A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (2006-05-02)

I really wanted to like this book. I read through all the fluffy language, the annoying ramblings of the heroine, and the really lame love story only to wish that I stopped at the end of the first chapter like I wanted to in the beginning. Teenage girls ages 12-15 might find it entertaining though, I but I personally did not.

Although almost all of the characters are supposed to be 19th century English, they routinely display the sensibility of 21st century Americans. (I am American.) I found Gemma irritating, and her all-important visits to the "realms" boring. Many of Gemma's experiences are supposed to be frightening, but they were just dull. Most annoying, the book left several loose ends, which, I imagine, the author intends to address in one or more sequels that I do not expect to be reading. The identity of the villain, as yet undisclosed, seems obvious.

It is not often that I am as thoroughly unimpressed with a book as I was with this one. I hesitate to say that it lack realism (it is fantasy, after all), but it lacks just the something that allows the audience to suspend their disbelief. The story just does not fit together at the end as seemlessly as one would hope. The story plods along without real focus, never quite approaching climax, and never fully immersing the audience. I never feel the these girls are Gemma's friends, I never feel an attachment to the characters. The "romance" suggested between the protagonist and the mysterious male is forced. There is nothing in his mannerisms to suggest that he has an attraction towards Gemma, yet we take for granted that he does. There is no feeling to this book, I was astonished to find on the back page that the author was an adult.

Do not read if you are hoping to find something to follow Twilight, Hungergames, Fallen, or any of the other vampire romance series. You will surely find yourself disappointed.

Utter garbage. Cardboardy, one-dimensional characters are put through their paces in this mess of cliches. The "magic" is surprisingly tedious -- mainly because the parallel world from which it springs is so ill-defined.

Don't waste your time, money, or patience.

For whatever reason, the idea of writing this review over the last couple days has simply been exhausting. I really liked this book. It has a lot of problems. I enjoyed the characters, even though all of them were deeply flawed. I felt as though there were situations that were not fully played out (i.e. Miss Moore and the East Wing) but I liked the storyline I got.

So, the good stuff:

- I think Libba Bray inserted the magic really well. It felt subtle and on the edges of things, which is how I feel magical realism should be. Anything bigger is just fantasy.
- I really liked all four girls and their relationship. Their friendship is interesting, because none of them are really friends so much as symbiotic relationship where on one had the girls benefit off Felicity's influence and on the other enjoy Gemma's gift. The way they fell into accidental friendship (but not really loyalty) was interesting to me.
- I just... I really liked Pippa's storyline? I feel like no other reviewer I've read enjoyed the girls outside Gemma, but I loved Pippa's story. It made me sad.

The bad:

- The romantic story is honestly awful and pointless. It adds nothing to the story and feels out of place.
- The Romani people are one big fat stereotype and that's not cool. ESPECIALLY because they also don't add much to the story!!!
- There are a lot of open ends where it feels like the story *could* have gone to be richer, and then didn't. I feel like I missed something that could have been good.

Overall, liked the book a lot. It's a great story - Libba Bray is a great storyteller! But there are some technical issues which I feel needed to be acknowledged to make it a five-star read. I'll be grabbing the next of Gemma's series to be sure.

I love secondhand books. As thrilling as it can be to score a book you've been looking for at the used bookstore, there's also a chance to browse through the shelves and see what catches your eye that you might be willing to take on flyer on for $2. Which is how I picked up Libba Bray's A Great And Terrible Beauty. The cover art is striking, and the back promised a mix of the supernatural, girls boarding school drama, and a touch of gothic horror. While none of those things is a Must Read for me in and of itself, the combination sounded intriguing. And so, two American dollars later, I had my copy in my hot little hands. The book follows 16 year-old Gemma, who has been living in India with her parents for virtually her entire life and wants desperately to go live in England. But when she has a mystical vision of her mother's gruesome death, which comes true, she finds her wish granted in the worst possible way. To England she goes, sent straight off to boarding school at gloomy Spence Academy. She doesn't quite fit in with the other girls...until she catches queen bee Felicity in a compromising position and bribes her way into the inner circle. Gemma's power grows, and there's a secret diary that the girls read and use to find their way into a whole other world...where, of course, danger lurks.

Some experiments work out well. Some don't. This was a miss for me. It's the first of a trilogy, and it's usually been my experience that the first entry in a series is the best one in terms of a standalone story. Not so here...the entire idea of the realms and The Order and the Rakshana feels like Bray herself doesn't really understand how it all works and where she's trying to go with it, but figures she can get to it in the sequels. Same with Gemma and her friends...they're still sketches, their characters are very thin. I think YA can be a great genre, and some of the YA books I've read are still among my favorites. But I think it's often the home of some lazy writing and mistaking stereotypes and/or tropes for actual characters, and this book falls into the proverbial chaff rather than the proverbial wheat for me.

Gemma Doyle finds herself in front of an English boarding school after she sees her mother die of mysterious consequences. She's been in India almost all her life and now that she's in England, she realizes how different she is compared to English girls. At Spence Academy, she experiences discrimination and at the same time, has difficulty understanding the visions that appear in her mind. She's drawn to a magical world called the Realms and she needs to find the key to enter it.

The diary left behind by two dead girls from the Academy helps her discover a secret society called The Order, and soon, she and her newfound friends, Pippa and Felicity embark on a journey of epic and magical proportions. Sounds cliche but this is indeed one heck of an adventure, traveling between realms and including gypsies, magical entities, soul-suckers and so much more. A journey that eventually leads them to danger and even death.

I didn't know what to expect before reading this book. My mindset was focused on the Indian story at the beginning, but soon deviated to English Victorian era when the main character was sent to her dream place. I found the change of pace refreshing and not forced. The characters had their own unique personalities and you can't help but empathize with them, even though deep inside you really want to pull Pippa & Felicity's hair. The gypsy Kartik was someone to look forward to.

I think Libba Bray deserves to be called a bestseller. She's a prolific writer and one that really does her research. The unique realm she created was tremendous and overwhelming. All those myths and legends and fantasy rolled into one was done perfectly. Gotta have to read Rebel Angels really soon!

I had very high hopes, I am somewhat disappointed in my reaction to this first book in Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle trilogy. Honestly, the four star rating has a lot to do with my tendency to give first books in a series a break and my love for the author (I adored The Diviners!).

When reading a series, often the first book is made up entirely of getting to know the characters and the plot line. Sometimes it takes until the second book to really get a feel for the story. I am hoping this is merely the case for this story! Though, I do like the main character, Gemma Doyle, I found her also very wishy washy in her affirmations. She will often think one thing and say or do something else entirely. I felt like practically every decision she made she knew would lead her down a bad road, and yet she continued to make them. The rest of the characters in this book had very little to them. In fact I can’t say I liked any of them. The story read a lot like a supernatural version of Mean Girls, and that was a large portion of the book.

As I discovered the secret and how it relates to Gemma and those around her, the story got a little more interesting. I still wish that there was more depth to the interactions, and in the story line. I still plan to read the sequel and hope that I get more intrigued. I could do with a little more spooky as well.

Gemma Doyle, growing up in Victorian times has been yearning to go to boarding school in England instead of living in India with her parents. After tragedy strikes her family, this is exactly where she is sent to become the newest member of the Spence Academy. There she must learn to be a lady, deal with sadistic classmates, and overcome strict and sometimes cruel teachers. She also has her eyes opened to the existence of The Order, a group of magical women that have visions and travel between realms, a phenomenon that Gemma herself started experiencing when she turned sixteen. Through this ability, Gemma will experience wonders that cannot be imagined, but also put her and her friends in grave danger as they don't fully understand the forces they are dealing with and the others who would do anything to gain that power or stop it from being used.

