A Great and Terrible Beauty is a brilliant novel, especially for ages 12-18. However, it's content is directed more towards an older age group. Although, I think many would enjoy this book , despite the age grouping. It's the first novel in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy, written by Libba Bray. Earning a 4.5 out of 5 stars, A Great and Terrible Beauty is a wonderful speculative fiction novel.

 

This book is much more mature than it appears to be. Many parents and teachers would prefer their children reading more of a "appropriate" novel by it's word usage and maturity. When you also put the conflicts in the novel into consideration, it would be considered a horror novel. Although, it is a speculative fiction novel , as stated in the last paragraph. But despite the maturity in this novel, it's filled with plot twists, and mystery.

 

The author did an amazing job with the characters as 1895 students in England.  It almost feels like I'm a student in the 1800s, living in England. The author put a lot of emotion into the novel to almost "interact" with the plot. I enjoyed the book very much, partly because of how much dramatic emphasis the author put into the novel. I definitely couldn't have done a better job, myself.

 

A. Great and Terrrible Beauty takes place in Spence Academy in England in the 1800's. After Gemma Doyle's mother mysterious death, she is sent to a formal boarding school to become a mature, young woman. She is soon to be affiliated in the school's clique, whose members, Felicity, Pippa, and Ann, seem to have problems of their own. But while Gemma is at Spence, she experiences traumatic visions about what truly happened to her mother. The problem is, this makes Gemma vulnerable to a group of shadows, by the name of "The Order". They're after Gemma and her powers, especially Circe, the leader of  The Order. Soon, Gemma's mother, Virginia, starts communicating with Gemma telepathically from The Spirit World, a dimension between reality and Heaven. Meanwhile, Circe comes closer, and closer to Spence Academy. But when Gemma and her friends find a mysterious diary about two former students at Spence who died in a mysterious fire long ago, by the name of Sarah Rees-Toome and Mary Dowd, the plot twists again. But what does this have to do with the previous conflict? Read the book!

 

a Great and Terrible Beauty is a marvelous book, the author's pride and glory. Tye plot is tied in very nicely, and so are the characters. It truly is a tragedy, this book. But at the very end, it leaves you wanting more.