Beautiful Creatures (novel)

Beautiful Creatures

Cover image for the novel
Author	Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Young adult, fantasy, romance
Publisher	Little, Brown
Pages	563
ISBN
Followed by	Beautiful Darkness, Beautiful Chaos, Beautiful Redemption

Beautiful Creatures is an American young adult novel written by authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and the first book in the Caster Chronicles series. The book was published on December 1, 2009, by Little, Brown, and Company. In the UK, Beautiful Creatures is published by Penguin Books. On January 3, 2013, a new edition of the novel was published, featuring images from the movie on the cover. The book was written in 12 weeks, inspired by a dare ( a bet with 7 kids the authors knew) and was never intended to be published.

Sixteen-year-old Ethan Wate lives in Gatlin, South Carolina, with his widowed father. Lena Duchannes is a mysterious girl with magical powers who appears in Ethan's recurring nightmares. Though she initially rebuffs his attempts at interacting with her, they eventually become friends despite harassment from other classmates that almost gets her expelled. Lena's uncle Macon Ravenwood also attempts to keep Ethan and Lena apart to protect them. Every member of Lena's family is a "Caster" with magical powers. On Lena's sixteenth birthday, she will be "claimed" as either a Light or Dark Caster, but she is terrified of becoming an evil Dark Caster.

Meanwhile, Ethan discovers a locket at Ravenwood Manor, Lena's home, that induces visions of Lena's ancestor Genevieve Duchannes and Ethan's ancestor Ethan Carter Wate, who were engaged during the Civil War. Through the locket, they discover that Genevieve tried to resurrect Ethan Carter Wate using the magical Book of Moons. Due to Genevieve's use of the spell, the Book has the ability to determine which of the Duchannes will be Light or Dark. Ethan and Lena find the Book of Moons in Genevieve's grave and study it for ways to prevent Lena from becoming Dark. Furthermore, Lena is continuously spiritually attacked by a Dark Caster named Sarafine, whom is actually her mother. While the Duchannes cannot prevent the attacks, Ethan's presence seems to stop them.

Lena's sixteenth birthday is celebrated by Ethan, the Duchannes, and her classmates. Macon forbids Lena to attend the party set up by her classmates, but Lena sneaks out anyway and confesses her love to Ethan, who reciprocates. Sarafine reveals herself at the party, accompanied by incubus Hunting Ravenwood. Sarafine tells Lena that she will be able to Claim herself for the Dark or Light at midnight. If she chooses to go Dark, all the Light Casters in her family will die, but she would be able to have a previously-impossible physical relationship with Ethan. If she chooses to go Light, all the Dark Casters in her family will die, including Macon. A fight occurs, culminating in Sarafine escaping and Hunting nearly killing Macon. After Ethan gathers the other Duchannes for help, Ethan searches for Lena, but instead meets Sarafine, who kills him. At midnight, Lena uses her power over nature to block out the moonlight, preventing her from being claimed. She recites a spell from the Book of Moons to resurrect Ethan. The spell works, but as payment, the Book kills Macon.