Friday, September 10, 2010

Book #58 - A Great and Terrible Beauty


Libba Bray

Listened to the Audio Version

Blurb: Gemma, 16, 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.(From Goodreads)

Length: Long - 403 pages

Notes: This is one that I actually think I would have liked better if I would have read the book instead of listening to the audio version.  The narrator was British, which fit since the characters were British, but something about her voice really started to get to me about half way through the book.  But it was a good book.  Not great, but entertaining.  Good enough that I want to continue reading the series, though, and see where it leads.  This is classified as a teen book, but I would not recommend it for teens.  There are a few parts that are a bit questionable, and one scene in particular that even embarrassed me a little bit.  

Random quote : "How I'd love to get away from here and be someone else for a while in a place where no one knows or expects certain things from me."

Recommend: Yes

Have you read this book? Share your feelings!

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