The Beautiful Ones is a genre-crossing atmospheric YA romance with elements of magical realism by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Released 27th April 2021 by Macmillan on their Tor imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in most formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a very well written but slowly developing narrative about family, love, loyalty, social constraints and expectations with magic. The author is quite adept at her craft and her command of narrative prose is exceptional and impressive. Despite that, I found my interest flagging at several points. It took much longer to finish reading than it should have and my overall impressions were no doubt negatively impacted by having picked it up and put it down over a period of months (I generally finish books in one or two sittings).
There is an overarching grand theatrical feeling to the work which, although unquestionably original, called to mind Wuthering Heights, Pride & Prejudice, and with a shading of tortured Russian grand literature. My difficulty with the reading was at least partly due to the antipathy I felt toward the deeply unhappy character Valerie.
Beautifully well written. It didn't enthrall me. Three and a half stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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