A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle, #1) in Pick-a-Shelf

Oct 26, 2015 Rachel N. rated it liked it

After Gemma Doyle's mother is murdered in India she is sent to a girls boarding school in London. Gemma is sixteen and at first she is bullied but soon she befriends the girls who were bullying her. Gemma also has strange visions and soon learns she has the magical ability to connect to an area known as the Realms. The book is set in the late 1800's but little is made of this setting except to show how constrained the girls choices are and to mention corsets a lot. Very little happens for two th ...more

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Oct 08, 2008 Tien rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, historical-fiction, young-adult

Gemma Doyle, 16, saw her mother die in India and then was packed off to school. She always wanted to go to school in England but not under these set of circumstances. Added to that, her horror of discovering something strange within her. We then follow Gemma as she tries to assimilate herself in the school, gaining friends, making enemies, and at the same time, discovering who she really is.

I have to admit that the beginning annoys me a bit, she's so adolescent. The characters are actually quite ...more

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Oct 09, 2009 Tara rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult

I really began to like Pippa, Felicity, Gemma, and Ann towards the end of the book. I have heard people swoon over Kartik, but he did not seem to have a lot of personality. Maybe I just have to read the sequel.
All in all, I was entertained by the story. I love a female lead character that does not always follow the conventions of their time, and of course there is a bit of magic (which is a weak spot for me).
I did feel that some things were left a bit open ended, but isn't that the case with ...more

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