This was an amazing book. It has a great gothic feel to it and is delightfully spooky without being a horror novel. Gemma is an interesting character, and at this stage in the trilogy very unsure of herself and her powers. It will be interesting to see how she grows and changes. All of Gemma's friends are also dealing with the uncertainty of their futures and the roles a woman is expected to fulfill in society, and each has a different reason to want to be drawn into the magic and the realms. This is a well thought out and well written novel that fans of Victorian historical fiction will love. Adults and teens will also both enjoy. I hope that the rest of the trilogy lives up to this great beginning.

Gemma Doyle’s world shatters when her mother is taken from her prematurely. Haunted by the premonition of her mother’s death, Gemma cannot quite explain the events that led up to the tragedy or the strange words uttered by a stranger to her mother before she was killed. Still in a state of grief Gemma is shipped to Spence Academy, a finishing school for girls. But Gemma cannot seem to outrun the frightening visions that have followed her. The cryptic Kartik warns Gemma that these visions of hers are dangerous and she must learn to control them. When a mysterious diary falls into her possession, Gemma discovers the significance of her visions and the power inside her that someone else desires.

When I first started reading A Great and Terrible Beauty and met the girls of Spence Academy, I was afraid that I was going to read another book about a new girl trying and failing to fit in with a bunch of catty, spoiled brats. But Gemma and the three girls she meets, though the start of their friendship is a little rocky, eventually find comfort in each other as each struggles with the expectations of their families and society. The story takes place at the end of the 19th century, so it is very interesting to read about these young ladies who have very little say in how their lives will turn out. Each tries desperately to retain some sort of control which is why each is so willing to take risks. I rather like the tentative relationship that develops between these four girls. They play off each other’s insecurities and remain individuals rather than merging into the same person.

The girls play a dangerous game, entering into another realm where their deepest desires come true. My first thought was the movie The Craft in which each of the girls gets what they want and everything seemed perfect until their power becomes too much. I’m interested to see how the events of this book alter the relationship between the girls and please I need to know more about Kartik! I also appreciated that Bray took the potential romance between Gemma and Kartik slowly, seeing that this is a trilogy. A girl enjoys a slow-burn every now and then. Libba Bray’s first book in her Gemma Doyle trilogy ends on a rather melancholy note, where the girls are forced to see things soberly and lessons are learned in the most difficult way. I’ve already picked up the sequel and am ready to get started on another adventure.

I began reading A Great and Terrible Beauty expecting Victorian-style dialogue and mannerisms, intermixed with bits of fantasy and magic. What I got was the repeated mention of Victorian ideals (and fashion), using modern dialogue with next-to-no fantasy or magic. Frankly, I was a little disappointed.

After my first encounter with Gemma, I was tempted to put the book down and walk away. She came across as a spoiled and self-centred juvenile who I had no interest in reading about. Fortunately, after the death of her mother, she managed to pull her head out of her ass long enough to see that the world did not in fact revolve around her. In time, her moments of immaturity grew on me as I realized it was a pretty accurate depiction of your average sixteen-year-old, and she was strong when the moment required strength from her.

Having read in the summary that Gemma "blackmails" herself and Ann into the popular clique at her new boarding school, I was looking forward to cattiness and betrayals and a general feeling of constant distrust. What I got was a "friendship" (and I'm using that term very loosely) that seemed shallow and unrealistic. Gemma is constantly being used as a pawn by Felicity to make Pippa jealous, and seems to take no issue with it. In fact, she seems to relish in the moments where Felicity chooses her over Pippa, as she delights in seeing Pippa's hurt over her best friend's betrayal. For reasons I can't fathom, Gemma decides to trust these girls enough to tell them her deepest secret - she has visions and the ability to transport them all into a different realm where whatever they can imagine will come into fruition.

When we finally get to the realms, Gemma is told she is not allowed to use her powers outside of the realms. For the longest time no real reason is given, other then the patronizing "because I said so" routine of parents, and so of course when she is pushed by her "friends" (who then seemed to be using her for access to the realms and the power it gave them) to take the magic into the real world, Gemma does so without real fear of the consequences - because they were never properly explained to her.

I did enjoy the slow pacing of the revealing of secrets, as I felt it gave me a reason to continue reading. Without the mystery surrounding the realms, and Gemma's mother's involvement, I doubt I would have kept reading, especially considering that it took almost 300 pages before the realms were presented; the lack of magic and otherworldliness was quite off-putting as I was expecting quite a bit of fantasy. I read elsewhere that the "magic of the realms teeters on the edge of becoming a metaphor for drug use" and I couldn't agree more. There were several scenes where I was expecting the girls to get caught using some substance to explain their vivid delusions, as the images that were described seemed so disjointed.

Overall I feel quite underwhelmed by this book. It took about 100 pages or so before it managed to catch most of my attention, and even then I found myself putting the book down quite frequently as other things managed to steal my attention. I did enjoy reading it, but I really don't have much to say about it, which is why it's getting 2 stars for "meh" instead of 3 for "enjoyable yet non-memorable".

This was my first Libba Bray book. What? you cry. How can that be? You blog mostly about YA! I know, I know. But somehow I just hadn't gotten around to it before, despite Bray's stellar reputation. But when I saw this on the library's shelf, I had to grab it and it did not disappoint.

Oh my goodness, I loved Gemma. I loved that yes, she lives in the Victorian era and understands their values, but she's also sassy. Tragedy befalls her family, which ultimately shapes the path that she finds herself on, but she doesn't let it define her as a person. She's still a teenage girl who thinks about gossip and boys and scandal... and okay, yes, these weird powers she finds herself with.

I enjoyed how the friendship with Gemma's friends Felicity, Pippa, and Ann come about in a typical teenage girl fashion. Gemma keeps a secret and she's "let in" to the club, but drags her roommate along with her.

I'm also looking forward to seeing more of Kartik. We hardly see him at all in A Great and Terrible Beauty but I'm looking forward to more of him in the next book!

What I didn't like: Half of the girls who wind up becoming Gemma's friends were so odious in the beginning that I half-groaned every time they showed up on the page. The power-hungry Felicity and attention-seeking Pippa in particular were just awful. But, like any author worth her salt, Bray reveals some of their backgrounds that helps you to understand why they are the way they are and helps them to grow to be somewhat likeable in the end.

So, do I rec it? You bet! Libba Bray's reputation is well-deserved. I Loved it.

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Bray has a fantastic voice that really comes through here, but her real strength comes out in characterization.

The four girls that this mostly focuses on, including the MC, all have their own goals and personalities, which is hard to achieve. Throughout the story, I felt as if I got to know each girl in an intimate way without the information force fed to me. By the end of the book, I had the feeling that Bray really knew her characters before she wrote this. Right down to the teachers. Her consistency is beyond admirable. She has the drama of being a teenager and being accepted without compromising. The characters hurt. They feel it. I felt it.

The other thing that really impressed me about Bray's writing, and is something I hope to learn for my own, is how to make every word and every sentence count. I felt like everything she wrote somehow moved the story forward, or helped me to see characterization. She 'told' very little, and 'showed' me who each person was. There was not a single point when I 'skimmed' through.

