A Book Obsession..: Beautiful Chaos

Beautiful Chaos

, by Kt Clapsadl

Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Caster Chronicles #3

Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected - and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What - or who - will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?

For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it isn't by Lena - and whatever is haunting him is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Even worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself - forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and most days he's too afraid to ask.

Sometimes there isn't just one answer or one choice. Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.

Strange things have been happening in Gatlin since Ethan met Lena, but he still wouldn't change any of it as long as he has her at his side. Of course that just might change as it now seems like the apocalypse is upon them with sweltering heat waves, killer storms, and swarms of insects are ravaging the little town. It would seem the caster's problems are now slipping into the mortal world as the consequences of Lena's claiming come to light. Things are really broken this time, and it will take a momentous sacrifice to set things right. Meanwhile, Ethan is dealing with his own mess as he has haunting dreams centered around himself this time rather than Lena, and with each one he loses a little more of himself. With no happy end in sight, there is little time left to set things right or everything will come crumbling down in the end.

The description of there being no happy ending this time really scared me at first, but to be honest I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop for some time now. All of the events from the previous books were bound to have serious consequences, as there were some majorly game changing events. I knew at some point things would finally catch up to them, but to be honest I never would have seen this coming. Of course the story centers around a new song, this time around being Eighteen Moons, and each verse is its own prediction of things to come. However, unlike the previous songs, this one only points to doom rather than any chance at a happy solution.

My favorite thing about this series has been the characters, and that still holds true now. Their emotions are so real be they happiness or suffering. Even though this installment mostly consisted of the darker side of things, there were moments of levity to help balance things out, mostly coming from Linkubus. Even though most of the focus was on Ethan, and by association, Lena; Link and Ridley's troubled paths were front and center as well. Link is still trying to come to terms with his transformation as well as his love for the very troubled Ridley. Ridley is also going though a lot as she's supposed to be mortal now, but some pretty mysterious things have been happening around her. To be honest, she comes off as more selfish than anything to me, but again, the emotions are so real, that a part of me will still feel for her. I just wish she would stop messing with Link's mind, as he has enough to deal with on his own.

Several times throughout reading Beautiful Chaos I literally had to put the book down and walk away for a little while. The tension was so high that I found myself rushing through reading it just to find out what happens next that I wasn't fully appreciating it. Each installment in this series is even better than the last (an amazing feat considering just how good these books are), and truly deserve to be savored. I had to take periodic breathers to calm myself down enough to be able to read without rushing. Even so, I still devoured the book in less than a day. I'm sure I'll be re-reading it sometime in the near future to see everything I missed in my haste. Beautiful Chaos truly lives up to its name sake as it is a beautifully written book that is full of chaos and utterly raw emotion that will leave you reeling in the end and desperate for the next installment.

(Received a copy from the publisher)

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