Beautiful Creatures, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

I was bored last weekend, so I decided to pick up the 'Caster Chronicles' and see what all the hype was about. It was basically a book I picked up to kill some time, and I'm afraid that that may be all that it's good for. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but I felt it lacked the depth of some of its more, shall we say, better YA counterparts.

The story was well thought-out and entertaining, but in the way an action movie is entertaining: with loads of flashing lights and loud noises but not actually saying anything. You come out of the theater having enjoyed yourself, but not having actually gained anything from the experience. That's what this book was like for me.

It just saddens me that such a cool concept was put second to an extremely cliché YA romance. Ethan and Lena's relationship is frighteningly stereotypical, and I don't mean that in the good way. They fall in love in what seems like five minutes, and they are completely and utterly passionate about each other ever since. So much so that they're willing to die for each other. I mean, give me a break.

I have to say, though, that there's good stuff too. I liked Ridley and I thought Link was awesome, making their relationship even cooler. They were the only characters in the novel that brought any comic relief into it, and I'm pretty sure that without them the book would be crap. Like, one star.

I found it peculiar that the book was written by to female co-authors and yet they chose to write it through the eyes of a teenaged boy, and I'm afraid they just didn't quite manage to pull it off. There's just something off about him, and I can't quite manage to put my finger on it.

Anyway, I'm going to read the second book in case it gets any better. If it doesn't, I'm warning you, you can expect a scathing review. I won't be as nice about it as I have been about this one.