Beautiful Redemption
Quotes from the Book
The right thing and the easy thing are never the same.
You're so full of crap, you could pass for a toilet.
I never loved you any more than I do, right this second. And I'll never love you any less than I do, right this second.
Mortals. I envy you. You think you can change things. Stop the universe. Undo what was done long before you came along. You are such beautiful creatures.
Sixteen Moons, Sixteen Years Sixteen of your deepest fears Sixteen times you dreamed my tears Falling, Falling through the years Sixteen moons, sixteen years Sound of thunder in your ears Sixteen miles before she nears Sixteen seeks what sixteen fears Sixteen moons, sixteen years sixteen times you dreamed my fears Sixteen will try to Bind the spears Sixteen screams just one hears Sixteen moons, sixteen years The Claiming moon, the hour nears In these pages Darkness clears Powers bind what fire sears Sixteeth moon, Sixteenth year now has come the day you fear Claim or be Claimed Shed blood, Shed tear Moon or Sun- destroy, revere.
Darkness, real darkness, was more than just a lack of light.
I'm just the librarian. I can only give you the books. I can't give you the answers.
Even lost in the darkness, my heart will find you.
What is the opposite of two? A lonely me and a lonely you.
In one moment I was feeling everything and I was feeling nothing.
Are you insinuatin' that my daughter is a liar?" "Oh, no, not at all. I'm saying your daughter is a liar. Surely you can appreciate the difference.
So you are a vampire." "I most certainly am not." He looked annoyed. "That's such a common phrase, such a cliche, and so unflattering. I suppose you believe in werewolves and aliens too. I blame television.
If a girl says not to get her a birthday present that means get me a birthday present and make sure it's jewelry.
Who burns me and shocks me and shatters me with a single touch.
She was wearing a purple T-shirt, with a skinny black dress over it that made you remember how much of a girl she was, and trashed black boots that made you forget.
So why did I think about her every second? Why was I so much happier the minute I saw her? I felt like maybe I knew the answer, but how could I be sure? I didn't know, and I didn't have any way to find out. Guys don't talk about stuff like that. We just lie under the pile of bricks.
Old things are better than new things, because they've got stories in them, Ethan.
I care. They bother me. And that's why I'm stupid. That makes me exponentially more stupid than stupid. I'm stupid to the power of stupid.
Dig deep. Find your way to your soul.
Well? Is it true? Did she?" "Did she what?" "You know. Fall outta the crazy tree and hit every branch on the way down?
His eyes softened. I thought maybe he pitied me, but it was something else. "Ultimately, it will be your burden to bear. It's always the Mortal who bears it. Trust me, I know." "I don't trust you and you're wrong. We aren't too different." "Mortals. I envy you. You think you can change things. Stop the universe. Undo what was done long before you came along. You are such beautiful creatures." He was talking to me, but it didn't feel like he was talking about me anymore. "I apologize for the intrusion. I'll leave you to your sleep.
Darkness can't drive out darkness only light can do that, Hate can't drive out hate only love can do that.
Aunt Mercy put down her tiles, one at a time. I-T-C-H-I-N. Aunt Grace leaned closer to the board, squinting. "Mercy Lynne, you're cheatin' again! What kinda word is that? Use it in a sentence." "I'm itchin' ta have some a that white cake." "That's not how you spell it." At least one of them could spell. Aunt Grace pulled one of the tiles off the board. "There's no T in itchin'." Or not.
I was losing her, she wouldn’t listen to me, and I was about to fail my third quiz of the semester. Great. By the way, can you simplify 7x – 2(4x – 6)? I knew she could. She was already in Trig. What does that have to do with anything? Nothing. But I’m failing this quiz. She sighed. A Caster girlfriend had some perks.
Every day was like a day out of someone else's life. Nothing had ever happened to me, and now everything was happening to me -- and by everything, I really meant Lena. An hour was both faster and slower. I felt like I had sucked the air out of a giant balloon, like my brain wasn't getting enough oxygen. Clouds were more interesting, the lunchroom less disgusting, music sounded better, the same old jokes were funnier, and Jackson went from being a clump of grayish-green industrial buildings to a map of times and places where I might run into her. I found myself smiling for no reason, keeping my earphones in and replaying our conversations in my head, just so I could listen to them again. I had seen this kind of thing before. I had just never felt it.
Lena's hair was sticking out in about fifteen directions, and her eyes were all small and puffy from crying. So this was what girls looked like in the morning. I had never seen one, not up close.
