Sunday, December 14, 2008

Book Slam: A Great and Terrible Beauty



A Great and Terrible Beauty
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by Libba Bray
Fantasy
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Teaser
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Gemma Doyle isn't like other girls. Girls with impeccable manners, who speak when spoken to, who remember their station, and who will lie back and think of England when it's required of them.
No, sixteen-year-old Gemma is an island unto herself, sent to the Spence Academy in London after tragedy strikes her family in India. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma finds a chilly reception. But she's not completely alone... she's been followed by a mysterious young man, who warns her to close her mind agaisnt the visions.
For it's at Spence that Gemma's power to attract the supernatural unfolds; there she becomes entangled with the school's most powerful girls and discover's her mother's connection to a shadowy group called the Order. It's there that her destiny waits... if only she can believe in it.
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Slam
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Upon first hearing about this book I thought it sounded like a fun, interesting read. But when I actually picked it up and started reading I found myself confused right off the bat. The twisted plot line is very hard to follow and nothing in the novel is very well explained. Descriptions were very vague and many of the characters tended to blend together due to their similarity. In short, there was nothing dynamic about this book at all. It had no real basis or point and the ending was very bland also. Normally I love books set in the Victorian age, but this one just didn't live up to my expectations and I wouldn't recommend it for anyone.

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