Reviews with content warning for Self harm - A Great and Terrible Beauty

I first read this book when I was a teenager, and I rated it 5 stars at that time. I value the book for what it gave to me at the time, feeling seen for having experiences like wondering who I truly am and wondering who would ever understand me. Plus, there's fulfillment of the teenage girl urge to have a magical world where you're all powerful for good measure. This book is, in a lot of ways, an aged up spiritual successor to The Secret Garden.

Reading this as an adult, there are parts that I'm not so enamored with, hence the lower rating. The friendship between the main characters strikes me as much more toxic than it did when I was a teenager, especially since Pippa and Felicity never apologize for tormenting Ann. I also find it hard to root for Kartik to be with Gemma, since Gemma keeps implying threats that she will get him arrested, which, at that time period, would basically be a death threat. That being said, I still really like Ms. Moore as a character.

I look forward to my re-read of the rest of the series.

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atrkula's review

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mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

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valentinaambrosius's review

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3.0

What the freak were those sex scenes all about?
the writing was okay. I didn't really get the 19th century vibe and apart from the nagging about virginity, etiquette and corsets, nobody really came across as a nineteenth century lady/girl/being.
the girls were bitchy and stereotypical; all of them... of course the girl that is poor and has little to no self-esteem cuts.... that's not how it works people !!!! as a (former) cutter myself it starts to slowly sicking me how it 's always done by the shy people who are in every way outcasts.
show me the popular girl who smiles all day and cries the nights. the performers and loud people who dare, yes... dare to go a little deeper because every single book pretends like it's only cat scratches cutting with scissors, show me tools and other shit show me stitches, because we need to know that even though it's horrible that someone feels like it's their last option to let out the pain; it's not just surface stuff.
and the main character being *brave* enough to say that she "shouldn't ever do that again"... gag! like that's going to make a difference. Get that child help or give them support, don't just say "don't" and then think that everything is solved!

Moving on the love interest? Like I said weird... but okay if you want to portray it as what's going on in a girls mind and that a girl dreams like that too.
the relationship felt stereotypical. Of course they wouldn't trust one another anymore after a while when one of them is almighty powerful.

the main character: Gemma Doyle; she's the morally modern one, she understands doesn't degrade the poor as much as the others.
she isn't as bitchy, she's strong because of her powers and brave for standing up to them to protect them.
the romantic girl is stuck in a dream.
the mean girl probably just wants to be understood or get world domination or both.
the shy girl will either go freak and join the dark side... or not and dissolve into a gooey mess.
the villain, well, okay that was a bit of a twist, but not WOW enough to be any real good.

however, I did enjoy myself enough to give it three stars, because the passing was good enough and apart from some personal issues that might have been caused by reading a translation, it was was okay.

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celery's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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ravensandlace's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Find this review and others like it at https://aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.com

This is a pre goodreads/storygraph era book. I read this book when I was in high school. Back then, I devoured books like it was my job. I was in my school library just about every other day to get books. I think the librarian had to order more books just so I had something to read. Oh, those were the days. Now I’m lucky if I can finish a book in a week. Anyway, I remember this book being so cool and the concept of travelling to a different world where you could have everything you ever wanted was the epitome of awesome. So I thought I would reread this book and see if I still loved it. It had such fond feelings for me.

Spoiler alert: I did not love the book like I did when I was in high school. I think as I have gotten older, my taste in books have changed. One of my biggest problems was Gemma, the MC. My god, she was a giant brat. While I understand that this book takes place in the late 1800s and times were different, Gemma could still be a bit more nicer. She was just a brat. She treated her family like crap. She treated her friends like crap. She was selfish and did things only for herself. Felicity and Pippa were honestly no better. They were mean to each other and to others. They acted like they were better than everyone. It really put me off from enjoying the book at all. Anne was the only decent character but she was so two dimensional. She was bullied by everyone and nobody did anything about it.

The whole book just seemed to be about how Gemma is mourning her mom and being a brat. The cool magic concept was overshadowed by Gemma and her poor decisions. I understand that she was in shock losing her mom in such a tragic way but there were ways to grieve and not constantly put yourself at risk. I am really unsure if I’m going to continue with the trilogy because I can’t remember if Gemma gets any better. Shame because this had the promise to be really good.

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danibanani's review

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adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I read this as a tween and loved it for the drama, the descriptions, the magic. I don't think it quite holds up, and not just for some of the problematic elements. I would love for things to make a bit more sense. Gemma should have put certain things together far earlier than she did given how intelligent we know her to be. What a melancholy ending this had! It really communicated the desperation of young women within the choking confines of patriarchy, thank gods that's not a problem anymore. 🫣😭
Despite its shortcomings, I was compelled to finish the reread, and mostly enjoyed it. Huzzah!

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