The plot took me by surprise. I know others have said that it wasn't the strongest plot, and in some ways I agree. What really moved this book along was voice and characterization.

I can't wait to read the next. They're sitting right next to me now.

Thank you Abby, for recommending this series to me! I really enjoyed this book. It reminded me a lot of Michelle Zink's Prophecy of the Sisters. Actually, I guess I should say Prophecy of the Sisters reminded me of A Great and Terrible Beauty since Libba Bray's book was published first.

Gemma has spent most of her life living in India and dreams of going to school in London and being presented to society. She has a vision of her mother's death, which comes true, and is sent to boarding school at Spence Academy. There, she has more visions and that's when the story really takes off. Libba Bray drew me in with the first sentence and I had a really hard time putting this book down.

This book has it all: a heroine finding her way in life, a boarding school (I just love books about boarding schools), hints of a forbidden romance, mystery, and a plot twist at the end that left me shocked. It's not too often that a book surprises me, so I really relish it when it happens.

I would recommend A Great and Terrible Beauty to fans of historical fiction, YA and fantasy. It was a very strong start to what I suspect will be an outstanding series! One question: Am I the only one who got the near-irresistible urge to watch Anne of Avonlea when reading the Lady of Shalott poem at the beginning of the book?

Just One Gripe:
With any first-in-a-series novel, there is a good bit of world-building at the beginning, which makes the book feel a little slow to really take off.

Poor Gemma, first her mother dies and then she is sent to an all-girls boarding school, every teenage girl's nightmare. But to top it all off Gemma is not your average girl but a witch of sorts that can travel back and forth between different realms and who can do a bit of magic with potential for more. So Gemma is totally relatable, there is something that makes her different and her life is not perfect, yep that is pretty much every girl I have ever met.

Bray also gets you with the fantasy/paranormal parts of this book because who really doesn't want to read about cool, unknown, mysterious things; dumb question right because everyone wants to read a book like that. So not only are you pulled in by the characters but also by the content of the book. And it takes place in England in 1895 another big draw for historical fiction lovers.

No pulitzer prize writing but it is a YA novel and there are some parts that the adult in me couldn't get past without rolling my eyeballs. That said it was a thoroughly entertaining read and I was glad to see that is was part of a series because I do love a good series, tomorrow you will see the review for the second book in the series I have yet to read the 3rd and final book.

This book came highly recommended, which made the following disappointments worse.

-Unclear, overly powerful, often-corny magic. This is one of my biggest pet peeves about fantasy (yes, I know, it's FANTASY, but I still feel the magic should be clear and believable). The references to "The Order" and "The Realms" cracked me up, like something taking itself far too seriously. And I never really understood what The Order did or what The Realms were for. Because all the magic was under-explained, maybe I misunderstood, but it seems that the "runes" in this book were big powerful crystals. Runes, according to most dictionaries, are symbols or letters, occasionally poems or incantations of a magic nature. So the way she referenced them struck me as ill-informed.

-Unsympathetic characters. I sort of liked Gemma, though she could be whiny, and made really stupid decisions. I didn't like her friends though, or they way they got greedy and betrayed her toward the end and that didn't really seem to harm their strange friendship.

-Forced romance. The lustful dreams and possibility of romance with mysterious (and unexplained) Kartik felt tacked-on

-Anachronistic speech. I don't think people in historical fiction should talk or narrate exactly the way they did back then, because it's most likely going to be wrong anyway, and it's often stilted-sounding and hard to decipher, which throws the reader out of the story. We want to feel like we are there, and in order to feel that, the characters must speak our language. But there's a line. Your knight in shining armor shouldn't go around saying "bro" or "dude." He also might not want to compare his horse to a speeding bullet or talk about thinking outside the box. Libba Bray crosses this line a lot in the book. Her characters sound far too modern--not just in their words, but in their ideas. I think she intended it that way, but it didn't work for me.

-Lack of closure. I didn't really understand what happened in the final magical confrontation, and didn't care enough to re-read it. Mostly the fault of the hazy magic and unclear plot goal.

-Present Tense. I've never really liked present tense for novels. Libba Bray does it well, and I was able to ignore it after a while, but I'm just not sure why it was there. What did it really add to the story?

On the good side:

-I did enjoy the social commentary about the inequality and hypocrisy of Victorian (and other) society.

-Nice historical details and interesting settings.

-Boarding School power struggles--always entertaining.

Gemma Doyle is shipped away to boarding school in England after her mother commits suicide. Gemma leaves behind all she knows of her life in India and is forced to figure out a new life with girls her own age. She is deemed an outcast from the start. Having visions of things that seem to come true mean that Gemma has secrets to keep, making her more of an outcast. A mysterious man appears to have followed Gemma from India. He was sent to watch over her and ensure she doesn't delve into what her visions mean and risk bringing to pass what her mother was willing to die for.

This was a vey slow read for me. It promised a foray into the spiritual world, but barely delivered. The girls do pass over to the spiritual world, but it just didin't keep my interest. There was so much time spent pondering what was going on with Gemma and her thinking she was an outcast and must keep her secret. Not enough time was actually spent in the spiritual world and figuring out what strength Gemma has, what she brings to the world. It really was a lot of high school-ish type drama with the in crowd and the outcasts. Not my cup of tea.

When I first started reading this book, I thought that I would love it and rave to all my friends about it. Having finished the novel in its entirity, I find myself quite at odds with my feelings on this book.

On the one hand, I love the plot and the story's magical qualities. The shocking secrets that are revealed in this book are enough for me to give it three stars without a second thought, but in every other aspect, the novel is found lacking.

The characters are petty and spoiled. I do not believe that these girls like each other, nevermind the author trying to play them off as best friends now that they share a secret. I mean look at the Pretty Little Liar series. Sharing secrets does not make you life long friends. The characters are also one deminsional and lack any kind of integrity. The main character, Gemma Doyle, is the only believable character as well as her mysterious stalker boy.

The writing style draws the reader in, but the characters pushes the reader out and away from the story destroying any kind of intimacy with any of the other characters, besides the two already mentioned.

I know that the story takes place in the era of pomp and titles. A time where manners and breeding are everything, but I do not believe that most women were vain and if they were, they could never be true friends with one another. There would always be backstabbing, not just one instant of it.

I purchased this book for someone else online, and unfortunately I did not read enough about it, or I would never had purchased "A Great and Terrible Beauty." My friend received the order yesterday, delivered by post office and left in the rain. She told me she didn't think it was the kind of book she could read and certainly not pass on to anyone else. Today she told me about the little bit she did read and I regret she will have the memories of it in her mind. She definitely will throw it away. It is full of supernatural, demonic things and nothing anyone should dabble in if they want a sane mind. Also, it seems this author only wrote 2 books, and my friend said no wonder, given the nature of her writing.

Gemma was a young, free-spirited 16 year old girl, being brought up in India but wanting nothing to do with the place. Her heart lies in London, a city she greatly wants to visit and go to school in. Though her mother refuses, Gemma keeps pushing until one day her mother is gone and lost forever, dying right in front of her very eyes. Soon after she is shipped off to Spence, a ladies finishing school in London, the very place she had always desired.

However, Spence isn't what it seems. Secrets are hidden in every corridor and the girls there are the opposite of proper, instead acting truly scandalous. Though she has a bumpy start, becoming a bit of an outcast, she eventually forms and alliance with a group of girls she grew to both love and hate. After discovering an old journal the groups lives change drastically, quickly spiraling out of their control.

