‘Caster Chronicles’ continues with ‘Beautiful Darkness’
A few months ago, I believed nothing would ever change in this town. Now I knew better, and I only wished it was true.
Because the second I fell in love with a Caster girl, no one I loved was safe. Lena thought she was the only one cursed, but she was wrong.
It was our curse now.
Ahhh, the curse of teen love. Ethan Wate and Lena Duchannes continue their romance in “Beautiful Darkness,” the second in Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s “Caster Chronicles,” following “Beautiful Creatures.”
Things are darker this time around. Ethan has only just begun to uncover the secrets of Gaitlan, his small Southern hometown. And Lena, she’s mourning the loss of her uncle, Macon. Lena also still has not been claimed — she has to choose the Light or the Dark, and whichever side she chooses, the other side of her family dies. It’s a heavy burden, one compounded by her grief.
Ethan tries his best to be supportive. He can relate, having recently lost his mother. But Lena begins to pull away from him. Ethan’s troubled by prophetic visions as well as Lena’s distance. She seems under the influence of the darker side of her family, as well as that of a young, handsome stranger.
Ethan remains at a loss as to how to reach Lena and she eventually runs away from him and everything else. At the same time Ethan begins to discover he may have his own destiny. Helped by a young British student and his best friend Link, Ethan explores the hidden network of underground tunnels zigzagging through the South, desperately trying to find Lena. Searching for her will be dangerous and finding her even more so.
“Beautiful Darkness,” a Gothic, magical romance, is an exciting sequel. The side characters are funny and frightening, endearing and despicable. Fans of fantasy will love the incubuses, seers and sirens, as well as the charming humans and one extremely talented cat named Lucille Ball.
The sequel has much the same weaknesses as the first book. The greatest being Ethan, who narrates the story. While having a male narrator in a young adult romance is an interesting change of pace, Ethan just doesn’t have much backbone. As Lena becomes meaner and meaner, readers will no doubt begin to wonder why he would stay with her. But that certainly won’t be enough to keep the “Twilight” lovers away.
Ultimately, “Beautiful Darkness” has enough surprising twists to put it a notch above other books in this genre. And it seems young adult paranormal romance won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Book three in the “Caster Chronicles” should be out next year.
