Sunday 7 February 2016

A Great & Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray - Spoiler Free Review

Title - A Great & Terrible Beauty
Author - Libba Bray
SeriesGemma Doyle #1
ISBN - 9780689875342
Genre - YA >Historical > Fantasy
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Hardcover
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Waterstones - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository - Amazon UK - Amazon US


Sixteen-year-old Gemma has had an unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mother's death in a black, swirling vision that turns out to be true. Sent back to England, she is enrolled at Spence, a girls' academy with a mysterious burned-out East Wing. There Gemma is snubbed by powerful Felicity, beautiful Pippa, and even her own dumpy roommate Ann, until she blackmails herself and Ann into the treacherous clique. Gemma is distressed to find that she has been followed from India by Kartik, a beautiful young man who warns her to fight off the visions. Nevertheless, they continue, and one night she is led by a child-spirit to find a diary that reveals the secrets of a mystical Order. The clique soon finds a way to accompany Gemma to the other-world realms of her visions "for a bit of fun" and to taste the power they will never have as Victorian wives, but they discover that the delights of the realms are overwhelmed by a menace they cannot control. Gemma is left with the knowledge that her role as the link between worlds leaves her with a mission to seek out the "others" and rebuild the Order.


I don't know how i feel about this book, i didn't hate it but i didn't like it either, for me this book could have been a lot shorter there was a lot of pointless chapters in here, but first before i get into the parts i didn't like let me talk about the things i did....

Gemma was a good character's perspective to read from, and also it wasn't easy to guess where the story was going like the bombshells and also the character development was also one of the best i have read in a while the same for the world building as well but Libba Bray is phenomenal at that any way... and if i am being completely honest with you that is all i really liked about this book. 

Onto the the things i didn't really like.... 

It was very slow, and confusing i don't know if all of that confusing stuff gets cleared up in the book to come but i don't know if I'm going to read them because this book didn't leave me wanting more. The ending was so anti climactic and i really wanted to love this book, and the fact that its set in a boarding school but you very rarely hear about said boarding school but its what the setting around them is. 

Character wise i liked Gemma and that was about it i didn't like her "friends" and we didn't hear really anything about Kartik so i have no idea where this is going at all. 

I hope i can carry on with this series because i love Libba Bray's other writing, i don't know if i read two books that were too similar and the other one just won out or i just didn't really like this book.

Until Next Time
Happy Reading


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