Beautiful Creatures

The Book

Spoiler Alert! 

An easy page turner with a plot along the lines of something you may already be familiar with - a sort of Romeo and Juliet, where Ethan is a Mortal and Lena is a Caster and where small town mindedness and High School posturing are just some of the problems. Its a mix of Buffy (librarian), Carrie (Prom night) and the Craft. Sometimes familiarity is comforting, however, and the knowing references and self-deprecating humour worked well.
The whole cast of Casters and Mortals were well drawn and the main characters are ones that you feel sympathy and a connection with. 
The whole story hinges on Lena's sixteenth birthday, where she will either become light or dark and where the fate of her whole family and her relationship will be decided.

The near 600 pages build up to this climactic event, so it is a bit of a disappointment when such a simple thing as the moon not being out (caused by cloud of Lena's own making) derails the ages old curse and the choice is put off for another year. What's to stop Lena doing the same again every year? I will have to read the sequel to find out..



Film website



The Film

I enjoyed the film much more than any Twilight offering - at least there is a sense of humour and it doesn't take itself too seriously. However, if I hadn't read the book before hand I wonder if I would have got a bit confused. The adaptation has pared everything extraneous to the main plot away, which left so much of the characterisation and motivation removed. If I hadn't read the book I would wonder who Amma was, as she wandered in and out of Ethan's house and ran the library. (Sacrilege that they cut the librarian out!). Why show the meeting of Macon and Amma in the Bayou if Ethan doesn't follow and witness them talking - it doesn't serve any purpose. You never saw Ethan's father at all and there was no explanation as to why. Some of the great set pieces in the novel have also been removed, like the prom party and the concert for Lena's birthday.


Alden Ehrenreich is a very handsome leading man to look at, who smolders on the screen but when he opens his mouth its the voice of an effeminate buffoon - I found this endearing and challenging to my stereotype of what I saw when I read the novel. Emma Thompson is also brilliant as Sarafine - one moment all righteous effrontery and the next smacking herself around the head with rage. Not so, Jeremy Irons, who's Southern drawl is lost sometimes in his usual nasal voice.  

The ending rather seems to suggest that the film company are not thinking of extending the franchise to produce a trilogy covering the other books. It implies that Lena has chosen her true nature (presumably good as she sacrifices her attachment to Ethan) but love wins out in the end.