TITLE: Beautiful Darkness
SERIES: Caster Chronicles, #2
AUTHORS: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
FORMAT: eBook, 284 pages
Lena’s sixteenth birthday is over, and the impending disaster averted for the time being, but it doesn’t mean Ethan Wate can rest easy. It’s impossible to be a normal teenager or maintain a normal relationship when your girlfriend is possessed of otherworldly powers, after all. Otherworldly powers that have the potential to upset the balance between casters and humans, otherworldly powers that Lena can’t always control. But what’s more terrifying is when she does control it, and when she chooses to do things the old Lena never would have even considered. Ethan finds himself helpless in the wake of Lena’s grief as they are both swept up in the aftermath of what happened the night she turned sixteen. There will always be a space between them that they can’t bridge; Lena Duchannes is a caster, while Ethan is not. Just being together is going to be a battle for them, forever. But in the second installment of the series, that space between them becomes a rift, and Lena seems to be pulling further and further away. What results in an exploration of what-ifs: what if they weren’t together anymore? What if they accepted that they might never be?
I was worried about encountering the dreaded Second Book Blahs with this next chapter of their story, but my worries were unfounded. Beautiful Darkness takes what happened in the first book and pushes it deeper into the shadows, testing faith and challenging the limits of what Ethan and Lena would do to stay together against the odds.
Yes, Please:
In my review of the first book in this series, I noted that Ethan and Lena are a refreshing addition to the roster of YA couples out there. But I didn’t realize how refreshing until I started another series recently and found myself missing them with an intensity I never expected of myself. Guys, Ethan and Lena are great. They’re different because they’re realistic. Ethan is devoted to Lena, sure, but he’s devoted in a way that is appropriate for his age and makes sense when you think about everything that’s happened to them. I may be a wee bit biased because I actually really love Ethan — I have this major soft spot for him as a narrator and as a character that I won’t ever deny — but I truly think that this pairing is special. They have problems, problems they’re forced to face. In fact, they spend 3/4 of this book apart. Their relationship is really put to the test, and not entirely by outside forces. It’s Lena who begins to pull away and continues to do so. As much as Lena went overboard with the whole brooding thing in this installment, I can’t help but admire her determination to figure out who she really is on her own, and not just based on being with Ethan, or relying on what others want her to be. This is her primary conflict, and I respect it.
And we have to talk about the Love Quadrangle, because this kind of blew my mind. The entire time I sensed that it was brewing, waiting on the horizon about to pounce on me, I still couldn’t completely believe that they’d go there. Oh, but they did. They Love Quadrangled this thing like crazy. Again, refreshing! Oh, I know what you’re thinking. “Paola, you just think Love Quadrangles are refreshing because we all know you despise Love Triangles. A different shape doesn’t make the plot device any better or worse!” But wait — yes it does. I think it especially affects this dynamic in particular because Lena and Ethan are both caught in the crossfire between two worlds that are separate and different. They react to those worlds differently. Lena longs to find her place in the caster world she was born into, but can’t break free from an innate desire to fit in among the humans who have ostracized her. Meanwhile, Ethan wants nothing more than to run away from the human world he belongs in, and yet can’t quite reconcile himself to the caster side of things. Enter a caster boy and a human girl to form the two other corners of this quadrangle and you get a really interesting set of problems. Ethan and Lena become more believable as characters because they have really believable motivations and wishes. Lena wants to be understood, to be free to be herself. That’s why she finds herself drawn to someone who makes that easier. Ethan loves Lena and accepts her, and yet can’t deny the pull of being with someone who isn’t as complicated.
I liked that the Love Quadrangle happened. I like that, at the end of the book, the authors didn’t try to pretend like it never did. Ethan and Lena’s relationship changes because of it. There are emotional scars now where there were none before. Their feelings for one another were strained almost to the breaking point. I liked that the authors dared to go there, and that they didn’t try to ditch the consequences afterward.
Also, I just really have to say that I love Link and Ridley, both together and separate. I just do. Almost as much as Ethan and Lena.
Not So Much:
There are occasionally some things about the Caster universe that flat out baffle and confuse me. Or, if not that, then they strike me as really bizarre/unbelievable in a fantasy context. It’s kind of hard to juggle so many different types of casters and remember what all their powers are, and Lena’s relatives just keep coming out of the woodwork. There are a lot of coincidental things that take place and we all know that such coincidences tend to annoy me. They’re just too…convenient. I’m still waiting for the Big Villain to appear, because if it remains the same person/set of people throughout the whole series then I’m going to be kind of disappointed. Also, does Amma have any limits at all? Because she is always there to bail them out of whatever is happening, and I kinda wish she wouldn’t be there once in a while. That might be interesting.
And I may be alone in this, but the implications linked to Lena’s choice of Light or Dark are still really muddy for me.
***SPOILERS BELOW***
This is a spoiler, but I didn’t like that Sarafine was able to strip Ridley of her powers all in one fell swoop. That seems like overkill. No singular caster should be able to take another’s powers, no matter what kind of shit is going down. It tips the balance too far. Also, why couldn’t Macon stay dead??? It’s not that I dislike him, I just wanted to see Lena get over her grief and become stronger instead of having the whole problem solved by reversing what caused the grief in the first place.
RATING: 3.5/5
This was a solid second installment and definitely didn’t suffer from Second Book Syndrome. If anything, it only made me more interested in discovering Gatlin’s other secrets and more invested in Ethan and Lena as characters. While not without its minor issues, Beautiful Darkness delivered and accomplished what it was supposed to do. (AND there was a Love Quadrangle.)
About Paola
Paola is a teacher, blogger, and book devourer currently living in Las Vegas, NV. She has an unhealthy obsession with popcorn, office supplies, and Target.
- Web |
- More Posts (146)
