A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba BrayPages: 403
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release Date: 2nd May 2006
Other Titles in the Series: Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing
It's 1895, and after the death of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma's reception there is a chilly one.She's not completely alone, though...she's being followed by a mysterious young man, sent to warn her to close her mind against the visions.
It's at Spence that Gemma's power to attract the supernatural unfolds, as she becomes entangled with the school's most powerful girls and discovers her mother's connection to a shadowy, timeless group called The Order. Her destiny awaits...if only Gemma can believe in it.
After reading The Hunger Games I found it hard to gel to this novel. It took me about a third of the way through for me to love it. And I did love it in the end. There is such a wonderful mix of characters and the writing only had subtle hints of the time that it was set in which I loved. I really identified with Ann out of all of the characters; looking in on a world that you would look to be part of; a world so close yet so far away. And anyway I'm a sucker for magic, though I didn't expect anything like what actually happened in it. I've nearly finished Rebel Angels now and I am completely absorbed in the world that Libba Bray has created.
Sophie
Great review Sophie! I've had this trilogy for AGES and still haven't read it yet. I'm glad you enjoyed it, I think I'll move it higher up on my reading list!
ReplyDeleteoooh I LOVE this series!! I miss it so much :(
ReplyDeleteoh I agree about how it was hard to get into, but it's b/c the series starts out slow trust me it gets sooo much better! you'll adore it :D
ReplyDeletehappy reading!