Author: Libba Bray
Story: Sixteen-year-old Gemma has had an unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mother's death in a black, swirling vision that turns out to be true. Sent back to England, she is enrolled at Spence, a girls' academy with a mysterious burned-out East Wing. There Gemma is snubbed by powerful Felicity, beautiful Pippa, and even her own dumpy roommate Ann, until she blackmails herself and Ann into the treacherous clique. Gemma is distressed to find that she has been followed from India by Kartik, a beautiful young man who warns her to fight off the visions. Nevertheless, they continue, and one night she is led by a child-spirit to find a diary that reveals the secrets of a mystical Order. The clique soon finds a way to accompany Gemma to the other-world realms of her visions "for a bit of fun" and to taste the power they will never have as Victorian wives, but they discover that the delights of the realms are overwhelmed by a menace they cannot control. Gemma is left with the knowledge that her role as the link between worlds leaves her with a mission to seek out the "others" and rebuild the Order.
Start: february 9th 2013
End: february 17th 2013
Comment: As a fan of historical book like these, I just had to read this book. I started to read and I thought it was amazing. The beginning was so promising and I just wanted more. The story is set in 1895 and we follow sixteen-year-old Gemma Doyle. After her mother died she is enrolled at the Spence Academy. She is unable to fit in, because the other students are snobby . But when Gemma finds a diary that was written twenty years ago, that sheds light on Spence's history and her own prophetic visions. The book is unique because it finds a way to combinate historical fiction and the supernatural. That makes it mysterious. But with that it also almost didn't feel like I was reading a story set in 1895. Sometimes it had a very modern feel to it. I also felt there were too many different elements going on with this book for any of them to have been completely successful. "A Great and Terrible Beauty" turned in to a big surprise, but not something I was hoping for. Amazing at first, but a bit disappointing in the end.
Rating: 3/ 5
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