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A Great and Terrible Beauty | 
 enlarge | Author: Libba Bray
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Category: EBooks
List Price: $9.99
Buy New: $7.99
You Save: $2.00 (20%)
Rating:  305 reviews
Sales Rank: 842
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
ASIN: B000FBJF28
Publication Date: December 9, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Amazon.com Review
A Victorian boarding school story, a Gothic mansion mystery, a gossipy romp about a clique of girlfriends, and a dark other-worldly fantasy--jumble them all together and you have this complicated and unusual first novel. Gemma, 16, has had an unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mothers 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 wi! th the knowledge that her role as the link between worlds leaves her with a mission to seek out the "others" and rebuild the Order. A Great and Terrible Beauty is an impressive first book in what should prove to be a fascinating trilogy. (Ages 12 up) Patty Campbell
Product Description
It’s 1895, and after the suicide 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’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to?
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 300 more reviews...
 A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY November 17, 2008
I THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD BOOK BUT NOT GREAT, I AM A AVID READER SO I HAVE READ A FEW, AND IT WAS JUST OKAY.
 a great read. November 3, 2008
i really really liked this book.
the premise isn't something i would normally read, but i'm glad i did. the main character, gemma doyle, is really awesome. she is witty, and strong, but she also has tremendous flaws.
kartik. i love him, he's so mysterious. he is isn't in the majority of the scenes, and when he is, they are very short, but i really can't wait to see what happens with him and his relationship with gemma in the next book of the trilogy.
i felt like i could never really trust felicity at all while reading this book and i don't know if i really liked the friendship between gemma and the other three main characters. it seemed as if they only liked her because of her magical abilities. because the minute she told them she wouldn't bring them into the realms they turned on her. i suppose i'll have to see how their friendship plays out in the next book!
 Don't bother November 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is a cliche of many themes. It tries to weave too much in, and as a result is disjointed and scattered. Not the strongest writing.
Little great, a lot terrible and nothing beautiful October 30, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
In short: There is little great, a lot that is terrible, and nothing that is beautiful in this "tawdry" novel of a "diabolical occult ring" and sexual exploration.
After her mother's mysterious death in India, sixteen year old Gemma Doyle is sent to an English boarding school where she meets a powerful clique of girls and stern, hypocritical Christians.
"...Reverend Waite, leads us in prayers that all begin with "O Lord" and end with our somehow not being worthy - sinners who have always been sinners and will forever more be sinners until we die. It isn't the most optimistic outlook I've ever heard. But we're encouraged to keep trying anyway."
"Reverend Waite calls out, half-drunk, "Is anyone there?"
Gemma stands up to the clique, all who eventually become her friends, while dealing with bizarre hallucinations and the strange presence of a young man who, apparently, has followed her from India. As friendships develop and the dreams of Gemma continue, the girls find a cave on the school grounds where they learn the powers of "the Order" and open a dark portal into the supernatural where, "...what you imagine can be yours."
"...for cloaking ourselves from the sight of others, for bending the minds of men to the will of the Order, influencing their thoughts and dreams till their destinies shake out before them like a pattern in the night stars. It was all written upon the Oracle of the Runes. Just to touch our hands to those crystals was to be a conduit, with the universe flowing through hard and fast as a river."
It is here, in the cave, where the four teenage girls, experiment with the occult, alcohol and their budding sexuality.
"It's not a request. Drink or you're out of the club...A surprising warmth floods my entire body, weighing me down in a delicious way. I like the feeling...I'm floating inside my skin...Right now, the real world with its heartbreak and disappointments is just a pulse against the protective membrane we've drunk ourselves into."
"Felicity pulls my hand to her mouth and bites into the fruit cupped there. Her mouth is still sticky sweet from it as she kisses me full on the lips. I have to put my hand to them to stop the tingling, and a blush has flooded my entire body."
"Ann, don't tell me you don't know what men and women do when they're together. Shall I show you?"...Felicity holds her gaze for a moment, then licks Ann's cheek in one long stroke..."I'm going to have many men."
The debauchery only continues and turns more violent and graphic as the murderous secret of the boarding school is revealed. The disturbing revelation that a young child was "sacrificed" by Gemma's teenage mother and her friend years ago is the unfortunate climax of the novel, related in sickening detail.
I haven't just wasted $9.99, the cost of the book, but my tax dollars are paying for the presentation of this garbage to unsuspecting fourteen year olds as "relevant" literature worthy of study and we all need to have the backbone to say so.
With "in the wrong era" discussions of cutting and divorce; descriptions of kissing and sex and a rebellious attitude toward God, "Makes it sound as if we're God's puppets."; this book has little great, lot's terrible and absolutely nothing beautiful to recommend it.
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Philippians 4:8
Good, but not for kids . . . (a few spoilers here) October 30, 2008
I make a habit of reading the books my students read because I like children's novels and I want to know where the hearts and minds of my students are. This is a well-written and engrossing tale. However, I think the subject matter is very mature. This series has murder, sex, alternate sexual preferences, and it can be pretty scary at times. I strongly suggest parents read it before their kids read it.
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