Rebel Angels (Gemma Doyle Series #2) by Libba Bray

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In this magnificent and mystical follow-up to A Great and Terrible Beauty, Gemma Doyle faces her biggest challenge yet, as she returns to the magical realms on a quest to find the Temple and bind the magic she released in her last adventure. Featuring complex and compelling characters and an intricately woven plot, this riveting fantasy is steeped in Victorian sensibility -- and filled with history, mystery, and spellbinding romance.

From the Publisher

Gemma Doyle is looking forward to a holiday from Spence Academy—spending time with her friends in the city, attending balls in fancy gowns with plunging necklines, and dallying with the handsome Lord Denby. Yet amid these distractions, her visions intensify—visions of three girls dressed in white, to whom something horrific has happened that only the realms can explain.

The lure is strong, and soon Gemma, Felicity, and Ann are turning flowers into butterflies in the enchanted world that Gemma takes them to. To the girls' great joy, their beloved Pippa is there as well, eager to complete their circle of friendship.

But all is not well in the realms—or out. Kartik is back, desperately insisting to Gemma that she must bind the magic, lest colossal disaster befall her. Gemma is willing to comply, for this would bring her face-to-face with her late mother's greatest friend, now Gemma's foe—Circe. Until Circe is destroyed, Gemma cannot live out her destiny. But finding Circe proves a most perilous task. . . .

This sumptuous companion to A Great and Terrible Beauty teems with Victorian thrills and chills that play out against the rich backdrop of 1895 London, a place of shadows and light . . . where inside great beauty can lie a rebel angel.

Publishers Weekly

"Although Bray's follow-up to A Great and Terrible Beauty feels a bit like a bridge between the launch and the next installment in her series," said PW, "fans of the author's first novel will nonetheless remain enthralled." Ages 12-up. (Dec.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Naomi Williamson - Children's Literature

In this, the author's companion to A Great and Terrible Beauty, the reader joins three girls, Gemma, Felicity, and Ann, at the Spence Academy for Young Ladies as the Christmas holiday season approaches. It immediately becomes apparent that these are not average young ladies of the late 1890s in England. While they might fit the mold of the prim and proper private-school girls, you quickly realize that they are carrying a hidden, dark secret. The girls travel to London for the Christmas holidays, where they are embroiled in the social events of the season, their families, and travel into the world of magic. Talk of "the Realm" and "the Order," "the Eastern Star" and "the Rakshana" fills their conversations. Gemma, knowing that her mother died as a result of her own work for the Order, has visions of three young ladies in white who call to her to follow them into the Realm. Along with Felicity and Ann, she is able to visit the realm to search for the Temple, that is "rumored to be the source of all power in the realms", where they believe they will "bind the magic" to re-establish the Order as the ruler of the realms. Danger lurks in every corner because they do not know who they can trust, in both the real world and the world of magic. The Rakshana, a new teacher at their school, Kartik, a young man from India, whose brother died along with Gemma's mother when the "Runes of the Oracle" were destroyed, are all there to help or hinder the search. Filled with darkness and fear, the story also tells of friendship and love, reliance and rebellion. Every family has its secrets and those in this story are no different, but also very different. This novel has enough mystery and excitementto thrill the most critical readers. 2005, Delacorte Press, Ages 12 up.

Children's Literature

In book II of Bray's trilogy, which takes place two months after the events in book I, sixteen-year-old Gemma and her Spence Academy friends Felicity and Ann travel to London to celebrate Christmas. Kartik, a Rakshana novitiate, is back. His mission is to persuade Gemma to locate the Temple and bind the magic in the realms, and then kill her. Gemma's foe, Circe, is also trying to assume control of the power by finding the Temple. Meanwhile, Gemma's feelings are torn between Kartik and an aristocrat named Simon Middleton. Gemma also deals with her father's addiction and Felicity's history of incest. Gemma finally discovers Circe's identity and a battle for the magical power ensues. Set in 1895 England, this tale is aptly narrated by British voice actor Josephine Bailey. Fans of the fantasy genre will enjoy this suspenseful unabridged audio book. Although it is lengthy—fourteen hours on twelve compact discs—this title will hold the young adult listener's attention. The story is fast-paced with a few exceptions. Even though Bray's story occurs in 1895, today's adolescents will relate to its issues—dating, molestation, addiction, self-doubt, inner strength, and friendship. Before listening to this recording, it is beneficial, but not imperative, to read the print version or listen to the audio version of book I. Look for the release of book III in the fall of 2007.

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-The sequel (Delacorte, 2005) to Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty (Delacorte, 2003; Listening Library, 2004) takes up 17-year-old Gemma Doyle's adventures above ground, in Victorian London, and below in the magical Realms, just days after the first book ended. Narrator Josephine Bailey remains consistent and inspired in the range of accents and tones she provides for Gemma, her posh friend Felicity, their whiney classmate Ann, the mysterious and sensual Indian youth Kartik, and the newly introduced characters that include a suspicious new teacher and a patient at London's famous Bethlehem Hospital (Bedlam). Those unfamiliar with the prequel to the current adventures may find themselves a bit lost at the outset, but the flurry of immediate events will soon catch them up as Gemma works feverishly to understand how she can bind the magic running loose in the Realms, whether Kartik is her ally or her deadly opponent, and if her father's moodiness is an expression of the continuing grief at her mother's death or an opiate habit. Added to these Gothic matters is the fact that Gemma must come to terms with her feelings for the young man who pays her court during the Christmas holidays she's spending away from finishing school and in her grandmother's house. Bray realizes the time period not only in her skillfully embedded descriptions of sounds, textures, and smells, but also by evoking the social framework within which Gemma must move, at least while above ground. The Realms, on the other hand, include both other worldly beauty and ghastliness, befitting of hallucinations. Gemma proves her strength and her charity in both arenas.-Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

What beastly luck. When Victorian schoolgirl Gemma Doyle smashed the magical realms' runes two months ago (A Great and Terrible Beauty, 2003), she thought she was destroying evil. Instead, she unbound the magic and made it available to any malevolent force. In London for the Christmas holidays, Gemma must bind the power before disaster falls-but bind for whom? The all-female Order, which allowed corruption to enter the realms in the first place? The male secret society of the Rakshana, which wants Gemma dead? Betrayal is in the air, and the backstabbing distrust of London, where any girl or woman might be the evil Circe in disguise, is a far cry from the budding homoeroticism of Gemma's earlier adventure. To make matters worse, Gemma's father has become an opium eater, her erstwhile lover Kartik might be planning her death and her only clues to Circe's identity come from a Bedlamite. While the characters and setting lack the lush richness and depth that made the first volume appealing, Gemma's shivery adventures, lacking easy answers, make for an exciting mystical quest. (Fantasy. YA)

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