Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Dec 21, 2012 Maria Elmvang rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-ebook, 3-stars, arc, paranormal, 2012

(English review below)

Efter sin mors død føler Ethan ikke længere at der er noget der holder ham i Gatlin, for en by med større snobber skal man da lede længe efter. Hvis man ikke kan følge sin stamtavle tilbage gennem flere generationer af Gatlin-borgere er man en 'fremmed' og derved automatisk ligegyldig. Alle ved alt om alle og ingen har nogle hemmeligheder som hele resten af byen. Ingen... på nær eneboeren Macon Ravenwood, den mystiske ejer af Ravenwood-huset, som aldrig forlader huset, og i (English review below)

Efter sin mors død føler Ethan ikke længere at der er noget der holder ham i Gatlin, for en by med større snobber skal man da lede længe efter. Hvis man ikke kan følge sin stamtavle tilbage gennem flere generationer af Gatlin-borgere er man en 'fremmed' og derved automatisk ligegyldig. Alle ved alt om alle og ingen har nogle hemmeligheder som hele resten af byen. Ingen... på nær eneboeren Macon Ravenwood, den mystiske ejer af Ravenwood-huset, som aldrig forlader huset, og ingen kan huske nogensinde at have set.

Da Marcons niece kommer til byen og begynder på Jackson High forårsager det derfor mere end almindelige høje bølger blandt byens sladdertasker, og da mystiske hændelser lader til at forfølge hende går det helt galt. Ethan ved kun én ting - Lena er den mest interessante pige han nogensinde har mødt, og han vil vide hvorfor han har de mest livagtige drømme om hende - drømme som started selv inden hun kom til byen.

"Stormvind" er et glimrende bevis på at 'paranormal'-genren startede længe før "Twilight" udkom. Men til forskel fra mange af de romaner man ellers finder i genren, er denne skrevet ud fra fyrens synspunkt, hvilket giver et forfriskende pust. Ethan er ikke bange for at gå sine egne veje, og har lært fra sin mor at det er i orden at være anderledes - selv i en så smålig by som Gatlin. Han lader sig ikke manipulere - hverken af Lena eller af sine skolekammerater - men gør det han selv mener er rigtigst i enhver given situation.

Handlingsmæssigt er "Stormvind" som YA-paranormal romaner er flest, men handlingen bliver glimrende båret af et interessant persongalleri. Især Ethans bedste ven, Link, byens bibliotikar, Marian, og selvfølgelig Lenas helt unikke onkel og dennes hund, Boo.

"Stormvind" er første bind i serien om Caster familien, men er fint afsluttet i sig selv.

****************************************************************

Very different from what I had expected, and I actually ended up very pleasantly surprised. This was written long before "Twilight" which shows clearly by it not having a single element that usually identifies a Twilight-clone - most importantly, there's no love triangle! Yay! :)

In general an enjoyable read, although I did have one problem with a plothole very early in the book: Lena is accused of breaking a window that she's standing next to, even though the window breaks inward, towards her (actually cutting her with some of the glass). If she had physically broken the window, the glass would mostly have been on the outside, away from her.

Something any sleuth worth his/her salt would have caught.

That's a minor nitpick though :) ...more

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Sep 18, 2010 Sara ♥ rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2010, paranormal, romance, young-adult, challenge-fall-2010

All right... I read this book a week ago, but I wrote a review on a piece of paper so I wouldn't forget what I thought of it.

This book was quite long, and there were a couple times when I though, "How on earth are the authors going to fill 500 more pages? 300 more pages?" It seemed like it was moving pretty slowly, but at the same time, there were these crazy dreams and other strange occurrences that kept the story moving... Overall, the plot was intriguing. In between the slower stretches and a All right... I read this book a week ago, but I wrote a review on a piece of paper so I wouldn't forget what I thought of it.

This book was quite long, and there were a couple times when I though, "How on earth are the authors going to fill 500 more pages? 300 more pages?" It seemed like it was moving pretty slowly, but at the same time, there were these crazy dreams and other strange occurrences that kept the story moving... Overall, the plot was intriguing. In between the slower stretches and as I got closer to the end, there were DEFINITELY moments of "HOLY CRAP! What's going to happen??!??"

I've read a lot of books lately that have magical elements, but there's been a shocking lack of resolutions that make sense and are explained well! But there was no issue here! The last 80ish pages all take place in about a 24-hour period. There was a lot of explaining and sense-making! Yay!

