Sunday, November 17, 2013

A Beautiful Evil by Kelly Keaton

Series: Gods & Monsters (bk. 2)
Genera: Paranormal Romance/Dystopian
Subjects: Greek mythology, supernatural, magic, gorgons, gods and goddesses, curses, witches, vampires, shape-shifters, Louisiana, New Orleans, monsters
Age/Grade Level: Teen
Length: 287 pgs.
HC/PB: Hardcover (and now in Paperback)
List Price: $16.99/$9.99
Publisher: Simon & Schuster: Simon Pulse
Summary/ product description:Myth and mayhem inhabit a richly reimagined New Orleans in this sequel to Darkness Becomes Her. After the epic graveyard battle at the end of Darkness Becomes Her, Ari and her friends know what they’re up against: Ari is facing the Medusa curse and is haunted by the image of what she will become. To make matters worse, the heinous goddess Athena has kidnapped young Violet and is threatening to destroy Ari.
Ari, along with the superhot Sebastian, is doing everything she can to learn more about Athena and to get Violet back. But the battle of good and evil is bigger than she realizes, and she’s about to be pulled into a world more horrific than she could ever imagine…”


My Review: It’s been over 2 years since I read Darkness Becomes her (June 2011). I finally decided to read the last 2 books in the series. I have to admit that I did enjoy this even more than the first book. Ari is a likable main character. I remember comparing her to Maximum Ride. She’s kick-butt and brave. She’s got a unique look with her white hair and teal eyes.
She has a relationship with Sebastian (Bastian) who’s half warlock, half vampire. I love Bastian. He very kind and gentle and caring. I’d like to add him to my list of book boyfriends. I love how there’s a strong, yet gentle romance between Ari and him. Ari put a lot of trust in him
My favorite side character is Henri. A spoiler that revealed very early in the book is that he’s a shape-shifter. He can turn into a hawk. Henry the hawk! I love that. And he uses French words a lot and reminds me of Jules from Die For Me. I love hawks and birds, and bird shape-shifters. It was totally awesome. The best fight scenes are the ones where Henri turns into a hawk. I do like the other characters too. We get to meet some new people, and see a lot of Bastian’s dad and Bran, who’s training Ari.
The thing that I love about this series is that it melds paranormal with dystopian (non-sci-fi). New 2 is New Orleans after it was destroyed by 2 hurricanes and then have the French Quarter restored by the Novem. There are all kinds of paranormal creatures and beings. Witches, vampires, shape-shifters, demi-gods, god and goddesses, other monsters and one girl who’s a gorgon. It’s a awesome mix and it’s done so well. Think Vampire Academy meets Divergent meets Percy Jackson and the Olympians. (Not really Maximum Ride meets Twilight meets Percy Jackson). Ari decided to attend the Novem school, which is where I get the Vampire Academy comparison. Ari is a lot like Rose, (and Max).
Athena did a lot of torturing and was a total b-word. She likes to play with her prey, and toy with people. I like Athena better in Percy Jackson because she was Annabeth’s mom, but here she’s a complete sociopath bent on getting her way. She’s overly cunning and seems like the ultimate supervilliness. Think of the Evil Queen on crack. That’s how she is. Ari gets into trouble and Athena tests her and pushes her to the limit. Ari wants to learn everything she can about ways to stop Athena and get Violet and her father back. She goes to Mount Olympus to save them. Lot of crazy stuff happens. Athena throws her own Mardi Gras party and parade, but she calls it something else. The ending was kind of awesome. I’m sure my questions will be answered in the next book.
Fans of Vampire Academy, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs will love this. Mythology and monster are pretty awesome.

Cover Art Review: Different from the 1st book’s hardcover version. The snake coming from the hair does fit with the story, although Ari doesn’t have snake hair yet. Her hair is white.



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