Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

I have to admit that I had not heard about this series of books until quite recently (when I watch the trailer of the movie, honestly). So, as you can imagine, what dragged my interest was the trailer, and not particular for the story, but for its casting. Well, the other day I was walking around with a friend and I found a copy of the book, not to expensive, and I got it.

I started reading that same day and from the very beginning I thought that it was going to be a "different" story to what we are used to. Basically, the story is told from the perspective of Ethan, not from the perspective of Lena (which is what is more standard these days) and the story seemed pretty interesting too, to be honest. 

Basically, this is a "fantasy" story developed in the real world, in a town in which nothing ever happens and is boring as hell. There's magic, romance, books… there's something there for most everyone I should think.

I am not going to go over the story now because I want to keep it short and all, but I will say what I liked about it: I liked the way it developed, some of the characters (even though I had the feeling that Ethan was not very developed at times), the mythology of the story is brilliant, and that's what kept me going, because I wanted to know more about the Casters (that is the term that magic people in the story call themselves, Lena being one of them). And well, the background was very solid for me, and even though I wasn't much interested in the romance of the two main characters, I must say that the charisma of the other people in the book were enough for me to enjoy it.

So, overall, even though I don't think I will read the next book, I do not think that I lost my time. Will I read it again? Most likely, no. But I had a good time.

MadHatterSays: Interesting enough, read it.

                               3/5

Now, regarding the film adaptation. I will be as quickly as possible. As I mentioned before, I wanted to watch it from the moment I saw the trailer. Why? Because Emma Thompson and Jeremy Irons where in it. Yes, I know that isn't much of a reason but that was quite enough for me. I didn't go to the cinema the day it opened, I read the book instead, and when I finally saw the film, I got the feeling that it was a complete mess and a totally different story. I really thought that they killed the book, everything on it. I do understand that you need to change stuff for a movie adaptation, but what they did in here is atrocious. I wasn't a big fan of the book, but the film really does not stand to it.

Even though I was not at all disappointed by Emma Thompson and Mr. Irons, I felt that i lost 2 hours of my time that I will never get back. So, If you have any interest in Beautiful Creatures, read the book and stay away from the film.

MadHatterSays: I would never recommend it to anyone

                               1.5/5