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A review by mweis
The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh
3.0
*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
I had heard nothing but positive things about this book so when the publisher put it up as Read Now on NetGalley before the release of the series finale, I thought I'd give it a shot. I love everything about this setting. It's 1872 New Orleans and Celine Rousseau is a white passing teen girl who fled Paris under suspicious circumstances. That on it's own is fascinating to me and then you toss in a series of bodies being discovered in gruesome ways and I'm totally sold.
Unfortunately, the execution did not work as well as I might have hoped. For one, it never really felt like 1872. Like New Orleans has always had a fascinating meld of cultures but Reconstruction era New Orleans was especially fascinating and for the most part the story felt like it could have been any point in time and I really wish Ahdieh had leaned into the historical pieces more or else made it a modern story. As it was though I kept forgetting it was supposed to take place in the past because the speech and mannerisms were all so modern but then there would be some reference to the year and I would be pulled completely out of the story.
I did like the way Ahdieh wrote the vampires. I thought they were spooky and fun and I liked the hints of greater supernatural creature worldbuilding that will presumably get fleshed out later in the series. I thought Celine herself was a decently fleshed out character but everyone else felt a bit cardboard cutout, and I started to get very annoyed by the repetitious descriptions of Sébastien.
Overall, I'm not mad I finally picked this up but I definitely went in with expectations that were too high and while I didn't hate this reading experience, I'm not really compelled to continue reading the series despite the major cliffhanger.
I had heard nothing but positive things about this book so when the publisher put it up as Read Now on NetGalley before the release of the series finale, I thought I'd give it a shot. I love everything about this setting. It's 1872 New Orleans and Celine Rousseau is a white passing teen girl who fled Paris under suspicious circumstances. That on it's own is fascinating to me and then you toss in a series of bodies being discovered in gruesome ways and I'm totally sold.
Unfortunately, the execution did not work as well as I might have hoped. For one, it never really felt like 1872. Like New Orleans has always had a fascinating meld of cultures but Reconstruction era New Orleans was especially fascinating and for the most part the story felt like it could have been any point in time and I really wish Ahdieh had leaned into the historical pieces more or else made it a modern story. As it was though I kept forgetting it was supposed to take place in the past because the speech and mannerisms were all so modern but then there would be some reference to the year and I would be pulled completely out of the story.
I did like the way Ahdieh wrote the vampires. I thought they were spooky and fun and I liked the hints of greater supernatural creature worldbuilding that will presumably get fleshed out later in the series. I thought Celine herself was a decently fleshed out character but everyone else felt a bit cardboard cutout, and I started to get very annoyed by the repetitious descriptions of Sébastien.
Overall, I'm not mad I finally picked this up but I definitely went in with expectations that were too high and while I didn't hate this reading experience, I'm not really compelled to continue reading the series despite the major cliffhanger.