Beautiful Darkness

De: Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl

Narrado por: Kevin T. Collins

Fall under the spell of the Beautiful Darkness, the sequel to the instant New York Times best-selling gothic fantasy, Beautiful Creatures!

There were no surprises in Gatlin County. At least, that's what I thought. Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin as a place where nothing ever changed. Then mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes revealed a secret world of curses and Supernaturals with terrifying abilities. Lena showed him a Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen. Sometimes life-ending.

And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2010 Kami Garcia (P)2010 Hachette Audio

Love This Story!

..and I'm confident you will, also, particularly if you do read in this genre. This second installment of the Beautiful Creatures saga contains some interesting twists and turns. It is true that at some points, the story take it's time to develop but I think that is part of the story..keeping "true to it's nature", if you will. The same can be said for the tension between the characters, and some dialogue that you find yourself wishing would or would not be exchanged between them. If you become invested enough that you get "mad" a character for what she (or he) is not doing or saying, (as I did) then the author(s) have done their job! It would not be the same story if things were "easier", or things were said differently. I find Kevin T. Collins' narrative performance pretty much impeccable. He really makes Ethan real. He does this so well that the character of Ethan himself really becomes the driving force of the story, and not just because it is, in fact, relayed in first person from his perspective. His genuineness and personality really come through. You feel like you are in his head and experiencing these events from the inside out. Also, I liked the song and the sound effects and did not find them to be too much. Highly recommend!

Just ok

Any additional comments?

This one was just okay. I kind of got a bit tired of Lena's constant whining. Waa Waambulance! She's so moody and just got on my last nerve!

So conflicted

If you aren't looking for a book that requires a great amount of thinking or any background knowledge in the genre of fantasy, this is a good book to get. It's nice an long, if that's what you're looking for and all unknown information is spoon-fed to you all the way through the book. It's got your typical Romeo and Juliet-esque love story, and you can't help but root for them. There is not a lot of ambiguity is characters' good/evil alignments, except for a couple of characters, because that's really the basis of the plot.

All in all, I eat up this type of story, but that doesn't keep me from getting frustrated. I thought the voice acting was great. The southern accent annoyed me, but that has more to do with the book's setting. The plot is great. It's a new spin on something a little overdone. But I did get frustrated with the two main characters, because at times they seemed so thick-headed. I would have something figured out long before either of them did, and I wanted to yell at them for being dense. I didn't feel like the male protagonist was *totally* realistic. As I was Ethan's age about 8 years ago, I don't recall being that emotionally intelligent as a 16-year-old, so that is was stood out to me the most, as far as flaws go. Like I said, overall I liked the book. The characters weren't under or overdeveloped for the span of time it took to listen to the book. But I felt like the end was a big middle finger, and a ploy to make me buy the next book (which I did).

The song 16 Moons throughout the book is what really made the audiobook for me. It was a great touch, and it made my hair stand on end.

Wonderfully detailed

I loved it, the narration was wonderful and the story was very detailed. Can wait to read more.

Excellent and very entertaining

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, and I have. It's suspenseful and unexpected.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Beautiful Darkness?

Link's being bitten and becoming an Incubus/?

Have you listened to any of Kevin T. Collins’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes.Beautiful Creatures--Excellent.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No

Exciting Follow Up! Love the Lore! But....

I have really loved this series. Love paranormal stories set in the south. The book really expands and flushes out the original cast of characters (Ethan, Link, Amma, Ridley, and Macon,) in addition to bring on a few new ones (IE: Olivia "liv" Durand.) The dynamic and interaction between Ethan. Link and Liv on their exploration through the tunnels to find Lena made if a fast pasted read. The author's put a lot of work into building upon the lore and developing rich environment descriptors which really helped to paint a picture of the story. Secretly hope Liv gets her own book series w/ Macon.

HOWEVER.... 2 negatives I had was:
1.) I found Lena character/ journey really seemed like an afterthought. While the other characters grew/ developed, she just felt stagnant and one dimensional. When she was present in the story she came off as a whiney indecisive emo. So much emphasis is put on her power, her claiming, Abraham, Sarafine, however the final scene was very short. Nothing really happens. She doesn't Hulk out, no big fight. Very anticlimactic.

2.) The "16 moons" song that played during the story was SUPER F'ING ANNOYING!!!! Because of this fact alone, I preferred reading it rather than listening to it.

Truly a unique and intriguing story.

I really liked the book. In fact I am finding I truly am liking YA books much more than traditional fiction.

This book is about a young man named Ethan, and a young woman named Lena.

Lena is from a family of Casters. Ethan is mortal. Together they struggle to enter each others world, but the universe has other plans for them.

The story and the characters are well developed, and it was a pleasure to listen to the audio version of this book.

Off to listen to the second book in the series........

A great second book!

Any additional comments?

I devoured all he books in this series in a fairly short amount of time. I enjoyed the story and the narrator. If you liked the first book you will like this one.

Lena & Ethan's Love Saga Continues

The saga continues with our mortal/caster couple, Ethan & Lena. Lena has slipped into a deep depression following the death of her beloved uncle Macon Ravenwood. She feels responsible for his death due to a choice she made to save Ethan's life. She finds herself distancing herself from Ethan & running into the arms of a new guy, John Breed. Who, or what, is John?! Is he light or dark? He's not the only new character on the scene. Welcome Olivia "Liv", Marion's caster library keeper-in-training. Although Keepers are supposed to be neutral, Liv can't seem to keep out of the middle of things, & she chooses to give up her future as a Keeper in order to save a life. Thanks to Ethan, Liv, Linc, & Ridley, Lena is able to once again return to her former self. But given the events that happened in the tunnels, will things ever be able to go back to normal again?!

Out of the 4 books in the series, this one was probably my least favorite. I'm not a fan of pity parties, & that pretty much describes Lena thru most of this book. We learned a bit more of the reason behind her change in personality which helped me to cut her some slack. My frustration w/Lena thru most of the book made it hard for me to enjoy some of the other parts of the story. The book ends in such a way that it left me "ok" w/how book #2 played out & ready to continue the story in book #3.

Age recommendation: 14 & up (dark spiritual elements, magic)

On a scale of 1-10 stars, I give it 7.

Fantastic!

I absolutely loved the book Beautiful Creatures, and the second book in the series is no exception. Lena suffers greatly over her uncle’s death and Ethan does his best to help her. Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia have taken a sequel and kept the reader’s attention, while weaving the story line in a unique and interesting way. I have to say that I purchase the remaining 3 books and this book was so interesting that I will immediately go into the third book. Great series!