REVIEW: A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY by LIBBA BRAY

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

   Well, here it is–my second Libba Bray experience. Sadly, it was kind of a disappointment.

   I feel like it takes a certain type of author to be able to write a successful historical fiction novel, and Bray doesn't quite meet up to the standard. A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY is set in Victoria's England and centers around an unusually aggressive, Indian-born girl named Gemma Doyle who's sent to a finishing school after the mysterious death of her mother. 

   To me, this book felt kind of directionless. I had difficulty paying attention to the plot, and most of the characters felt either strongly overdone or completely flat to me. The romance that was being set up between the main character and random, mysterious ethnic boy Kartik felt incredibly forced and uncomfortable–more of a weird one-sided love/hate lust than anything.

   I have to admit that some parts of this book–the friendship forged between girls who were previously enemies and the creativity of the whole magical realms set up–were interesting enough to keep me going. The relationships between the four girls was pretty well done, going from terrible first impressions to awkward bromance to iron bonds of friendship. I always love finding female characters who start out with the stereotypical hair-ripping, eye-clawing nonsensical squabbling and then wind up finding great things in one another and blossoming into vaguely homoerotic friends. {Seriously, though, the whole 'all girls are enemies upon sight' thing really ought to stop. That can't be healthy.}

   Mm, but then we get into the world-building. I had to work my brain's gears way too hard to form even a vague shape of what Bray was trying to communicate–and I'm still not sure why. Was it me? Was I so out of it that my brain literally stopped functioning while I was reading this?–Or was it the book's inability to communicate visual descriptions, preferring to go along with confusing metaphors and vague sensory details instead, all while never really explaining what exactly was going on? Perhaps it was both. {It was probably both.} So, yeah, while I got the gist of it, and liked the bits that I got, the whole magical world conspiracy stuff was too jumbled to make much sense of. Clarity is my best friend, mostly because I'm a bit of a dunce, to be frank.

   Also, okay, just, what the hell was with the tone in this book? It kept alternating from really sophisticated, mood-fitting language that was all prim and proper and perfectly Victorian to what sounded painfully like any other modern girl. What do you want from me. 

   Also, I don't care how historically accurate it is, the amount of racism in this book against Gypsies and Indian people was ridiculous. Just. What.

   WELL SO YEAH this was kind-of-sort-of a huge disappointment. Not because it was completely god-awful, because obviously there's something worse out there, but because I had high expectations, and sadly, they were let down. And then sort of spit on by the creepy, unnecessary sex dreams Gemma kept having about a guy she should be all means hate. 

   

OVERALL RATING: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

    

REVIEW: HUSH, HUSH by BECCA FITZPATRICK

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

   Okay, I'll admit it: I never really had high hopes for this book. I picked it up mostly because I heard that people read it. Just from the cover, I assumed it was going to be an angelic version of Twilight. 

   It definitely was an angelic version of Twilight, but that didn't stop me from staying up until four in the morning reading it.

   To be frank, I think that most of the appeal in this book for me came from the thriller/mystery part: who was out to get Nora Grey? Why exactly were they out to get her? WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING. {For the record, I love when a book unravels a mystery slowly, putting in pieces for the reader to decipher and try to fit together.}

   I feel like the world and concepts in this book were really interesting, by the way. Nephilim, psychotic, homicidal angels and human sacrifices? Count me in. 

   So yes, the plot points and universe the world created drew me in like a fly to flypaper, hence my reading binge. On the other hand, however, even though I couldn't pull myself away, I also cringed. A lot. Mostly because of the characters. And also the romance.

   For starters, I'd like to say that Nora Grey is one of the better paranormal romance heroines I've read in a while. That actually might just be because I'm constantly comparing her to Twilight's notorious Bella Swan in my head, but honestly, she seemed like an actual, normal girl. The sort other girls could be chill with. I liked how the author didn't go batshit crazy insisting that the main heroine never wore makeup to conceal her natural beauty. I like a girl who embraces her feminine side and still has a bit of spunk, and Nora fit that. Unfortunately, I also felt really weirdly uncomfortable reading about a tenth grader getting into this super physical relationship with a guy who was, essentially, an adult. {That's illegal, right?} Also, I feel like the author doesn't quite understand how high school and high schoolers work? Nora's voice and actions kept shifting between too childish and too mature, and I'm pretty sure kids study human reproduction before the tenth grade.

   But Nora, in all respects, wasn't the one who made me severely uncomfortable. No, that honour goes to Patch, the main male hero/love interest of this book. Also a fallen angel. Also homicidal. {Seriously, he's a murderer, holy shit. Like, I didn't expect him to really be out to kill her. Although it explained a lot and was actually kind of an interesting twist.}

   I'll be straight with you guys and tell you that I have a really hard time liking the douche-bag, antihero types. {Unless they're pirates.} Unfortunately, I know actual people who have personalities that could go in a hundred of these books, except in real life, it's not charming and it's not sexy. Maybe I'm getting a bit off-topic, but yeah, no, I don't trust antiheroes in romance books. They're just bad people with sex appeal. 

   I actually kind of liked the Patch we saw in the very beginning, when he swore Chauncey in, because, let's face it, that was pretty intense. It was the over-sexualized, over-romantic, laughing, smiling {constantly smiling, does the kid ever not smile? holy shit} rapey Patch that scared me. I mean, of all things, was it completely necessary for him to exude the constant aura of a rapist? I'm pretty sure he's actually referred to as a rapist a couple times in the book. Holy shit, that's messed up. 

   Moving on from Patch, Vee was by far my favourite. She was a moron, so I could relate. Besides, she had some of the best lines in the entire book–I'm not going to quote any, but really. She made up most of the comedic relief, too, so that increased her charm about tenfold.

   I actually really did like how the author took a serious, creepy, mysterious sort of story and threw in a light tone and a couple of jokes. Super-heavy stuff tends to bog me down, and anyway, with Hush, Hush, you got the sense that the book wasn't taking itself too seriously, which it shouldn't have.

   In the end, I'm really conflicted on how to judge this book, but I'm going to go ahead and give it a 3/5, because, although it had its marked flaws, it was an enjoyable read for me for the most part.

   I might pick up the rest of the series, which I believe consists of four complete books, but I'd like to hear from you guys first. Does the series improve, deteriorate, or just stay about the same?

   Seriously, though, I want to know if Patch ever gets an attitude change.

  EDIT 1/12/13: After reflecting a little and reading a couple of reviews off of goodreads, I've made up my mind and have decided to drop my rating by one star. Two words, you guys: RAPE CULTURE.

OVERALL RATING: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