A Great and Terrible Beauty (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy) Review

Manufacturer: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Author(s): Libba Bray

ISBN: 0385732317 EAN: 9780385732314
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 432
Reading Level: Young Adult

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Retail Price: ~~$9.99~~
Online Sale Price: $9.99
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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.

User Submitted A Great and Terrible Beauty (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy) Reviews

December 29, 2008
Just OK
Beautiful prose, with lots of description. I think I would have enjoyed the story more if it had moved a bit faster, but I did enjoy the author's style, and the characters were well developed. The ending was a bit of a let-down for me. I didn't realize it was a series, but it didn't engage me enough to read on.

December 27, 2008
it didnt Grab me
I'm a pretty avid reader, I devour books in one or two day when they grab me. But this one, I don't know...I thought it was this excellent book, but it just okay. i think its for somebody who reads like 20 pages for day. Its a book to read it very slowly. the book didn't grab me at all. the author, for me, its very simple, the things she wrote in the book didn't catch my attention at all, didnt surprise me at all, very cliche-y book. Maybe it is good for kids, but for the avid reader, who enjoys reading a book the whole day DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME. I hope rebel angels is better because i bought both of them. and will buy the third, because I want to know how it ends.

December 22, 2008
Enjoyable, I will read the other 2 in the series ASAP
This was in my amazon recomendations so I thought I would try it. I was a little sceptical from the begining because Gemma seemed like a spoiled brat but it picked up quickly and I could barely put it down. The end suprised me and was satisfying. I am a Twilight and HP fanatic looking for more series books to sink my teeth into. I would say however this book is not for girls under high school age. It got a little graphic sexually more so than I would find appropriate for middle school or younger to be reading.

December 16, 2008
Excellent Series
I bought the third book at Wal-Mart not knowing it was the last one in the set. I read the first few pages and had to buy the other two. Wal-Mart didn't carry the first to anymore and I live too far from a bookstore so got them here. I have to say that this set was a fast and fun read. I read each book in less than a day...all three books are pretty thick too!

December 12, 2008
I'm not disappointed, but I won't buy the sequels...
I kept on reading this book because I don't like to judge a book by its cover, sometimes the strong part of a book is developed late in the story... I guess in the end I just read by pure inertia, I never found whatever was supposed to be the "strong part" of the book. I'm not disappointed, but I'm definitively not buying the sequels.

December 9, 2008
An Interesting Adventure
An independent, outspoken girl in an era where women are to be simple-minded is learning to find out more about her extraordinary gift. The learning process is more interesting than what actually occurs during her experiences. A likely romance is brewing, which keeps my attention to move on to the sequel.

December 6, 2008
it is not anything close to twilight but...
nothing even close to twilight, but it is beutifull, it starts a little slow but it is well worth it, i have ordered book 2 rebels angels and could not wait to find out what happened next....

December 1, 2008
Don't give up until you read Book #2- Rebel Angels
I didn't immediately fall in love with this book. The problem is that Book #1 mainly sets up the whole story but real action is not taken until book #2, Rebel Angels. Just hold on, the last 2 books are wonderful!

November 28, 2008
It Won Me Over
If you are a fan of fantasy, adventure, magic, romance and mystery this is the book and the trilogy for you. Gemma Doyle won my heart over very quickly and I fell easily into her world. The characters in this book are entertaining and multi-faceted. I have always been a sci-fi/ fantasy fan, but I have also always been a fan of historical romance books such as Jane Austen novels. The Gemma Doyle trilogy is the perfect blend of both genre's. Once I got into the story I couldn't put this book down. In fact I was launched into a general book addiction because I enjoyed reading this trilogy so very much.

November 23, 2008
Extreme Page Turner
`A Great and Terrible Beauty' is one of those books you cannot put down, to the point where you are eating lunch with one hand and turning pages with the other and your friends are waving their hands in front of your face and trying to take the book away, much to your annoyance.
Set in the Victorian era, sixteen year old Gemma Doyle sees her mother murder herself to escape a soul-eating tracker in a vision. She soon is whisked away to Spence Academy for Young Ladies, a boarding school specializing in molding young ladies for their future husbands, whether the girls want to be molded or not. Gemma makes friends(?) with Felicity, Pippa, and Ann. And then there's Kartik, a mysterious Indian boy and a member of the mysterious and infamous Rakshana, following Gemma and warning her to close her mind to her visions, and threatening her father's already declining health if she fails to do so.
This book has varying layers of illusion, from the somewhat figurative illusions of London's society, people lying and spinning illusions to protect their ever important reputations, people hiding behind masks to conceal their true ambitions, desires, hopes, dreams(because having a personality would be oh so scandalous), to the more literal illusions of the realms. `Circe will make you see a monster when there is only a kitten and vice versa'--`A Great and Terrible Beauty'.
The characters in this book feel very real, with a perfect balance of faults and virtues, keeping them from seeming too much a villain or too much hero, which leaves you questioning which side is really the `right' side, the `good' side.
One of my favorites, I recommend this book highly to anyone who enjoys fantasy or the like.

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