Gemma was strong when she needed to be, though there was a large layer of hurt buried underneath her skin. She wanted nothing more than to be reunited with her dear mother, something that comes back to haunt her later on in the story. She is better than most at judging people, but like any normal teen girl, still floats towards the wrong people just to be accepted. Watching her aquire her powers was a fascinating process, one that I hope to learn more of in the rest of the series.

Spence was a school completely surrounding in mysteries, reminding me of a Gothic themed haunted mansion you'd go to visit on a dark Halloween night. A Great and Terrible Beauty was one with excellent world-building and character building skills, one that kept me on my seat with anticipation late into the night. At times I even found myself getting a bit more than a little terrified or antsy, though this goes against my usually reaction to books.

A sure page-turner, this was one fantastic start to what I'm sure is an amazing series. Now.. if I could only get my hands on the last two installments!!

For my third attempt through this book I opted to listen rather than read (and am relieved I borrowed from the library rather than purchasing). During my first two sits downs - on separate occasions, months apart, where I restarted the book - I managed to only make it through the first forty or fifty pages each time. The pacing was just too slow for me.

Seeing so many raves and "must reads" for the trilogy, I really wanted to give it my best shot for embracing the story. Sometimes books which are less than stellar for reading are better in audio form. Forcing myself into the audio, I still found the pacing for this story dreadfully slow. It felt like a hundred years' time just to get to know the four lead girls in the story and the few supporting teachers, other school girls, and girls from the past. It wasn't until around disk six (out of ten) I finally found I was enjoying the story and beginning to care about the characters. It was short lived, though. Each time I got excited about an element of the plot - an alternate realm with a sinister past - it seemed to go back to more trivial, less exciting points of the story. My desire to make it through the book waned between boredom and occasion dull excitement. In all fairness, perhaps the parts of the story I found forgettable are necessary for future plot elements in the rest of the trilogy.

The final disk picked up again and now I'm curious to know what happens in the second book of the series. I'll explore it via rented audio, but unless book two picks up, I may be leaving Miss Gemma Doyle to struggle on her own through the often sinister realms of prep school.

Gemma Doyle grew up in India, but after her mother commits suicide and her father becomes a laudanum addict, she's sent to a finishing school in England. This is Victorian England, so at Spence Academy Gemma will be instilled with "grace, charm, and beauty" as she learns how to be a proper wife, mother, and hostess. Virtue, virginity, and the avoidance of scandal are of the utmost importance so that the ladies of Spence Academy will, upon graduation, reach their highest potential: to make a good marriage.

But A Great and Terrible Beauty is a gothic novel, which means that there is less grace, charm, and beauty than one should expect at Spence Academy. Instead, there are hidden secrets, dark rumors, strange disappearances and deaths, fearful servants, and a creepy old East Wing that inexplicably burned down 20 years ago. And, most importantly, each of the girls we get to know at Spence Academy has some sort of tragic past that makes her feel alone and unloved.

When Gemma gets to school she finds that the two most popular girls, Felicity and Pippa, are mean and nasty and, though she first stands up to them when they pick on Ann, Gemma's weak snively roommate, the four girls are soon best friends when they discover that Gemma has access to the realms, a fantasy world where they have the power to make their dreams come true. Predictably, the girls learn that magic is hard to control and that it has a terrible price.

Overall, I enjoyed A Great and Terrible Beauty while recognizing that it wasn't a great book. That's because I listened to the audio version which was read by Josephine Bailey. Her voice is gorgeous and her English accents greatly contributed to the Victorian feel. I believe I'd enjoy anything read by Josephine Bailey.

When I consider the actual story, though, I have some issues with A Great and Terrible Beauty. First is that, without exception, all of the teenage girls are unlikable. While Gemma isn't too bad by herself, it's hard to think highly of her after she chooses her friends. Perhaps she didn't have much to pick from, but we only meet a few of the schoolgirls, so we don't know who else was a possibility. It was hard to believe in their shallow friendship and it reminded me of the unpleasant and selfish girls in the 1988 movie Heathers. I will admit, though, that Gemma and Felicity are clever and funny. Even though I didn't like them much, their witty remarks often made me smile.

I understood and appreciated Libba Bray's repudiation of the social mores of Victorian England -- arranged marriages, priggish behavior, vapid and powerless women, complete abdication to men -- but I had a hard time believing that Gemma and her friends, as products of that culture (and enrolled in a finishing school), would be so enlightened. Their obsession with personal power didn't feel real.

The fantastical element, which is perhaps the most important part of a fantasy novel, also didn't feel real or well thought out. The realms didn't have consistent rules and there was a lack of logic and coherence. In fact, I got the impression that Libba Bray wanted to write a story about four tragic teenage girls in a Victorian boarding school who find power and that she threw in the magic stuff as the source of power, making this less of a fantasy novel and more of a historical novel about girls finding themselves. Ms. Bray's audio afterword seems to confirm my suspicions.

Overall, A Great and Terrible Beauty is neither great nor terrible and will likely be quite entertaining for a teenage girl who likes gothic novels and doesn't care about the issues I've raised here. I did enjoy the audio version despite my complaints, but I give Josephine Bailey a lot of the credit for that.

In India, this book started out beautifully, just pure descriptive magic. I wish everyone just stayed their butts there. Side note: I am extremely partial to backdrops in France and/or India-so I may be a smidgeon biased. Gemma is witness to a horrific scene involving her mother-a scene, to her dismay, that she foresaw literally minutes before it occurred. She is then promptly shipped off to a boarding school in England.

This is where the problems arose for me, and where the story began to grow a little stale. So much so, that I would put the book down for days on end, only to finally pick it up again and realize that ughh..maybe I shouldn't have. I think the change of scenery had a large impact on my loss of interest. England seemed so drab and void of the colour, smells, and culture that India provided in the beginning (though I have previously enjoyed stories based in England, this one was just dull to me).

However, there WAS a bright light at the end of that gray tunnel. The story picked up considerably as Gemma formed a stronger bond with a few of her classmates. These secondary characters-Ann, Felicity and Pippa-also become increasingly more interesting as I became more informed of their lives, and the reasons for their reactions and interests. I think Libba Bray did a good job of making that transition easy and seamless for her readers: the fact that Gemma bumped heads with these girls initially, but then grew closer to them. I felt like it was done smartly, and not so quickly that it felt forced.

The 2 redeeming things in this book for me were these:

1) The interaction between Gemma and Kartik. I waited with baited breathe for them to be in the same place at the same time, and I severely hope they have more scenes together in the next 2 books! and

2) The paranormal aspect. I think the intricacies and explanations were well thought out, and fun. I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out from here on out-I'm expecting a lot more of it in Rebel Angels.

Overall, this book was extremely slow paced for me, and when it finally did pick up, the excitement was still a little too few and far between. The characters were pretty one dimensional, and I probably could have done without a few of them. I really, really wanted to like this series-I saw SO many positive reviews for it. Hopefully my feelings change for the other books.

Original Review at Belle of the Literati @ [...]