There was a curse. There was a girl. And in the end, there was a grave. I never even saw it coming.
Macon Ethan I lay my head down on his chest and cried because had lived because he had died a dry ocean, a desert of emotion happysad darklight sorrowjoy swept over me, under me i could hear the sound but i could not understand the words and then i realized the sound was me, breaking in one moment i was feeling everything and i was feeling nothing i was shattered, i was saved, i lost everthing, i was given everything else something in me died, something in me was born, i only knew the girl was gone whoever i was now, i would never be her again this is the way the world ends not with a bang but a whimper claim yourself claim yourself claim yourself claim gratitude fury love despair hope hate first green is gold but nothing green can stay dont try nothing green can stay -Lena Duchannes
Did you know?
- The novel is the first book in the Caster Chronicles (also called the Beautiful Creatures series).
- It was co-written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
- The story is set in the fictional small town of Gatlin, South Carolina.
- It is narrated from the perspective of Ethan Wate, a mortal boy, which is unusual for the paranormal-romance genre.
- A 2013 film adaptation was directed by Richard LaGravenese and starred Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert.
- The series continued with Beautiful Darkness, Beautiful Chaos, and Beautiful Redemption.
About Kami Garcia
More by Kami Garcia
All books by Kami Garcia →About the book
Beautiful Creatures is a young-adult paranormal fantasy novel by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the first book in the Caster Chronicles. It is narrated by Ethan Wate, a sixteen-year-old mortal who feels trapped in the small Southern town of Gatlin, South Carolina. When Lena Duchannes, a mysterious newcomer he has been seeing in his dreams, arrives in town, Ethan is drawn into a hidden world of magic tied to Lena's family, the Casters.
As her sixteenth birthday approaches, Lena faces a 'claiming' that will bind her irrevocably to either Light or Dark magic, a fate she cannot choose for herself. Through visions of a Civil War-era curse woven into both their families' pasts, Ethan and Lena struggle to understand and change her destiny. Their bond deepens even as the supernatural forces around them, including Lena's Dark Caster mother, press toward the claiming.
The novel blends Gothic Southern atmosphere with a paranormal romance, exploring themes of belonging, small-town intolerance, family secrets, and the tension between fate and free will. A commercial success, it launched a four-book series and was adapted into a 2013 Warner Bros. feature film.
Key characters
- Ethan WateSixteen-year-old mortal narrator from Gatlin, South Carolina
- Lena DuchannesA Caster who must be claimed as Light or Dark on her sixteenth birthday
- Macon RavenwoodLena's reclusive uncle and guardian, an incubus who feeds on dreams
- Sarafine DuchannesLena's mother and a powerful Dark Caster
- AmmaThe Wate family's caretaker who practices folk magic
Book details
- First published
- 2009
- Length
- 563 pages
- Reading time
- 34 hours
- Author
- Kami Garcia
- Genre
- Fantasy
- Goodreads rating
- 3.78 (625k ratings) →
- First line
- “There were only two kinds of people in our town.”
Series & reading order
- 1 Beautiful Creatures
- 2 Beautiful Darkness
- 3 Beautiful Chaos
- 4 Beautiful Redemption
Movie & TV adaptations
- IMDb
If you liked this, read…
- 1TwilightFoundational YA paranormal romance centered on a mortal-and-supernatural pairing
- 2Hush, HushYA paranormal romance with a fated, dangerous supernatural love interest
- 3ShiverAtmospheric YA paranormal romance built around a transformation the heroine cannot control
Keep reading
Beautiful Darkness
Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception
Marked
Tricks
Beautiful Chaos
New Moon
Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie
Splintered
Beautiful Redemption
The Name of the Wind
Black Iris
The Chaos of Stars
The Help
Mud Vein
Volition
The Sea of Tranquility
The Siren
Good Me, Bad Me
We Were Liars
Nevernight
Beastly
Chime
Pushing the Limits
A Great and Terrible Beauty
The Fault in Our Stars
An Artificial Night
Beauty and the Mustache
Magonia
I Was Here
The Replacement
Cat's Eye
A Northern Light
Crank
Petals on the Wind
Shadowfever
Hunted
Everything Is Illuminated
Cerulean Sins
Lady Midnight
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
The Gargoyle
Vain
One
Obsidian Butterfly
In This Moment
Dirty
The Secret Place
Rosemary and Rue
Unravel
Illuminae
Trust: Betrayed
Identical
Incubus Dreams
When the Moon Hatched
Cam Girl
Bunny
Everneath
Crossed
Written on the Body
A Different Blue