Let's see... At the beginning of the book, I was REALLY getting a reverse-Twilight vibe. And while I love Twilight as much as the next obsessive fan and all, it was a bit too similar for comfort. But once the plot starts to diverge and we start delving into who Lena is, that's when I really started to like it.

That being said, I really liked Lena and Ethan AND them together, although their relationship was as obsessive as some of Twilight's critics think Edward and Bella's is. I noticed it more with Lena and Ethan—it's almost a desperate attraction. BUT this book is paranormal fiction. I mean, they speak to each other PSYCHICALLY, after all. So if they want to be crazy-in-love-at-first-sight, who am I to story the? ;) But the fact that Ethan was essentially willing to commit social suicide for Lena added credibility to their relationship. Plus, it was really sweet! :)

One really frustrating thing about this book (and it was SUPPOSED to be frustrating, so good job Kami and Margaret!) was how Lena and Ethan were forced to become dentists. I mean, seriously! I've never read a book where the main characters had to pull SO MANY TEETH to get information out of other characters! GAHHH! Amma and Macon in particular... you KNOW they know stuff, but are they willing to share with Lena and Ethan? No. No, of course not. I wanted to punch both of them in the face several times.

The ending was good—intriguing. Apparently there are going to be FOUR BOOKS in the series. Wasn't sure how THAT was going to work before I got to the end, as there are definitely still questions to be answered. (Although 4? I can see 2....) My biggest questions is still, "What's the deal with Ethan?" (So spoilery, I know!) But I'm REALLY curious what his deal is!

So overall, good story with intriguing characters, but I felt it could have been about 100 pages shorter, if not more. ...more

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Feb 22, 2010 Dracolibris rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-lit, 2010

Ethan Wate is suffocating in his small southern home town of Gatlin, South Carolina. He struggles with the citizens seemingly pre-ordained destinies, hoping to escape the town after high school to travel and see more of the world, where most of his fellow students seem happy to be big fish in a little pond. But then one day a new student arrives, one he has been dreaming about meeting for some time.

Literally. When Lena Duchannes walks down the hallway at school for the first time, Evan finally ...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Lorena rated it did not like it

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Sooo boring. It seems like 2/3 of the book takes place in a high school, without much of interest going on, unless you count standard mean girl stuff. This wasn't even interesting when I WAS in high school. The endless countdown theme failed to inspire the desired dread; every time I saw the new number, I would only think "geez, we have THAT much more to drag out?" There are ridiculous plot holes that are never explained. For example, the broken window episode. WE know she broke it with magic, b ...more

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Jul 19, 2013 Anya Ballinger rated it it was ok

Overall, this was an easy, entertaining read. Kind of cheesy, you know, when love saves them in the end. And as with most teen fantasy, the actual psychological ramifications of surviving an attempted murder by your own mother are not fully explored. I mean, Lena should be seriously messed up, with PTSD and a handful of other diagnoses, but she's just your average moody teenager. And totally in love with her boyfriend.
I don't really like stories set in the South and I probably won't read the re ...more

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Mar 08, 2016 Kate H rated it really liked it

Shelves: goodreads-yajuvenile

Beautiful Creatures was an amazing book, unfortunately the rest of the series and the movie version were not nearly as good but this book can be read on its own and its great. The premise of the story and the characters themselves are clever and well written.

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Apr 16, 2010 Sarah added it

If Stefanie Meyer knew how to write, read up on history and actually created characters I liked, then this would be the result. I will definitely blab about it to the teens that are looking for anything other than reading Twilight for the umpteenth time.

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Jun 03, 2010 Marianne rated it really liked it

For those that like the supernatural type books, this is a great read. I liked it because it wasn't too "over the top" in its fantasy elements. ...more

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Apr 22, 2010 Bryan457 rated it it was ok

Shelves: do-not-reread, juv-ya, urban-fantasy

It was ok, but not on by reread list.

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May 05, 2013 Heron rated it liked it

Interesting premise, promising characters, predictable execution.

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Sep 09, 2010 Mallori rated it liked it

I am seriously confused by this book, but I can't wait to read the sequel so I can figure out what is going on. I just wish that this book wasn't so long towards the end I really just wanted it to get to the point. Hopefully the next one will answers some questions. ...more

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