"But forgiveness...I'll hold on to that fragile slice of hope and keep it close,
remembering that in each of us lie good and bad,
light and dark,
art and pain,
choice and regret,
cruelty and sacrifice.
We're each of us our own chiaroscuro,
our own bit of illusion fighting to emerge into something solid,
something real."
--Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty

I am constantly seeing people on Twitter talk about reading scary books due to the Halloween season...well I'm a great big scaredy cat and find no enjoyment in drawing out the intense anxiety that goes along with fear. I do not watch scary movies, I have no desire to be anywhere near them, Saw is twisted and deranged and all you crazy lunatics that enjoy that kind of entertainment need to be locked away somewhere...in my humble opinion of course. BUT to try and get into the holiday spirit (get it? Spirit? Ghosts?...No?...Alright then) I thought I would try my version of a frightful storytelling by reading the acclaimed A Great and Terrible Beauty and I was not disappointed.

The story follows Gemma Doyle who recently moved from India to a boarding school named Spence in London after her mother's horrific death that had definite supernatural qualities to it. Gemma is being thrust into visions of dark creatures and she fears she is beginning to go mad. She is led to a mysterious diary of a long ago student at Spence and begins reading it with her new friends as part of their newly founded clique that they named the Order which was the same name of an occult duo of girls that dabbled in magic. The quartet of girls delve into another world entirely called the realms, a world between worlds. Along their journey things most definitely go bump in the night and evil is lurking on the periphery of this story. Gemma comes to find out that she is a missing link between the realms and the real world and there is an evil force out there trying to find her and get back into the realms where the heart of the power is.

This book's dialogue is fantastic. Again, I am a sucker for historical fiction, any sort of setting having to do with the Victorian age, and girls in corsets and petticoats. The boarding school backdrop is an even bigger bonus for me. The mystery behind the diary and the events of the two girls involved really keeps the story going. I loved reading the excerpts from them and trying to piece together what actually happened...and then when you do get all the pieces it is well worth the wait. I did not see that conclusion coming at all and I loved it!

I also really enjoyed Gemma's character. She is a girl ahead of the times where women were taught to be seen and not heard. She is fiery and independent and I always loved her inner monologue talking about how she goes to school with sheep. I legit laughed out loud at that part. She stands up for what she believes is right and it usually has to deal with another person's treatment, she may be the original anti-bully campaign leader. She has strength that she doesn't even realize. She goes against the grain in a lot of situations for the time and it made me like her character even more.

I did have a very small problem though with the building of the girls' friendship toward on another. In the end there were certain passages that made me think these girls were supposed to have undying loyalty to one another but I never really felt that thoroughly built throughout the story. Ann was always wishy-washy and just did what was most popular at the time. Pippa was quite self-centered and only cared about herself...no, wait, what Felicity thought. And Felicity herself had moments of honesty and loyalty towards Gemma but at the end of the day I wouldn't trust that girl as far as I could throw her. I wanted them to have a secret society of sisterhood that made me believe they would live and die for one another but it just was never really there for me. On the other hand though these are 16 year old girls so if we are being realistic we can't expect too much from them. As a rule they are flighty and impressionable and don't usually want to rock the boat and be ostracized. Gemma is in a class all her own on this, far above the others. Go Gemma! And who knows, maybe their friendships develops more in the next book...stay tuned.

I did, however, thoroughly enjoy the parallels between Gemma and Felicity vs Mary and Sarah. Mary and Gemma are the one who hold they key to the realms and Felicity and Sarah always seemed to feel like to outsiders riding on the other girl's coat tails. I was quite annoyed in the end when Felicity tried to convince the others that Gemma only wanted power for herself, so not true. It was great for the book's plot obviously but I just wanted more depth and insight for these character's personalities.

Lastly, the theme of light versus dark, good versus bad, is amazing! I love the development of this theme as you can see from my choice of quote at the top. The choices are all our own and we have to live with them good or bad. I believe we all do have good and bad inside us but it is what we do with those choices that make us who are as Miss Moore so eloquently put. The winner of the choices game for me goes hands down to Pippa. Her choice at the end of the book was so beautifully tragic my heart twisted a little. This poor girl has been owned her entire life, entirely devoid of her own choices. She wants to do things on her own terms and she finally does. Bravo to Pippa you brave, beautiful soul you.

I finished this book in a day, I really couldn't wait to see what happened next and I can't wait to start the next one. I want to rate it 4 stars but when I compare it in my head to other books I've given 4 stars to it doesn't have that oompf yet...But I LOVE the occult, magical quality to it and I am going to go start the sequel now :)

Oh and I want more Kartik...like now...for Gemma, of course... :)

I have had this trilogy on my bookshelf long enough & decided to jump in and read it. I must admit that I have mixed feelings for this first book. It's well written and kept me consistently interested but I also feel that not much happened overall. It's historical fiction but the tone of the narrator's voice and some of the phrases she used, felt very modern. I don't think that was an accident and wonder if it was done because this is a YA novel to make it more relatable. I read my fair share of historical fiction novels and this is not something I'm used to seeing. I also worked out the secret fairly early that took Gemma quite some time to suss out. As this is a YA read, I'm not really dissatisfied with that. The way it unfolded for Gemma read credibly.

I enjoyed Gemma. She had a quick wit and also had a decent enough depth of character that following her through the story was enjoyable. I thought the circle of friends, Felicity, Pippa & Ann was an interesting dynamic because the girls are at a far off boarding school, so it's more like a lifeboat situation than it is a flowery bonding with kindred spirits thing. Because of this, I thought the friends/frienemy aspect rang true. The girls were kind, vicious, jealous, needy, simpering & cloying all at different intervals as they tried to work out their positions in the group. It was uncomfortably real in some exchanges and I thought, well done. I did like that all the girls had very much in common the painful absence of parents and family. They've all been sent away to be shaped and groomed into proper standard bearers to deeply flawed families. Ironic.

The thread of the story that has to do with Gemma and her new found ability seemed to get a bit of short shrift in the explanation & unfolding the mystery department. It really comes together in the last third of the book. There are two more books, so I'm not worried that the main will be lost on that one. The Order, the Rakshana & the malevolent Circe have my attention and I want to know more. I am also interested in how the friendships of the girls will evolve now that one is not with them & I'd like to know more about Kartik.

Overall, this felt like a solid set up for a series. The next two books are longer so I'm assuming that bodes well. I do have to say that I quite like Libba Bray's writing style. It's worth a read, just for that.

I'm suprised I finished this book, particularly because there are absolutely NO sympathetic characters in this book. Not one. Gemma is a petulant, snotty, self-involved brat of a teenager. I simply couldn't stand her and struggled to stay connected to the story. As the other characters come into play, the also have selfish, snobbish or othewise self-serving attitudes and agendas. By the time the characters reveal they have certain struggles or insecurities, you just don't care. In fact, you feel like they deserve them. Every story MUST have a sympathetic lead character or the audience will have nothing to identify with, no common ground with this person. That's what happens here. If you don't care about these girls, you don't care about their story.

Speaking of the girls, the author has created a crew of girls that are mouthy, bossy, selfish, sex-crazed, defiant and extremely self-aware and empowered. That would be shocking even for ADULT women in the Victorian era, but these are children, girls. This is completely unrealistic. With the pressure of the English class system, not to mention the church of the times, these girls would would be acting nothing like this. Maybe if it's 1968, but not 1878. With that....again, you don't care about the girls. Somehow they've got it all figured out...who they are, what they deserve, how they're going to get it, etc. There's no self doubt, no exploration, nowhere to grow.

