Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures, Book 1

By: Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl

Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins

Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

The first book in the instant New York Times best-selling gothic fantasy series; a modern paranormal romance set against the gothic backdrop of an isolated southern town.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever. Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met.

When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them. In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2009 Kami Garcia (P)2009 Hachette

It's not particularly original, but it satisfies

This is a formula story, but I enjoyed it all the same. I'd describe this as a good listen for a lazy road trip or a day at the beach when you don't want to think too deeply.

Better than I expected

What did you like about this audiobook?

I like the play between the supernatural and the mortal worlds, as in many of the other books I read. This was better than twilight.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

I enjoyed the magic, and the alternate forms available to the casters and their kind. The small town mentallity was enough to make me angry at times on behalf of the main characters.

Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he achieve this?

Yes, I thought the inflections in the voice, and the town folk were great. The love that the two main characters share was evident, and the message about people choosing their path was clear.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

Nothing wrong with the narration, but it could have been better if the female parts were spoken by a female narrator.

Do you have any additional comments?

Looking to read the second book in the series in a month or so. Lots of other great books to go through still.

loved the story

loved the story, so much better than the movie although the movie is what got me interested in the story to begin with.

Great book

Any additional comments?

My problem is with Audible.com. When you purchase the service you have to download it to your computer hard drive and then move it to the Kendell. That is you want to do audio book on a long drive like we did.Their service should be like the one Amazon has for the book. You purchase it, and it downloads straight to the tablet. None of that middle monkey crap.PCs will become obsolete in the home as Tablets take over. TV Flat screens too,....you will just do huge tablet interactives that also work the house (apple does this now but still as multiple devices, I think it willl go single device on a large panel and all others including cell phones will run from there).I really hope Audible.com changes this so that those of us who do not have PCs can get the products. Until then, I plan to cancel my subscription.

Headline

Good story but left with a couple of questions unanswered. But overall worth the read.

16 Moons long….

The story was okay, defiantly a teenage story, somewhat predictable and long. I sometimes will read teenage stories, but this one is more for those in that age group or the Twilight freaks. The romance was lacking and it bugs me when adults try to hide things. I think communication is half the battle with kids. The one thing that annoyed me was the sound of Ethan's dreams at the beginning of the story, the first time I heard it I thought the audio was messed up and that I would have to complain to Audible and get my money back. After I figured it out, it just annoyed me. I will admit that I'm not a big fan on being in the dreams as the characters have them. Whenever the narrator would play his friend Linc , I kept thinking he sounded like Dale from King of the Hill. The narrator did a good job although for about 15 minutes the narrator gets changed to some woman. I only rated the narrator three stars because I think they tried to overdo the recording by adding songs, noises and changing the narrator when the story was almost finished. I had to listen to something in between because this book seemed to take forever to get through, even if I have listen to longer stories. The last section of the book did pick up speed in action so it wasn't too bad, but overall a little slow. Not sure if I will continue or not, maybe if there is a sale on the remaining books in the series, maybe.

Fresh Storyline of Fantacy

What did you love best about Beautiful Creatures?

I enjoyed the up to date storyline of fantacy with historical and literary components, as well as, the development of relationships among the characters.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the overall air of mystery surrounding the story.

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite scene was near the end when all of the main characters were coming together for the Claining of Lena.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I think most of us have experienced to some degree the ostracism Lena endured by the social "elite" of her school and town. It was very poignant to feel this empathy for her .

Any additional comments?

I plan to read the next book "Beautiful Darkness" since I enjoyed this book so much. Definitely, the audible version enhanced my enjoyment; and, I hope the story keeps its integrity to the storyline and characters so I can plan to enjoy the next book in the series.

I really liked it!

I enjoyed the movie so I wanted to read the book. I thought the book was much better of course. I defiantly want to continue the series.

love this series

great writing and amazing narration. Wish they kept coming up with more for them to get into

No surprises here

Would you try another book from Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and/or Kevin T. Collins?

maybe... It was an okay kind of story - nothing real original or surprising. Kids will probably like it.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Something by Diana Gabaldon, Patricia Briggs or Dana Stabenow...

What aspect of Kevin T. Collins’s performance would you have changed?

The narrator was good - this was just an average kind of story.

Was Beautiful Creatures worth the listening time?

It isn't the worst I've listened to, just not great, not something I would recommend or listen to again...