The Gemma Doyle Trilogy
Libba Bray
Stars
YA / Fantasy / Victorian Era /
A Great and Terrible Beauty
403 Pages8.5 Stars
We meet Gemma Doyle on her 16th birthday. The day of her first vision and the day her mother is murdered. Moving from India to England and starting at a boarding school in the wake of such tragedy is enough for any girl to deal with. Adding visions, magic realms, mysterious societies, a web of lies and long dead secrets is too much for one girl to handle. Teaming up with Ann, Pippa and Felicity in an uneasy alliance Gemma braves the year at Spence's Academy for Young Ladies, where nothing is as it seems.
I had heard of the trilogy through the booktube community and passed them over after hearing they were about witches. I had a preconceived idea about a school filled with silly girls learning to be witches (potions, spells, black cats) while keeping London none-the-wiser. I was SO wrong and I apologized to the novel and my bookshelf for my judgement. This was a great novel, the periodic setting was flawless, the realms were illustrated beautifully. The characters were spot on; their unattractive qualities were cleverly balanced by positive notes, keeping them endearing, imperfect enough to be real! Their was dynamics and subplots. A refreshing lack of tropes, such as intra-love or love triangles, or novels with overly unattractive characters (which has been a big theme lately).
I would very much recommend this book!
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