The good thing is the setting and the plot / pacing. The author does a decent job with all these things. Still...if this were a movie....I'd wait to catch it on DVD instead of paying full price at the theatre. You know those kinds of stories.

A GTB opens in a busy marketplace in Victorian India. There's a quick series of events culminating in main character Gemma seeing her mother die in a vision to protect Gemma from "Circe," an unseen evil spirit.

Gemma's immediately sent to a boarding school in England where she continues having visions. Then she learns she's a portal to another spiritual realm where she is warned Circe could be lurking.

She's warned by this fellow Kartik, who follows her back from India. He's a member of some ancient order that isn't clearly explained, and he's constantly (inexplicably) appearing in the forest around the boarding school watching her and warning her to stop.

Problem: she brought three friends over with her, and they beg her to take them back because it's a place where all their dreams come true. Gemma's mother is also there, and Gemma longs to see her mother again.

So they keep going back until bad things start happening, and they start to lose control.

It sounds really action-packed, but the truth is, I found the book slow going. And I gotta be honest, while I cared about Gemma, her behavior was often inexplicable--and not in the "I'm a teenager, I don't always make sense" kind of way.

I didn't buy her friendship with the other three girls. Bray sets her up as fiercely independent, and then has her manipulated by them in ways that were inconsistent with her character.

But it's a beautifully written book. Bray adores luxurious description, and it's not hard to read. Still, more than once it seemed like an exciting event was lost in all the lush detail.

Perhaps I wasn't in the right mood for it.

There were a few disturbing scenes and tense moments, and there was a hint of romance, although it wasn't deeply explored. I did get a thorough knowledge of the four main girls, and I did want to know what was going to happen to them... And I love the cover. It's absolutely gorgeous~

If you're a fan of historic paranormals or gothic novels along the lines of Jane Eyre, or if you liked that movie The Craft (remember that one?) you'll probably like it. It's not a super-fast page-turner, but it has its moments of intrigue

A Great and Terrible Beauty is a great example of a book with a good premise but flawed execution. I was certainly drawn to the mysterious fire in the east wing of the prep school, I wanted to know more about the main character's visions, and I was interested in learning more about why her mother died. Instead of presenting solutions to these mysteries in a well thought out logical way, we are given a convoluted tale full of drama and superficial characters. This is a YA book, so teenage drama is to be expected. I don't mind it usually, especially if I enjoy the characters. Unfortunately, all of the characters in A Great and Terrible Beauty are unlikable. Most are one dimensional typical mean girls, and one is a shy and not so pretty girl that cuts herself. I understand that part of the premise of the book is that not everyone is perfect, and even pretty girls can have issues, but unlikable characters can ruin an otherwise decent plot. Even worse, the girls only want selfish things and they don't listen to anything anyone tells them. They are perfectly fine with repeating history and not thinking before acting. Characters aside, the basic plot was interesting and full of mysteries to be solved. I enjoyed the exploration of powers, the dream world, and the secret "Order," but there wasn't enough of it. This book is definitely an introduction, and if this book is any indication of the rest of the series, then I am not interested. I need more substance and less drama. I would love strong characters to look up to, instead of teenagers that have attitude, drink alcohol, revel in the humiliation of others, and kill things. Overall, heartless, power hungry, spoiled characters ruin a decent plot and mystery.

Firstly, I want to say that I absolutely loved Ms. Bray's descriptions of colonial India, Victorian England and The Realms - such very different places but so vividly detailed. Oh and Spence... {sighs} I love Victorian finishing schools. I liked Gemma - I thought Ms. Bray did a great job depicting her as a normal teen with all the emotional turmoil, teen angst, pettiness, selfishness, etc., that you would see in any teen. I liked that she wasn't perfect - that she had her flaws and in the end that was what won me over. My only complaint was that (on certain occasions) the way she talked and expressed herself was not very true to that of a Victorian young lady - I found it somewhat modern.

I liked the friendship that the girls sparked - I thought they were all so different (some likeable, some not so much) but in the end, they made it work. I also enjoyed how Kartik was woven into the story - especially in those dream sequences (wink wink). I wasn't sure if to like him or not (somewhat the way Gemma feels about him) but I think there's still hope for him yet. I really had to appreciate that Ms. Bray managed to tell an entertaining story, while trying to instill ideas of feminine power.

My only issue with this book is that they paint suicide in such an easy light. I really don't want to spoil or give anything away, so I won't be able to discuss this in as much detail as I'd like, but there is more than one suicide and the characters just seem "okay" with this.

All in all, I still thought that the story flowed really well and had plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing. There were plenty of loose ends - but alas, there are two more books in this trilogy which I'm sure will remedy that. In the end, I found A Great and Terrible Beauty entertaining and definitely a page-turner. I would definitely recommend to lovers of historical fiction with a (slightly creepy) magical twist.

This book should come with a warning label that you might run into walls or cause other bodily harm while reading it because you cannot put it down.

I had never read anything by this author before and once I began this book, I was more than pleasantly surprised. During the course of this book, I never had to struggle even one time to keep my mind on what was going on in the story. I loved the Main Character and the supporting characters and found them to be delightful and easy to love.

Ann was at times a bit irksome, but her character served its purpose, balancing out the beauty and class that surrounded her. Besides, every good book needs a severely insecure female role...

What I found most endearing about this book is that from beginning to end, the characters stay true to who they are. No one suddenly becomes less of a twit, no one grows a sudden brain when they were an idiot before and nobody has a great transformation into something completely the opposite of what they were in the beginning of the book. You get to know these girls, accept their quirks and love them for who they are. By the end of the book, you feel like they are your friends as well. I cannot wait to read the other books in this series. Very well done, two big thumbs up for this one!

At first synopsis, I thought for sure this was an historical fiction read. Which... it was. But, it is also is adventure, mystery, paranormal, a dab of horror, a splash or romance, and dare I say I think I may have experienced just a pinch of steam punk?

A Great and Terrible Beauty is narrated by Josephine Bailey and I would say that in the places that I felt a little lost in what was happening in this stuffed full of genre book, it was Josephine's clear and incredible voice control that held me captive.

While the start of this novel read is kicking and full of action that made me say "Wha?", the middle seamed to be filled with just a lot of ... stuff. Filling really - about the school, about Gemma.... it just lost the power that it had in the beginning, and maybe it was just too strong an entrance to possibly hold that level of excitement... I dont know...

My favorite part of the book was the friendship of the four girls. As in most books that center around a friendship, the girls have diverse personalities, and I like that. I did enjoy how they came together as quite an unlikely quartette, and well... you will see if you check this one out.

While I did mention the middle fizzle, if you hang on the ending takes you souring again into the "WHOA!" zone and actually had me smiling form the effects of just good writing.

If you do decide to venture into this one on audio be sure to listen to the authors notes at the end. Libba Bray has a pretty funny message about how this book came to be and details of how she came to this story.

All Gemma Doyle wants for her sixteenth birthday is to go to England and to see London. Though she comes from respectable English stock, Gemma has never seen the country raised instead in India where it is too hot, too dusty and entirely too boring.

Gemma does get her wish, but not the way she had hoped. Instead of a glamorous return to England with her family, Gemma is sent to an austere finishing school after her mother's tragic death under mysterious circumstances.

Spence Academy is meant to take Gemma and the other young students and make them into ladies ready for their first Season and, more importantly, ready to become respectable wives and make good matches for their families.

