A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Posted by Jen on Friday, January 25th, 2008 @ 10:39 pm

Wow. For some time, I have been meaning to read A Great and Terrible Beauty, the first in a trilogy, by Libba Bray.

What genre is this novel? It’s YA, but it didn’t really feel YA. It is fantasy, mystery, suspense, romance and slightly horror all bundled together. It is a novel that doesn’t really fit into a particular mold, and I love it for that.

It is the late 1800s, Gemma Doyle is 16 and living in India. When she experiences a tragic vision that comes true, her family must move to England where she begins school at an all girls’ academy. During this time, her visions continue and she and her friends discover a door to the realms where dark magic resides. Not only must they learn to control themselves with their newfound magic, but another force also seeks the door to the realms. A dark force that must not gain access to it.

This is one of the best novels I have read in a long time. Over 400 pages in length, and I gobbled it up in two days. I honestly could not put it down. There are so many things Libba Bray did right in this novel. She is a fantastic writer.

One, the character development. All of these characters are flawed, beautifully flawed. They seem more human to me because of this, and I love rooting for characters who are far from being perfect.

Two, the depiction of England in the 1800s. She must have done a lot of research about this country in this time period. I love it when authors have clearly worked hard to research certain aspects of their novels in order to make things as accurate as possible. It reminds me how important it is for me to do the same in my own writing.

Three, the strong message for females. This novel, whether it was meant to be or not, is aimed at girls and women. Bray paints a strong picture of how the world used to be for women: girls attending the academy in order to learn how to be obedient wives for their rich husbands. She also tries to demonstrate why this is so flawed and how important it is for women to be confident of who they are and what they want. In the back of the book, there is an author interview, and I must quote something she says in regards to this as well.

“I think what concerns me vis-a-vis the ‘battle of the sexes’ is more a societal shift toward these rigid gender roles. You know - flip on MTV and in the majority of videos, the guys adopt this macho posturing and the women are all about sex and fashion. I don’t think I’ve seen the cover of any recent magazine aimed at youth that didn’t involve a scantily clad nymphet staring at the camera, all wide-eyed and pouty-lipped, as if to say, ‘Gee, this is all I know how to do. I meant to put on clothes and, like, have interests, but, you know, like, it was just so hard to figure out how the straps work on my bra.’ Snarl.”

I think she has a good point, and I commend her for putting this message across to teenage girls who are constantly barraged by images of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. It’s important for there to be positive female role models out there so that girls can see that you can be interesting and successful while still wearing underwear.

Comments

By AngelNicki on January 27th, 2008 at 7:28 pm

I actually love reading YA novels. I’ve heard that one of the things that shows that a YA book is a great one is when adults also really enjoy reading it!