The Beautiful

My Thoughts:

Renee Ahdieh brought us a samurai story like Mulan and court intrigue in Flame in the Mist and Smoke in the Sun. She also wrote about the mythical Arabic world in the Wrath and the Dawn and The Rose and the Dagger. As far as girl power, exotic environment, YA romance goes, these books have been devour worthy.

However, this latest by Ahdieh, set in New Orleans, is a vampire story with no real vampires until the very end. The protagonist, Celine  seems to want to be difficult and independent without the street smarts or power to do so. What that does is it makes her irritating and immature. 

I was disappointed by the writing that felt trite. The publishers always over deliver on the write ups, but the author normally comes through. For example, TheWrath and the Dawn was touted as an Arabian Nights. It was not. Flame in the Mist was supposed to be like Mulan. Never mind that the publishers are mixing up the Japanese (Samurai) and Disney Chinese (Mulan) culture.  But the main characters were intriguing and strong. But to promise an Anne Rice type of vampire novel, set in New Orleans and deliver no vampires as any of the main charactersor love interests is a little deceiving. 

I will not be seeking out the follow up novel The Damned. 

From the publishers:

In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans is a safe haven after she's forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent in the middle of the carnival season, Celine is quickly enraptured by the vibrant city, from its music to its fancy soirées and even its danger. She becomes embroiled in the city's glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group's enigmatic leader, Sébastien Saint Germain.

When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in Sébastien's own lair--the second dead girl to turn up in recent weeks--Celine battles her attraction to Sébastien and suspicions about his guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.
After a third murder, New Orleans becomes gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose--one who has now set Celine in his sights. As the murderer stalks her, Celine finally takes matters into her own hands, only to find herself caught in the midst of an age-old feud between the darkest creatures of the night, where the price of forbidden love is her life.
At once a sultry romance and a decadent, thrilling mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet.