A Great and Terrible Beauty (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy)

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Amazon.com Review
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.

Gemma, 16, has had an unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mothers 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 wi! th 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. (Ages 12 up) Patty Campbell

Product Description
It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to?

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews: Read 295 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

60% great, 20% terrible, 20% beautiful May 20, 2004
209 out of 277 found this review helpful

What, in your opinion, is more important: What an author has to say or how an author chooses to say it? Take, for example, Libby Bray's, "A Great and Terrible Beauty". Set in a Victorian era girl's boarding school, the book has the uneasy task of having a great voice and yet not much in the way of a plot. Bray struggles to weave together the different components that made up (wealthy) women's lives in 19th century Britain. At times she is exceedingly gifted. At others, she falls short of the mark.

Gemma Doyle was born and raised in India with her mother, father, and brother. Having just turned sixteen she is like any other adolescent girl, getting into squabbles with her mom and pouting that she cannot go to live in England. Deliverance for Gemma comes as a very mixed blessing when she witnesses her mother's suicide (in a vision, no less) and is sent to an all-girl's finishing school outside of London. Falling into the usual petty squabbles of popularity and independence, Gemma eventually comes to realize that there is more to the Spence Academy, and herself, than she could ever have known. In a madcap tale of gypsies, magical powers, and deep dark soul-sucking evil Gemma has to face up to her own personal demons as well as the very real spirits that wish her, and her friends, harm.

One one level, this is just your typical romantic bodice-ripper complete with virile dangerous young men and the comedy of manners that set the standards so long ago. Reading this book really seemed to me to be a kind of "The Craft" meets "The Little Princess". Gemma befriends both popular and unpopular alike and much of the book dwells on the problems haunting each of her friends. While Bray has an excellent voice for dialogue and situational comedy, I couldn't quite figure out what she was trying to say with her characters. One minute the two popular girls, Pippa and Felicity, would be playing incredibly cruel tricks on their classmates. Next, Gemma is their best friend and they all bare their souls over cups of whiskey. While the story really does make you feel as if these girls are getting closer, I found it very weird that when some of the girls go over the edge and deal in dark magics and (in a sense) murder, Gemma is perfectly willing to forgive them three pages later and never mention it again. There is no blame in this novel, a thing I found peculiar (especially when you're dealing with sixteen year-olds). When Gemma's friends get an innocent teacher fired, Gemma minds for maybe two hours and then, once more, forgets.

Then there's the fact that we never meet the villain. This book might have just as well plastered the words, "SEQUEL COMING SOON" on its cover for all that it alludes to future books. It is very rare to read an entire book about a villain whose name appears from page seven onwards, and yet we never meet them even once. The resolutions in this book are shaky at best and though the bookflap for "A Great and Terrible Beauty" states this this is "the story of a girl who saw another way" out of the standard roles written for women, by the end Gemma really hasn't changed anything in the least.

And finally there are the gypsies. Why is it that gypsies are always the standard ethnic group for magical doings? There are actual gypsies in the world, you know. This book, however, prefers the romantic version, choosing to forget that they are an actual culture with actual dealings in the world. Turning gypsies into the mythical magical people that exist only in the minds of over-romanticizing white people not only does real gypsies a disservice but it makes books like this one offensive. I won't even dwell on how Bray chose to display natives of India as well. Let's just say this book reads best if you like rooting for Anglo-Saxons.

I'm being harsh on this book, and for good reason. Bray is capable of wonderful writing. The slow building threat of Gemma's situation,and the fact that she is repeatedly told to cease and desist all magic or pay the consequences, all this is very good and dark. Unfortunately, there's never a payoff at the end. The gypsy Kartik tells Gemma to stop or else, but he never makes good on his threat. Gemma never really pays for anything she's done either. I was so confused by what was good and bad in this story that I spent three quarters of the book believing that Gemma's mother, for all intents and purposes, was an illusion or an evil creature in disguise. That's just me, but in all other ways the book is very bad at rewarding the reader for slogging through the foreshadowing. And boy oh boy is there a LOT of foreshadowing. In any case, I think with a little rewriting this could have been an excellent novel. Unfortunately, we'll never know now.

None of this is to say that "A Great and Terrible Beauty" isn't a great read. It really is exciting and interesting. I'm simply warning you that it is possible that you might feel a little let down or cheated at the end. The climaxes never climax as much as they could. The fearful moments are never quite fearful enough. It's a book of halfs, never a whole. But for any reader who wants to dwell in the darkness a little and read a tale about a girl who has the capability of giving herself a great deal of power, go to it. It is, above all things, rather fun.

5 out of 5 stars

A beautiful, page-turning Victorian/gothic novel... May 4, 2005
74 out of 78 found this review helpful

I picked up this book on a whim because the premise seemed interesting. A Great and Terrible Beauty is one of the most beautiful historical and gothic novels I have read in a while. The story enthralled me from beginning to end. Sixteen-year-old Gemma Doyle is different from the other girls at the London boarding school she lives in after her mother's tragic and strange death in India. In addition to not having the conformist mentality that girls of her class and station are trained to have, Gemma has a deep, dark problem that she does not know how to control. She has visions of tragic things that come true and has the magic key to enter an alternate place called the Realms, where every desire -- as well as every nightmare -- can come true. When she finds the diary of a girl with similar powers, she learns about a secret society called the Order, and she and three friends decide to explore the magical and strange world. But there are things that Gemma doesn't know about, secrets and mysteries that she will have to figure out on her own. And she tries to do this while a rather strange Indian boy keeps an eye on her and demands that she put a stop to her visions. There are various twists throughout the novel.

A Great and Terrible Beauty is the sort of novel that you cannot put down because there are so many elements, so many layers that make the novel compelling and enthralling. I loved the backdrop of Victorian England and the way women were viewed and what was expected from them in those times. The female characters spoke volumes about this particularly difficult time period for women. Pippa's desire to meet the perfect prince touched me. She is a very flawed character, but with dreams and desires that spoke to me. Felicity is also quite a complex character. She was a loyal friend and an innocent at times and was cruel, despicable and disturbing in others. Gemma is a great heroine. She had the sort of confusions and issues that girls at present time could definitely relate to. There was a naivete quality to her voice that made her all the more compelling. The gothic aspect of the novel is the perfect complement for the time setting. The horror aspect of the novel were chilling at times. The story became very fanciful about halfway through the novel, but the elements of magic in those scenes were very well done. I fell in love with this book and Libba Bray seems quite an interesting author (an interview with Ms. Bray is included in the book). There are loose ends that tell me there will be a second novel. I hope this turns into a series. It is too good for it to be a one-time story. I recommend A Great and Terrible Beauty most highly. This novel is one of the best reading investments I've made thus far this year!

5 out of 5 stars

A masterful blend of fantasy, realism, history and mystery July 7, 2005
24 out of 25 found this review helpful

Libba Bray has created one of the most fascinating young adult novel's I've read in quite a long time. The novel is a masterful blend of realism, mystery, fantasy and historical fiction and Bray proves herself quite adept as a writer of all three.

Set in nineteenth-century India and England, the novel is generally quite true to the time period without sacrificing reader interest. The girls, including the protagonist, Gemma with her unconventional upbringing, genuinely act like young Victorian women rather than 21st Century teenagers in period dress as many novels and movies attempt to pass of as historical fiction. They are acutely aware of their virtues, positions and stations in life. For example, Ann, Gemma's dumpy, impoverished roommate has no grand goals and loft ambitions to be anything other than the nanny or servant that seems to be her final fate, while the lovely, but shallow Pippa seems equally sure that she her fate is sealed by her parents' ambition and her great, outward beauty. While neither character is particularly deep, they are both true to their time period and behave in a realistic manner. (For example, Bray does not paint Ann as a misunderstood, secret beauty - she is genuinely an outcast.) Only, Gemma and the fascinating Felicity have any depth and strength of character, but I suspect that Bray has other plans for everyone in the final two books of the trilogy. Felicity is intriguing in that she is almost hyper-aware of her position in life and the one most likely to use it to her advantage.

