2003 •
403 pages • Simon and Schuster
I wasn’t really sure what to think of A Great
and Terrible Beauty when I went in to reading it. If
I were to categorise it, it would fall under historical
fiction/fantasy/mystery/young adult – and maybe comedy? But I guess that’s down
to Libba Bray’s writing style rather than the actual premise of the book.
Historical and Gothic fiction are two of my favourite genres and I
love novels set in Victorian England, so bonus points straight away. With
the novel being made up from so many elements of different genres I was worried
this might come off a bit slapdash for me, but as it turns out I really enjoyed
it.
I feel like quite a lot of people have heard of/read this
book already, but I’ll kick this off with a basic summary. The story is set in
1895 and follows Gemma Doyle, a sixteen-year-old who has come to England from
India after her mother’s death. She’s sent to Spence, a finishing school for
young ladies where all hell starts to break lose when Gemma experiences
clairvoyant visions – visions that started when she was still living in India
and foretold her of her mother’s death. Anyway, these visions are freaking
Gemma the hell out, and she ends up teaming up with three other girls to
explore her new-found power and what it all means. There are realms, and magic,
and the supernatural, and I know it all sounds a bit weird, but it’s really
good. What better way to make boring old finishing school more interesting than
by practising magic?
The one
thing that I perhaps thought might grate on me with this book wasn’t the
elements of fantasy and supernatural in a late Victorian setting - after all,
that’s what fiction is all about and it’s fun. No, what actually
nearly bordered on the irritating was the finishing school setting that so
closely resembled the modern-day high school, it even came with its own group
of Mean Girls that nearly made me groan out loud. If there’s one thing I cannot
stand its self-righteous, cliquey school girls who are bitches for the sake of
being bitches. I mean let’s face it, we’ve all been to high school and the last
thing I want to do is be reminded of how petty teenagers can be.
So, when
I realised that our two resident Queen Bees Felicity and Pippa were going to be
consistent and central characters in the plot I thought to myself, “Really? Am
I going to have to put up with 400 pages of school girl rivalry and bad pranks?
Ugh”. But, Bray saved herself by having a protagonist who wasn’t a
pushover and even though the plot follows teenagers in a boarding school and
yes it has its fair share of catty behaviour, it didn’t bother me once the plot
got going.
The plot
actually has a good flow to it. There’s a lot going on and not a lot of
explanation but that’s part of the story – you figure it out along the way as
Gemma goes in search of answers. And it’s not all painting pretty pictures of
fruit and learning the waltz (which they do, but it is a late nineteenth
century finishing school), because there is a steady pace of action and
intrigue throughout with a good bunch of interesting characters.
I’ll openly admit I didn’t
understand everything that went on: I don’t quite understand how and why the
magic exists or why Gemma is being pursued for her powers. I know she clearly
has some kind of advantage in her abilities and she’s much more powerful than
she thinks, but to know the history of everything more and why it’s all
happening would be cool. This is the first in a trilogy so everything clearly
unravels a bit more in the following two books, and I know this review sounds a
bit hit-and-miss, but I really did enjoy this. It wasn’t quite what I expected
but more than I thought it would be at the same time. Plus, Libba Bray’s
writing is really funny and her humour is kind of dry and
witty which was surprising but enjoyable. A solid three stars.
Overall
rating: 3 stars
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