A Great And Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Oct. 5th, 2009 07:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
It's 1895 and, after the death of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma finds her reception a chilly one. She's not completely alone, though ... she's being followed by a mysterious young man, sent to warn her to close her mind against the visions.
It's at Spence that Gemma's power to attract the supernatural unfolds, as she becomes entangled with the school's most powerful girls and discovers her mother's connection to a shadowy, timeless group called The Order. Her destiny awaits ... if only Gemma can believe in it.
Gemma Doyle longs to escape boring colonial India for England with its lush greenery and exciting social life. When her mother is brutally and mysteriously killed in an Indian market, Gemma gets her wish as her heartbroken father turns to laudenum and her grandmother decides that she should attend Spence Academy, an English finishing school.
At Spence, Gemma develops an uneasy friendship with three girls - plain scholarship student Ann, the vibrant and domineering Felicity and Pippa who must marry a middle-aged barrister to secure the family fortune. Each girl has her own secret but Gemma's is the biggest of all for she has visions of the future and her gift is linked to a fire that destroyed Spence's East Wing over twenty years earlier and killed two girls. Despite the warnings of Kartik, a handsome Indian boy who wants Gemma to stop exploring her powers, the girls work to unravel the mystery and Gemma must confront her guilt over her mother's death.
With its strong first-person narration, this is an engaging novel that sucks you into Gemma's world. Gemma herself is interesting, aware from the outset that she is an outsider both because of her upbringing and her magical gift. Her guilt at her mother's death is well conveyed and believable, and while the way this guilt is used against her by certain 'villains' is at times slightly predictable, it is never maudlin. The supporting characters are engaging, particularly the flirty Felicity who gains depth as her secrets come to light.
While the supernatural elements only really begin to build in the final quarter of the book, the Realms is a fascinating world with scope for further expansion. While this is the first in the trilogy, it would have been nice to have had slightly more explanation as to Kartik's role and the nature of The Order, (although this will doubtless be developed in the sequels). Also, the ending comes reminded me of Dead Poet’s Society, which was unfortunate.
At times the language doesn't quite ring true for the period – particularly in the girls’ dialogue, e.g. they make a joke about being taken out by Prince Albert, even though he died some years before their birth. However, the lyrical description of life in the Realms and the depiction of the limited expectations placed on girls during this period make up for it.
The Verdict:
An interesting read and one that sets up the potential for an intriguing trilogy. Although some of the language didn't quite feel right for the period, the descriptions are lush and evocative and Gemma a sufficiently complex heroine for me to want to read more of her adventures.
It's 1895 and, after the death of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma finds her reception a chilly one. She's not completely alone, though ... she's being followed by a mysterious young man, sent to warn her to close her mind against the visions.
It's at Spence that Gemma's power to attract the supernatural unfolds, as she becomes entangled with the school's most powerful girls and discovers her mother's connection to a shadowy, timeless group called The Order. Her destiny awaits ... if only Gemma can believe in it.
Gemma Doyle longs to escape boring colonial India for England with its lush greenery and exciting social life. When her mother is brutally and mysteriously killed in an Indian market, Gemma gets her wish as her heartbroken father turns to laudenum and her grandmother decides that she should attend Spence Academy, an English finishing school.
At Spence, Gemma develops an uneasy friendship with three girls - plain scholarship student Ann, the vibrant and domineering Felicity and Pippa who must marry a middle-aged barrister to secure the family fortune. Each girl has her own secret but Gemma's is the biggest of all for she has visions of the future and her gift is linked to a fire that destroyed Spence's East Wing over twenty years earlier and killed two girls. Despite the warnings of Kartik, a handsome Indian boy who wants Gemma to stop exploring her powers, the girls work to unravel the mystery and Gemma must confront her guilt over her mother's death.
With its strong first-person narration, this is an engaging novel that sucks you into Gemma's world. Gemma herself is interesting, aware from the outset that she is an outsider both because of her upbringing and her magical gift. Her guilt at her mother's death is well conveyed and believable, and while the way this guilt is used against her by certain 'villains' is at times slightly predictable, it is never maudlin. The supporting characters are engaging, particularly the flirty Felicity who gains depth as her secrets come to light.
While the supernatural elements only really begin to build in the final quarter of the book, the Realms is a fascinating world with scope for further expansion. While this is the first in the trilogy, it would have been nice to have had slightly more explanation as to Kartik's role and the nature of The Order, (although this will doubtless be developed in the sequels). Also, the ending comes reminded me of Dead Poet’s Society, which was unfortunate.
At times the language doesn't quite ring true for the period – particularly in the girls’ dialogue, e.g. they make a joke about being taken out by Prince Albert, even though he died some years before their birth. However, the lyrical description of life in the Realms and the depiction of the limited expectations placed on girls during this period make up for it.
The Verdict:
An interesting read and one that sets up the potential for an intriguing trilogy. Although some of the language didn't quite feel right for the period, the descriptions are lush and evocative and Gemma a sufficiently complex heroine for me to want to read more of her adventures.
