Beautiful Creatures: The Manga
Ethan’s only excitement in the small town of Gatlin, South Carolina, comes from the dreams he keeps having about a mysterious girl. But when that girl, Lena, shows up in school, Ethan learns that there are people with dangerous powers living in his town and that he may have a part to play in Lena’s tortured destiny. This adaptation of Garcia and Stohl’s novel is to the point, but it lacks much of the lush descriptiveness of the original. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough pages in the graphic novel to allow for vibrant images to take the place of those prose passages, so readers who only pick up the comic will miss out on some elements. Jean’s illustrations do their admirable best, however. Readers will be pleased that Ethan, Lena, and their friends look like actual teenagers, with Lena’s gravity-defying hair signifying her otherworldly nature. The mental communication between Ethan and Lena shines through strongly and helps solidify their relationship despite the sometimes choppy abridgment of the story. Overall, a worthy purchase where the novel series is popular. Grades 8-12. --Snow Wildsmith