Book Review: Beautiful Darkness

TITLE: Beautiful Darkness
Book 2 in the Caster Chronicles
AUTHOR: Kami Garcia and Margeret Stohl
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: urban fantasy, romance, drama
PREMISE: Ethan's caster girlfriend Lena starts to pull away from him, and as their relationship dissolves he is drawn further into the caster world.
MY REVIEW: Okay so you guys probably remember I adored Beautiful Creatures so this became one of the books I was most eager to read this fall. I'm happy to report I wasn't disappointed at all. In fact, since they avoided the whole town vs. Ethan and Lena concept (for the most part) I'd go as far to say it was better then the first.
They didn't go at all the usual route these books tend to go. Okay, there is the love triangle trope but this was actually BELIEVABLE and for once involved two GIRLS and a GUY instead of the other way around. Nice change there. New characters were introduced (I LOVED Liv), and many other changes were introduced as well. Granted, I did find some of the things a little out there, such as the seperate galaxy thing (really?) but for the most part I was totally on board with this interesting world that these two authors have created. There were even some suprises and twists that I wasn't suspecting at all. It's nice when a book actually manages to surprise me for a change.
Yes, it's a tad bit more angsty, but on the whole this book was a delight. I still love these characters and world to death (Link and Amma are my favorites btw) and I look forward to the next installment in this series. My only complaint: I have to wait a YEAR till the next one?!
WHO SHOULD READ: those that read and liked the first book, fans of southern type fiction, anyone inclined to pick it up
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five fried chickens

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