Review: Beautiful Darkness

by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
publisher: Little, Brown & Co.
date published: October 12, 2010
format: hardcover
pages: 503
source: purchased
Amazon / Goodreads / B&N

From Goodreads:

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.

Sometimes life-ending.

Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

What I Thought

Beautiful Darkness picks up a few weeks after the final events of Beautiful Creatures. This book details the difficulty of choices and the importance of deciding who you are going to be rather than letting the choice be made for you. There are a lot of difficult situations for Ethan to deal with, as well as a lot of infuriating moments in regard to Lena. Added to the mix are the introduction of new characters, journeys to new places, and an increase in the stakes at hand. Buckle up, because this is an action-packed ride.

In Beautiful Darkness, Ethan is much as he was in the previous book. However, he is being put through a lot of doubt and heartache by Lena, who has begun slipping further and further into her dark side. As she engages in reckless behavior and even becomes somewhat mean-spirited, I couldn't help but be frustrated with her. It was one of those situations in which I wanted to reach through the pages and shake some sense into her. She definitely succumbed to a drawn out moment of weakness, which shows that people, whether they be mortal or Casters, are flawed beings. Ethan is definitely in for a rude awakening as he learns this very important lesson. It was one of the characteristics of the book that I found to be most interesting. Let's face it: perfect characters become dull. With flawed characters, there is room for more growth, more lessons learned, and more plot twists. Beautiful Darkness delivers on all three counts.

I previously covered Gatlin as a setting in my review of Beautiful Creatures. However, there is a new setting to discuss in Beautiful Darkness. The tunnels that Ethan and his friends find themselves traveling through make for an interesting setting in that they contain not only paths to different places, but also paths to an entirely different world. Each location visited is stranger and more dangerous than the last. I really enjoyed how the tunnel scenes mixed the background up a bit. They definitely provide something new to ponder and keep the story line as fresh as possible. I still can't decide which setting I like better: Gatlin or the tunnels.

Normally, I would write a slightly longer review. However, I don't want to give too much away, as this is the second book in the series, so I have to be sure not to create spoilers for either book. Suffice it to say that I found Beautiful Darkness to be every bit as enjoyable as the first book in the series. It has beaten the second book slump that I usually find within the series I read, which I will give it much credit for. It has so much to offer from character growth to dynamic settings and amazing plot twists. If you haven't picked up this series, you definitely should. You won't regret it.