But Gemma has no desire to be finished if it means never knowing what really happened to her mother or, for that matter, what's really happening to her.

Much as she tries, Gemma isn't like the other girls at Spence. She has her own wants that go beyond a respectable husband and a quiet life as someone's wife. She has her own thoughts. And she sees things; things she shouldn't be able to see, places that shouldn't exist.

A mysterious man has followed Gemma to Spence from India telling her she must stop the visions and close her mind to her powers. But her powers are also the only way to make sense of her mother's death. A world of magic lies at Gemma's feet, its great and terrible beauty there for the taking. But only if Gemma is ready to choose it in A Great and Terrible Beauty (2003) by Libba Bray.

A Great and Terrible Beauty is the first book in The Gemma Doyle Trilogy.

Set in 1895, this book is a satisfying blend of historical fiction and fantasy. Gemma is very thoroughly grounded in the daily life of Spence even as she learns more about her powers and the mysteries surrounding them. It is also a novel about choice as Gemma and, later in the story, her friends negotiate what it means to be a young woman in Victorian England and try to quiet their own misgivings about their places in that privileged world.

The fascinating thing about A Great and Terrible Beauty is that it's also a novel about frustration and hopes and, surprisingly, a novel about feminism--set in a time when no one even knew what feminism was. As much as this story is about Gemma Doyle it is also about the silent scream so many women kept bottled in at being commodities to be married off and sent away like so much merchandise being bought and sold.

A Great and Terrible Beauty is part character study, part fantasy, and mostly good storytelling. Rich with historic detail, fantasy, and strong characters, this is the captivating start of a story that continues in Rebel Angels and The Sweet Far Thing.

Possible Pairings: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, The Ruby in the Smoke by Phillip Pullman, The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud, The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Grand Tour by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

Gemma Doyle desperately wants to leave India, where her British parents have raised her, and go to England--London to be specific. This is the time of British expansion; Gandhi is still just a child. Like most teens of any era, she is rebelling and runs away from her mother in a marketplace in Bombay. Thus begins the story of Gemma Doyle.

Libba Bray's first installment in her Gemma Doyle Trilogy has most of the elements of a good, solid Gothic novel--castle-like setting, mystery and suspense, prophecy, visions, the supernatural, and high emotion. However, the author balks at women in distress being threatened and "rescued" by men. I like that part.

In the first few pages we see the foreshadowing of things to come. "Would you like to be paraded around the ballrooms of London society like some prize horse there to have its breeding capabilities evaluated?"

Gemma does end up in England when her mother is killed while searching for her in the market place, but not in London. Instead she is sent to an all-girls boarding school outside of London where she discovers her "gift," her mother's sad connection to the school, and that the power within herself needs no male to protect and defend her.

I have not yet read Rebel Angels or The Sweet Far Thing, the other two installments to the trilogy, but I fervently wish that Gemma will continue to maintain her independence from the domination of males.

Aside from the female/male relationships of the Victorian era, Ms. Bray's story also provides a seamless ride through a wonderful fantasy that should hold the attention of females to whom dreams of other-worldly things are common.

This beautiful world, with it's hidden dangers and small intersections with real life, fits incredibly well with the Victorian Era setting. It complemented the authors' immersive portrayal of society, without overwhelming it. The plot concepts involved weren't anything completely new, but they were put together in new and interesting ways. The magical world was a world all it's own and locations were described so vividly I could picture them as though I'd already seen them in a movie.

The main character, Gemma Doyle, was also very well done. She very rarely made decisions that seemed silly and even when she did, she was driven by the perfectly natural concerns of a teenage girl trying to fit in. When interacting with her mother, she does come across as a bit of a brat, but most of the time she is a strong, independent young woman you can relate to. Finally, plot pacing was spot on. Action started early and the mysteries were drawn out just long enough that I was always excited to find out what happened next. Another point in it's favor - as soon as I was done, I rushed to the library to get the rest of the Gemma Doyle trilogy

Firstly, this book doesn't fit into the cookie-cutter YA paranormal category. Which is a major point in its favour. Yes, it is mostly set at a school and features a protagonist with supernatural abilities but any resemblance stops there. There are no vampires, werewolves, angels or other popular supernatural beings here. And the school in question is an all-girls boarding school in the eighteen hundreds (so no tacky high-school love triangles. Let us all breathe a sigh of relief).
Now that I've dealt with what this book is not, here are some of its good points:

-very good characterisation. There are no flawless characters here. Gemma herself can be downright bratty and pig-headed at times. The 'popular' girls at the school are initially presented as simply 'mean girls' but it quickly becomes apparent that there is more to them than that. Although they can be petty, selfish, thoughtless and cruel they can also be brave, loyal and clever. They are all hiding their own emotional wounds and secrets.

-I thought it a very accurate portrayal of the power plays and manipulation that can go on in a group of teenage girls.

-I also liked how the girls' power-plays amongst themselves are not just petty rivalries; they are truly the only form of power they will ever know in the society they live in. This is a world of discrimination based on your sex, race and class. As women they will never hold sway over their own destinies in the normal course of things. You can see the girls fighting against this cage and the supernatural element of the book allows them a place to escape societal constraints and push boundaries.

-It's not a romance! Shock! Horror! Nope, although there are small inklings around the edges of a romance that may develop in future books, this book focuses more on the relationships between the girls, developing characters and delving into the mystery of Gemma's visions.

Things I was not so keen on:

- choice of tense. This book is told in the present tense which for me is an awkward tense, prone to creating sentences that throw me out of the writing entirely. Fortunately the writing was good enough to allow me to ignore this for the most part.

-sometimes the characters can be a bit too unlikeable and it becomes a struggle to keep reading about them. However I hold out hope for the improvement of their characters, based on the fact that they do develop over the course of this novel.

Overall, this book is much better than many YA offerings out there and I liked it enough to plan on picking up the next one.

This novel is centered around Gemma Doyle, a young girl in the late 1800's who is sent to a boarding school after her mother dies. She makes enemies that turn into friends, and together they discover a world they can only dream of.

Right now, I feel like this is the best Young Adult novel I've ever read, and there are many reasons why.

Bray spends the first about 300 pages of the book focusing on the life of Gemma at boarding school. She makes enemies and friends, and all the while she keeps the secret that she sees visions that take her literally to another place. Gemma discovers the diary of a girl who had the same gift she did, and Gemma and her friends slowly uncover the mystery of what happened in the East Wing twenty years ago, and they find that Gemma's power can transport them to a magical dream-like world, one of the Realms.

Bray's writing is clever and amusing, and the beginning is very reminiscent of a typical boarding school novel. The girls sneak off campus, drink alcohol, get into trouble, flirt with boys, and do all the things that young girls are expected to do. You find yourself almost forgetting that it is a fantasy novel, because of how absolutely normal it seems.

But then, Bray throws a complete curve ball. Suddenly, it's revealed that the two friends in the diary killed a young girl to make a sacrifice to something evil in the hopes that they can control the magic of the realms. The entire narrative now feels extremely creepy, and the reader has a very bad feeling about everything that is happening. One of Gemma's friends decides she doesn't need Gemma to get to the realms, that she will make a sacrifice and they will have the power themselves, causing another friend to be left at the mercy of an evil power that has attacked them.

Bray's novel has many clear themes strewn throughout it, all pieced together with a flawless fantasy narrative that leaves the reader thinking about a thousand different things at once.

