Rating : 2 / 5 Goodreads : 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.
My review : I bought this in London. I wanted to read a book that was set in england and I wanted to read an historical book so when I found A great and terrible beauty in a library there and read the synopsis I thought it would the perfect book to read during this trip. Also I read many good reviews about this book before on goodreads. But... I was really really dissapointed... I found this book really boring. There isn't any actions in this book. Perhaps a little in the end but I was so bored that I wanted to finish this book very fast and wasn't paying attention -_-. I really didn't like all the paranormal stuff in it. At first I was interested by the visions but then it's just too much when they were all in the visions with Gemma's mother. I just wanted to laugh out loud. I'm sorry i'm maybe a little mean toward this book but I though I would love it and I really didn't know that the story was like that... Anyway. I did like the historical context and the life and organization and secrets of this english boarding school. There was a huge negative point for me. When I read the synopsis there was this sentence "a mysterious young man is following her" (or something like that), so I though that we'll know more about this man or that there was going to be a kind of romance ! But there was nothing.... I was disappointed cause this gypsy can be a really interesting character and we didn't see him much. The scenes with him are repetitive and there isn't any romance between him and Gemma like I though. I know that in this period it was different but really I was surprised that the book lead to nowhere with this character. I also know that a book could be good without a romance but this one was so boring that it needeed it ! I know this is only the first book but I was still disappointed. I think i'm not going to read the other books in the series.
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