The fantasy and mystery aspects of this novel are well-crafted and enchanting, but I will not delve into them too deeply for fear of creating a spoiler. I will say this, though, for a fantasy novel the characters have natural and realistic reactions to things. Pippa and Felicity first appear as the proverbial mean girls, but nothing they do is too out of line of unlikely. Ann is an outcast for a reason and Gemma... well... that you will have to see for yourself. This is definitely one of the best books aimed at the age group (or older) to come along in awhile and I cannot wait for the next one.

3 out of 5 stars

still not exactly sure how I feel about it.... July 3, 2004
22 out of 50 found this review helpful

This book is about Gemma, a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in India with her mother and father. After her mother is murdered (something that Gemma witnesses in a strange and frightening vision), Gemma is sent to a finishing school in London. The story takes place in 1895. Gemma gradually gets to know the other girls at the school. Most of them are in some way emotionally damaged, and they deal with the hopelessness of their situations by taking everything out on those who happen to be weaker than themselves. What ends up tying Gemma to several of the girls is a diary she discovers, the diary of two girls who attended the school years ago and practiced magic. In a way, this book has the elements of a mystery, as Gemma discovers the link between her mother's murder, the two girls, and her own visions.

I'm still not sure if I like this book. For a great deal of the book, I had the feeling that I didn't really know any of the characters, not even Gemma, even though the book was from her point of view. Maybe this was intentional, but it was disconcerting. If you're looking for a book with nice, pleasant characters, you should look elsewhere, because there aren't really any here. They all do mean things, even Gemma, and the reasons they have for doing these things doesn't seem to detract much from the fact that they did them. Really, though, you'd think that, after reading all 403 pages of this book, that I'd feel like I knew more about the characters and events, but this book feels like it leaves more questions behind than it answers. I've heard that there will be more books about Gemma, which is good, since there needs to be more if the story is to be understood. The book leaves Gemma's powers, and her relationships with the people she calls her friends, in limbo.

2 out of 5 stars Forgettable March 24, 2007
19 out of 42 found this review helpful

Libba Bray's effusive writing may seem poignant to its target audience - teenagers raised on a diet of Harry Potter and harlequin romance novels - but it should be painful to everyone else. A Great and Terrible Beauty is a maundering Gothic romance with weak characters and a weaker plot.

Any supernatural school stories published today will be compared with Harry Potter, and A Great and Terrible Beauty is no exception. Whatever else may be said about her, J.K. Rowling is an excellent storyteller. Her books are always going somewhere. Bray, on the other hand, seems to have cobbled together the vague ideas of a girl, a boarding school, and magic in her novel and let them run their course without much planning. Chapters pass where nothing noteworthy happens. The plot, when it finally takes precedence in the last quarter or so of the book, is rushed. We are left with little that is entertaining or worthwhile.

Bray's trite prose is forgivable. I cringed a bit at sentences like "Anger rises like a new building, shiny-hard and attractive, a place I want to live in forever," but the novel isn't, after all, intended to be poetic. It is intended to be marketable.

The primary problem with the novel is the characters. They are unpredictable and unlikable. There is no nobility here, no real sense of right and wrong, and the girls take turns insulting and betraying each other throughout the story. This is, perhaps, realistic, but it hardly makes for a good potboiler.

The bottom line is that A Great and Terrible Beauty is a mediocre novel. If you want to read fantasy, read Tolkien or Le Guin. If you want to read Victorian romance, read Austen. Skip Libba Bray.

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