The novel, at least the beginning, seems to be largely centered on coming of age. The girls cause mischief, and Gemma's chief concern is finding out who she really is. She wants to know about where she comes from and what power she has inside of her. Felicity has similar feelings: she wants to believe that she can do anything, that she is powerful and strong. Ann merely wants to feel loved and beautiful, not cast aside. Pippa wants to find a man that will sweep her off her feet and love her for who she is, not for her connections.

This theme leads directly to the theme of oppression. The girls are confined by the society they live in and the school that they go to. They are being forced to dress up, literally restricting themselves in tight corsets, and learn all the things that will help them be a good wife. They can see that they will have very few choices in life. But when Gemma takes them away, they find a freedom that they cannot find anywhere else. "No one to tell us that what we think and feel is wrong. It isn't that we do what we want. It's that we're allowed to want at all." The girls can escape to this world, where they are free to do whatever they want and feel whatever they want.

But the real freedom of this world is that everything the girls do is something they already could do in the real world. Ann had a beautiful voice and personality, and when she comes to the Realm, she is also physically beautiful, causing her to feel the love that she doesn't get anywhere else. Felicity can join the huntress in her hunts because she is free to express physically the power she already had in the real world. Pippa is given a knight to love her and devote himself to her. She hasn't changed, she has just been given an option that she didn't have back home, where she was being forced into an arranged marriage and not given the chance to find love for herself. And Gemma is given the opportunity to talk to her mother about all the things they never could before. For Gemma, this world is her way of speaking to her mother one last time.

However, this world is a dangerous place. By offering each girl what they truly desire, the world is begging them to stay forever and never return to the real world. They've been given a dream world that makes them quickly forget reality. They even bring the magic back with them, causing trouble for the real world. The characters have to realize that the dreams can never be reality, at least not until they die, and they have to remember to live.

The novel also deals with grief. At the beginning of the novel, Gemma sees her mother kill herself. But she quickly grows to hold out hope that her mother is not dead, and when she finds her in the Realm, she wants to tell her family that her mother is alive. She doesn't recognize that her mother is dead, and she doesn't want to. Gemma then learns that her mother has been keeping terrible secrets from her, secrets from another life, and she is angry at her for the lies and the betrayal. Eventually, she forgives her mother, and lets her go. Gemma is forced to accept that she will never truly know her mother, because no one can ever truly know anyone. You have to trust them and they have to trust you, even though you can never understand one another. She lets her mother go, accepting the loss of the woman she knew and the woman she never could.

Pippa is a fascinating character, because in the end, she chooses to die rather than return to the real world and face a horrible life chosen for her. She chooses the dream world and leaves behind reality. It is interesting that she would rather die and live in a perfect world that will never challenge her, than to live and face the real world. She is content with her perfect prince.

Kartik is a character I don't quite understand, because to understand him we really need to know more about the fantasy elements of the novel, and they aren't really provided. He is clearly doing his duty, as he sees it, by trying to stop Gemma from using her power. However, his duty pales when faced with Gemma's (and Bray's) romantic notions. All we really know is that he loves cricket.

The fantasy aspects of this novel definitely take a backseat to the themes and characterization, which is not at all a bad thing. The themes are beautifully portrayed, and the characters are wonderfully flawed, each with a hidden desire and an outer and inner conflict. You don't mourn the loss of Pippa because you know she is in the other realm, but at the same time, you are forced to face the fact that she will no longer be giggling with the other three girls, or lamenting about her sadly unexciting romantic life. You are forced to realize that she is gone forever, and that she is in a better place, which, of course, is how Bray wants us to view our own losses.

We must realize that they are better off, and that, even though we may not see it as clearly as Gemma, there is a world where everyone gets his or her deepest desire, and nothing goes wrong.

Everyone has been telling me about this book, that is supposedly the first of a trilogy. Obviously, I finally gave in and read it.

This YA book centers around 16-year-old Gemma Doyle; a British teenager living in India. Set in Victorian era, she tragically loses her mother, which forces her to move and live in London and attend a boarding school. There, she finds trouble assimilating with the new crowd, but eventually realizes that's just the least of her worries. Gemma Doyle sees horrifying visions; visions she can't even explain. At the same time, she finds a mysterious man following her, telling her to close her mind against the visions or she would suffer its consequences.

I find it hard to summarize this book simply because it is far too complicated to explain because the plot is very broad and the genre is quite flexible. This is a Young Adult book, but it's one of those rare ones that anybody can read and enjoy no matter what the age. I have to say, I enjoyed this book very much. It was one of those books that you just have to keep reading because the pace is fast and exciting, and leave you hanging by the end of every chapter.

One important thing also that I thought worked incredibly well were the main characters. Everybody had a significant and important role. Everyone was complex! I found myself interested in them. And I think it's very hard for an author to come up with a character and write about them in a way that the reader would actually like them and root for them. The author, Libba Bray, has an obvious talent with building up these characters as well as the plot.

One last thing that I have to say is that I especially loved the way she writes! She uses simple, easy to understand words and yet delivers them brilliantly in in a poetic form. It's rare for me to find quotes and dialogues that I would actually read again, and take note of. With this book, I found myself writing down several page numbers so I could go back and read those lines again. Speaking of writing, I have actually just finished the book a couple of minutes ago. In other words, I could not wait until another day to write this review because of how much I enjoyed it.

It was funny, very mysterious, sad, funny, surprising, and sometimes, even creepy. Fun book. =) I'm going to start reading the second book from this trilogy.

Beautiful novel! I really liked Gemma and her pack of mean girls. The victorian setting in a school for young girls is well done and convincing. Somehow it was difficult for me to start the book, I tried several time before I could get into the story. It was like entering a different world. World of corsets and petticoats, hidden anger and desire. It was a lovely journey!

A Great and Terrible Beauty opens readers to the world of characters whom you'd love to hate... Seriously! That's the first thing I felt when I read the book. Gemma was such a brat to her mother, Felicity was a b****, Pippa was annoying and Ann was a suicidal coward. I hated them! But at the same time, it was what made me find them interesting. They had such defined characters, it's like it was built with much history and foundation. They had solid personality and they become rather funny and intriguing once you get passed the hating part.

The plot was good. It's nice to find a book not having to wither on focusing at a love triangle or having damsels rescued by the love of their lives; there's the urge of power for women, and that's something I like in a story. I'm too much of a feminist! Ha! Ha!

Since I've already read Rebel Angels, I did find this one a bit on the downer side. It was mellow compared to the 2nd book, although I do understand that this book was meant to establish the trilogy, so basically it would start off on a mild course.

All in all, it was pleasing to read and I'm rather curious to know how this trilogy would end.

Gemma Doyle's mother has been murdered on a crowded street in India. Now Gemma finds herself in London, a city she has been dying to see for years. But it might not be everything Gemma dreamed off -- especially now that she is having vivid visions and is slowly discovering that she may be the key to opening a magical realm. Not only does Gemma have to deal with all of this, but she also has to deal with more normal things -- mean girls at school, making new friends, helping her father cope with her mother's death, and having feelings for a man that she really shouldn't have. But Gemma can handle with all of this, can't she?

This book is full of mystery and suspense. From the first chapter, there are so many events that lead to more questions than answers. I can't wait to read the next two books in the trilogy. Libba Bray creates a magical world mixed in with reality that is addicting to the reader. Highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to add a little magic to their life.

*3 STARS*

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