User:Parichelle/sandbox

Plot
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl is set in fictional Gatlin, South Carolina. The novel is told by protagonist Ethan Wate who lives with his writer father and housekeeper Ammma who is “more like [Ethan’s] grandmother.” The story begins on the first day of Ethan’s sophomore year when he wakes up from a recurring dream he’s been having about a girl he doesn’t know. That morning he finds a “creepy- almost hypnotic,” song called Sixteen Moons on his iPod and also notices the smell of rosemary and lemon. At school Ethan find out there is a new girl this year which is surprisingly because Gatlin “hadn’t had a new girl in school since the 3rd grade,” the new girl is “old man Ravenwood’s niece.” Macon Melechizedek Ravenwood is the town shut in and is often compared to the character Boo Radley from To Kill A Mocking Bird in the novel. Ethan later hears Lena playing Sixteen Moons in band.

When Ethan drives her home he almost runs over Lena who is standing on the road in the middle of the storm looking for someone to help with her broken down car. When Ethan notices she smells like lemon and rosemary he realized that Lena is the girl from his dreams. He soon learns Lena is a castor, a person who can use magic, and will turn light or dark when she turns sixteen. Ethan tries to find a way to save Lena from darkness and solve the mystery of how he is connected to Lena. At the same time Lena is trying to handle the whole town turning against her “we don’t take kind to strangers [in Gatlin].”(Garcia 123) Lena and Ethan discover that they are connected through years of Gatlin and castor history.

Characters
Lena Duchhanes: A Castor girl who appears in Ethan’s dreams before suddenly moving to Gatlin. She must choose between light or dark on 16th birthday. Lena becomes Ethan’s girlfriend near the end of the story.

Ethan Lawson Wate: The narrator of the novel, a highschool boy who is not a Castor but somehow has the ability to protect Lena from powerful magic. Ethan becomes Lena’s boyfriend near the end of the story.

Amma: A seer who is like a grandmother to Ethan. She can comunacate with her dead family who she calls the greats.

Macon Melechizedek Ravenwood: Lena’s uncle, a incubus, who chooses to live off of dreams rather than blood, this character is very close to Lena and is sacrificed for Ethan’s life. While characters in the book compare him Boo Radley, he’s described by the writers in a interview with Boys With Books as a “Atticus Finch of badasses.”

Marian: The Librarian of the human and castor library, this character was friends with Ethan’s late mother and has known Ethan since he was born.

Ridley: Lena’s dark castor cousin who is a siren with ability to manipulate people using a lollipop, Ridley works for Sarafine and she goes out with Link in the end of the book.

Link: Ethan’s best friend who is still nice to Ethan and Lena even when the rest of the school isn’t.

Emily Asher: Ethan’s ex-girlfriend who hates Ethan and Lena and helps turn people against Lena, she becomes to leader of the Guardian Angels.

Mrs. Lincoln: Links mom, who tries to get Lena expelled from school and is secretly Sarafine the whole time.

Sarafine: Lena’s mother and the strongest dark castor, she tries to convince Lena to join the dark side.

Mitchell Wate: Ethan’s dad who is a writer that stays in is room during the day and comes out at night, while he says he's writing “the great American novel” but is really just drawing scribbles on paper, as a way of dealing with the loss of his wife.

Aunt Del: Lena’s castor aunt, she’s a Palimpset meaning she reads time.

Gieneve: The Castor who caused the curse in Lena’s family by trying to bring her dead fiance back to life using the book of moons.

Ethan Carter Wate: Gieneve’s fiance who dies in the great burning of Gatlin.

The Sister’s: Ethan's 3 over a one hundred year old great aunts who know all about Gatlin.

Major Themes
The major theme of Beautiful Creatures according to critics and the writers themselves is being yourself. Co-author Kami Garcia mentioned on her beautiful creatures youtube channel, the caster chronicles “the main message of our books is about being brave enough to be the person who you are no matter what.” Garcia also states in a interview with the Sunday Telegraph the book is about “love and hate, loyalty and betrayal” and “about the power to be yourself.” “One line in the book “claim yourself,” I think that's the message” explained co-author Margaret Stohl on the beautiful creatures youtube channel.

Awards
Beautiful Creatures is a New York Times Bestseller, it was also named an Amazon Number 1 Teen Best Book of the year in 2009. The following books in the series are also very successful.

Adaptions
Alcon Entertainment has film rights to all three books in the Beautiful Creatures series. Richard LaGravenese will direct the film adaptation. Erwin Stoff, Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove will produce the movie. The movie will begin filming in April 2012, in and around New Orleans according to the Chicago Tribune.

Reception
Despite it’s use of magic the book is praised for its “authentic” characters and world. Linda Perez of the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy states “Stohl writes clearly and lyrically,” “the world they’ve created... is so believable that reader will find themselves unwittingly believing in magic. Acoording to Ilene Cooper of Booklist the "the 600 pages could have been cut to make a tight, better story"