TITLE: Beautiful Chaos
SERIES: Caster Chronicles #3
AUTHOR: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
PUBLICATION DATE: October 18, 2011
PUBLISHER: Little, Brown Books For Young Readers
PAGES: 516 pages
FORMAT: Audiobook / Hardback
SOURCE: Borrowed / Purchased
RATING: 4 stars
Ethan Wate’s life is never going to be normal. He and Lena return home to find things are stranger in Gatlin than when they left. Apparently Lena broke things a bit when she refused to choose a side and now everything has gone pear-shaped. And even worse, Ethan is being haunted both in dreams and in real life and he’s slowly losing himself. The gang needs to get things together and quick because the wheel of fate is going to crush them all if they don’t make things right.
I’m at a bit of a loss for what to say here. We get the same cast that we had in the previous novels, with more of John Breed and Olivia. They are on a journey to set the order of things straight again since Lena fucked them up when she “skipped” her moon. I still love Ethan and Lena and their relationship, but it’s far from perfect and that shows here more than ever. Ethan spent much of the last book with Olivia because Lena ran off with John and now he isn’t allowed to see her because it upsets Lena. So we have this sorta-not-really love triangle thing happening that irritated me to no end. But Lena has no qualms talked to John Breed even though it’s the exact same situation as Ethan and Liv. Which pissed me off. Then the predictable thing happens.****SPOILER****John turns out to be a “good” guy who was being controlled by Abraham and he falls head over heels for Liv. I hate how they get together seemingly just to make them all pair up. Ethan and Lena, Link and Ridley, and ooops….John and Liv are left out so let’s just push them together, right? Okay…ooo…look aren’t they cute? All joking aside, they do have a bit in common, but I hate how it happened nonetheless****END SPOILER****
Then there is the whole Link and Ridley situation in general. Rid is human now and Link is quarter incubus, so you’d think the majority of the problems are solved, right? Rid can be good and Link can be her almost human boyfriend and they ride off into the proverbial sunset, yeah?
Or not…..
FFFFFUUUUUCCCCCKKKKK. Is that too much to ask? To have Link and Ridley finally get their shit together. Or rather, to have Ridley finally get her shit together? This was a big forshadowing moment in my lifetime that I missed because from this point on, my opinion of Ridley just sinks lower and lower. That’s a depressing thing because I really liked her in Beautiful Creatures, despite the fact that she was a quasi-villain and she redeems herself a tad in Beautiful Redemption…but then she falls again and I just want to punch her in the fucking face.
Besides my obvious hangups about characters, this novel has one big issues, the huge motherfucking cliffhanger. This books ends in quite possibly the worst cliffhanger I have ever read. Now, I know what you are all thinking: But Tabitha, don’t you already have a copy of the next book? Isn’t the audiobook queued up just waiting on this to end? Yes, it is, but it’s the goddamn principle. I know a lot of people read these books as soon as they were released and I cannot imagine having to wait for a year or more to find out what happens next. This is not fucking necessary. It’s infuriating. I’ve been letting cliffhangers slide lately, but this was over the line.
Despite my anger and my issues, this was still a highly enjoyable installment of the Caster Chronicles. You get a bit of mystery and a bit of action and a lot of Ethan/Lena romance. You get more of that swoon-worhty southern charm that is Ethan Wate. Just be warned that you’ll want to have the next novel close on hand because the ending leaves a lot to be desired.
Bows & Bullets Reviews 