The Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

As you may already know, I judge a book by its cover, and I must admit that I really was interested by the cover. I do enjoy historical fiction and this book does have this element. It also has a twist of fantasy, a twist of adventure, and a very weak twist of romance.

The story begins in India, in 1895, where our protagonist, Gemma, is arguing with her mother. Pretty normal for a 16 year old girl and her mother... time and place don't matter. Mothers and daughters have moments when they don't see eye to eye. What happens next in the story is unexpected, through a vision, Gemma sees the death of her mother and awakens to find that it really happened. This changes her world...

The story then transports itself to England where Gemma is set to a girls finishing school named Spence. From here the fantasy/ gothic elements are developed as these visions continue for Gemma. Eventually she confides in her friends Felicity, Pippa, and Ann about the visions and together they learn about the Order, an ancient group of women who maintained the magical realms and regulated their power. They also learn that there were two students in the past at their schools that also possessed this ability, but somehow it went wrong when the girls turned to evil. Gemma must decided what she is going to do with this power, how can she help others, and what role did her mother play in all of this.

I must admit that I enjoyed this book. While it was over 400 pages, I found that I kept wanting to go back and read more. I will say that the book it not without its flaws. There are parts that I felt where not always clear when you are first learning about the magic, but if you keep reading, it becomes more clear. At some points in the book, I wished that it moved a little faster, but it wasn't so bad that I wanted to skip pages. I also have to say that I felt the ending was a little lame, but I was happy to learn that there is a sequel, so perhaps that is why it ends the way it does.

The book is rich in its layers... discussing multiple social issues, art, music, the Victorian time period and social customs, magic, romance, culture, and the list goes on... If you like female main characters that go against societital norma, that develop unsuspecting friends, that take on adventure and danger, this might be the book for you. I noticed that many people that liked/ read Twilight also read this series, and while they are not the same, there are similar qualities.

Plus it has a movie coming out...

Have you read this book? Leave us a comment as to what you thought!