels truly joyful. The whole book has this feel of an overcast day - not necessarily raining, but without any sunlight. It's an interesting thing, to be sure, but it's not particularly fun to read for any length of time. It felt like you were always waiting for that final penny to drop and, when it eventually did in part two, it was a relief.
I got interesting hints of the Great Gatsby, the Grace family and their relationships being similar to how the public treats Gatsby and his parties, and Bridge to Terabithia from this book, with the friendship with the class difference and the sense that the magic both was and wasn't real, as well as Twilight from the way that the Grace family is constantly described as being surreal and beautiful much like the Cullens. It was an interesting combination of things.
I didn't love the book, but I do feel like I want to read on to see what happens. The second part was far more satisfying, despite the unreliable narrator who I distrusted from the jump because of the unhealthy basis of her friendship with the Graces, so I'm optimistic that later installations won't suffer from the now aired secret revealed in the final chapters.
This book is not initially as magical as one might anticipate. In fact, most of the first two thirds of the book remains fairly mundane. It isn't until part two where the magic really starts to come out, which is sort of a pity because that second part is, by far, the better part of the book. I actually think the book suffers from the first part being too long. The first part is lengthy and, while it builds character relationships fairly well, it makes the book feel more like it's about economic class differences and unbalanced relationships than magic. Maybe that was the goal. I'm not sure. But it felt way too long.
The other thing that I found unsettling about this book is that there's never any sense of happiness in the book. Not one moment feels truly joyful. The whole book has this feel of an overcast day - not necessarily raining, but without any sunlight. It's an interesting thing, to be sure, but it's not particularly fun to read for any length of time. It felt like you were always waiting for that final penny to drop and, when it eventually did in part two, it was a relief.
I got interesting hints of the Great Gatsby, the Grace family and their relationships being similar to how the public treats Gatsby and his parties, and Bridge to Terabithia from this book, with the friendship with the class difference and the sense that the magic both was and wasn't real, as well as Twilight from the way that the Grace family is constantly described as being surreal and beautiful much like the Cullens. It was an interesting combination of things.
I didn't love the book, but I do feel like I want to read on to see what happens. The second part was far more satisfying, despite the unreliable narrator who I distrusted from the jump because of the unhealthy basis of her friendship with the Graces, so I'm optimistic that later installations won't suffer from the now aired secret revealed in the final chapters.