{Review} A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

 A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle #1)
Libba Bray
Pages: 403
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
Age Group: YA
Date Published: December 9, 2003

A Victorian boarding school story, a Gothic mansion mystery, a gossipy romp about a clique of girlfriends, and a dark other-worldly fantasy--jumble them all together and you have this complicated and unusual first novel.

Sixteen-year-old Gemma has had an unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mother's death in a black, swirling vision that turns out to be true. Sent back to England, she is enrolled at Spence, a girls' academy with a mysterious burned-out East Wing. There Gemma is snubbed by powerful Felicity, beautiful Pippa, and even her own dumpy roommate Ann, until she blackmails herself and Ann into the treacherous clique. Gemma is distressed to find that she has been followed from India by Kartik, a beautiful young man who warns her to fight off the visions. Nevertheless, they continue, and one night she is led by a child-spirit to find a diary that reveals the secrets of a mystical Order. The clique soon finds a way to accompany Gemma to the other-world realms of her visions "for a bit of fun" and to taste the power they will never have as Victorian wives, but they discover that the delights of the realms are overwhelmed by a menace they cannot control. Gemma is left with the knowledge that her role as the link between worlds leaves her with a mission to seek out the "others" and rebuild the Order. A Great and Terrible Beauty is an impressive first book in what should prove to be a fascinating trilogy.

I read this series waaaay back in middle school, when I was still too embarrassed to read kissing scenes (I know) and I was ridiculously judgemental of other girls. So, I skipped a couple scenes and didn't grasp the different struggles each girl faced, like I thought Felicity was a slut. I'm not proud of that, but I was young and stupid. Anyways, I've seen a couple people on Tumblr talking about the book a lot, and I remembered liking it, but I couldn't actually remember what happened in A Great and Terrible Beauty, so I picked it up again. And I am so glad I did. I devoured it in one sitting. I read during dinner, I got mad at my family for distracting me from my reading. I was a little intense.

I think what I loved so much was the humor. Gemma is really snarky, and makes all these mental observations that had me giggling. Felicity feeds off of shock factor, so her humor is usually dirty (something I don't think I grasped at age 12, sigh). Pippa is a spoiled little brat, but she's sweet and a lot of the jokes are at her expense. Ann is usually accidentally funny because she's so innocent and sweet. Oh, and the teachers are great. Miss Moore is radical for the time period, with all these feminist ideas that women can make their own choices and do what they want. 

The development of the friendships was really well-written. The way Gemma goes from judging and hating these girls without even knowing them, to being best friends with them is cute. We don't get enough girl friendships in books these days. And the fact that their friendship is the main focus of the book, even over Gemma's little budding romance, is fantastic. I loved the fact that they were all so wildly different from each other and still became best friends.

There's a little romance starting up, with this boy named Kartik, but he's not a major player yet, so I don't know enough about him to offer judgement. He's hot, though, so there's something.

A Great and Terrible Beauty was witty, interesting, and featured some fabulous female friendships. I'm strongly disappointed that I didn't pick up Rebel Angels when I was at the library. Dumb. But, you should read the book too and then come talk to me about it (if you're on Tumblr you can shoot me a message here, and that would be really cool).