5/5 stars.

This was a reread for me, I first read this in 2013 and really enjoyed it. I then purchased the second and third book in the series and never read them! I'm determined to finish the trilogy this year (within the next month or so hopefully).

I love Libba Bray's writing, she really captures the readers attention, and I really like how she sets a scene and how easy the story is to follow.

Gemma is a great main character, she's sassy, witty and strong minded. You can really tell that Libba Bray is a feminist just by how she writes some of her female characters.

I really like how unique this storyline is, I can't wait to read the second book!

Ik denk dat ik dit als tv-serie leuker had gevonden, dan was het voor mij wat meer tot leven gekomen. Het begin en het eind gingen vlot, maar het middenstuk ging zo langzaam dat ik bijna 2 weken bezig ben geweest met dit boek, wat voor mijn doen best lang is. Jammer dat het me toch niet zo boeide als dat ik had verwacht!

When I first picked up this book (based on GR reviews), I didn't realize it was YA... and so it earned another star based on the lowering of my expectations. I thought this book had a great beginning, interesting premise and colorful characters and then the middle collapsed into teen angst before rushing toward an ending that seemed, well, rushed.

That said, I'll probably try the sequel... but not anytime soon.

(Reviewed 1/26/09)

Review to come later, after I've finished thinking about it. Hmm hmm hmm.

I came into this with little expectations, and I ended up very impressed. The plot was very entertaining and, besides a few teenage(ish) moments, I enjoyed the characters too. I'm also very happy that there wasn't a lot of romance - it was one of my fears when I started this. But I had a few minor problems with this, like how the gypsies were presented and regarded in the story. So 4 stars.

This is a strong case of it's not you, it's me. Even though this book is wonderfully written and deals with themes I'm usually very interested in (i.e. the social position of women in the Victorian era), I never got fully invested in the story or the characters. Maybe it was just the wrong time for me to read this (October was a weird reading month for me), or maybe I would've enjoyed this slightly more if I were a little younger... Either way, it was sadly just an okay read for me.

It gets 2 stars because I reserve the 1 star rating to books I seriously hate. This was a vey boring book and I just wasn't interested in it from beginning to end. Safe to say I won't be continuing with the series.

A Great and Terrible Beauty is neither great nor beautiful, though it is indeed -- wait for it! -- terrible.

The characters are simple and one-dimensional, their actions both petty and selfish. I find it difficult to believe any one of the four girls at the heart of the story cared for one another, much less anyone else. The story meanders, often digressing into lengthy passages that do little if anything to advance the characters or the story. As the story progresses, drawing to its predictable and dissatisfying conclusion, it becomes clear that Ms Bray has mistaken style for subtance and that her prose is not stylish enough to support this belief.

Most offensive, however, is the racial and sexual content within the book. The male lead (a young man from India) is sexualized and fetishized for his "exotic" appearance and culture; other Indian characters are shown as either submissive or violent. The Romani people wandering the schoolgrounds suffer from even greater stereotyping: the men are portrayed as slovenly, ignorant, and sexually aggressive towards the white schoolgirls; the women are docile and suitably mystical.

Her treatment of the female characters is also questionable. Though these Victorian girls wander about with decidedly un-Victorian sensibilities and though Ms Bray makes a weak attempt to decry the injustices of a society so quick to condemn the expression of feminine sexuality, the story itself does not support this modern take on the Victorian era. The girls submit to their male counterparts or pine helplessly from a distance. Sexual and romantic relationships between men and women often contain obvious and disturbing power imbalances (or violent undertones). The relationship between the four girls is emotionally shallow and deeply petty, motivated by mutual dislike and composed of backstabbing and bullying tactics. And though Ms Bray is quick to condemn the indignities and horrors of an arranged marriage, she is also quick to condemn her protagonists when they dare to act instead of react. It's a confusing mix of self-righteous pulpit pounding and misogyny, with the end result being I wanted to put my fist through the admittedly lovely and eyecatching cover.

My one relief is that I had the sense to borrow this from the library instead of buying it outright. I do not recommend it.

3.5 stars*

While this book was interesting and very enjoyable there were a few things that I struggled with.

1) The pacing. I found the pacing to be very slow and felt that nothing happened. The same thing seemed to happen all the time. Within the first 150 pages I was bored and struggled to get into the book, I honestly thought about DNFing it. I am not a huge fan of books that have a slow pace.

2) The writing. I don't know what it is but I am not a fan of the writing style. I found it hard to read at times, mostly at the beginning of the book and was often getting confused about what was happening. There were times where I had to read a paragraph or a sentence more than once just to understand what was happening.

I liked the plot and the storyline. It is an interesting world that Bray has invented and I am keen to learn more.

Major points for the nostalgia factor. I can't believe I read this so long ago...and also this was totally not my kind of book back then, so idk why I even read it. Very slow-moving but never boring for me. Definitely a historical fiction book for the pacing but the little bits of fantasy kept it interesting. I forgot so much of the plot that I feel like I'm reading for the first time, while also feeling very homey and familiar.

This book is what it is: a young adult novel.

That said, it's a very good one. You can read the summary on the book's page, so I won't go into that here.

I loved the juxtaposition of Victorian England, colonial India, and the fairy world. The protagonist doesn't belong in any of them, and she recognizes that, which sets up the whole story: the outsider tries to find her niche.

I didn't care for any of the other main characters, mostly because I felt that the protagonist, Gemma, was treading on thin ice by being friends with them. I liked Gemma - I've read reviews that said she was selfish, angry, and petty, and she can be - but what sixteen-year-old isn't? The friendship between Gemma and the other three girls is based on a desire for freedom as well as the tenuous sharing of secrets - I don't think the girls were ever meant to appear as the best of friends, even on a good day, so the reviews that criticize the friendship being shallow puzzle me. (I mean...well, yeah, right?)

I thought the story flowed really well and had enough twists and turns to keep me guessing - it's also a really quick read and I was sorry when it ended as soon as it did. The visits to the fairy realm were really a delight to read - pure escapism for the characters as well as the reader. And not without a dark edge.

Finally, it was a little racy, which I thought was pretty awesome for a YA novel. It's hard to write a teenage sexual awakening while so much other stuff is going on, especially without being sordid, cheesy, or flowery. Bray does this really well - and the male love interest is your typical aloof, charming, vaguely dangerous, devastatingly hot, man-of-few-words character. I can hear the swoons of teenage girls everywhere. Hell, even I sighed once or twice.

I'm definitely looking forward to reading the next two books in this series.

REVIEW OF THE GEMMA DOYLE TRILOGY AS A WHOLE

I've been putting of this series for a while since I only had the first book in the series...however, I chose to buy them on my kindle too and since then I binge read the whole thing. The first book, A Great and Terrible Beauty had me absolutely hooked from the first page. However, in my opinion the series went downhill from each book after that.

The characters in this book were wonderful. The main character, Gemma was a problematic teen who held power she didn't quite understand. Her friends, Pippa, Felicity and Ann are just as complicated. The back stories behind them are well planned and thought out. They're not just people who standby by and allow Gemma to be the hero. No, they're right there next to her being just as wonderful as her. I did feel that the character of Kartik wasn't as well rounded and formulated as the female characters in this book. I didn't feel a connection with him and I struggled to see a relationship between him and Gemma other than lust.

As for the storyline...the first book, it was mind-blowing. Then the next to books seemed very similar to the first book. Eventually i could predict what would happen, easily.

It was a book that kept me turning the page but it did not keep on my toes. In saying that though there were parts towards the end that I couldn't have predicted. Which was a pleasant surprise.

Over all I give this series a 3 out of 5 stars!