Review: Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Chaos
Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl
Series: Beautiful Creatures #3
Paperback: 528 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Source: My Audible account.

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.

Goodreads – Amazon

Review

Oh. My. Gravy.  This series keeps getting better. 

This has become one of my favorite series!  I’m having a hard time writing a review I’m fanboying so much right now!

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Y’all, I started this before we went on vacation, and couldn’t listen to it at all for 8 days!  EIGHT WHOLE DAYS! So, needless to say, I was excited to get back to listening to Beautiful Chaos! And I finished it! 

Beautiful Chaos is dark and moody.  Things are happening, and they know the why but not the how to fix it.  Amma is trying her way, Lena & Ethan are trying theirs, while Macon & Liv are doing it their way.  But there are no answers.  THEN, the shadowing song begins anew.  And it’s a doozy.  And more things happen.  And then it comes to an end.

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It’s a freakin’ cliffhanger, y’all!  And I hate cliffhangers.  I think they’re cheap tactics to make you get the next book/movie/show in the series…but you know what, I don’t mind that Garcia & Stohl ended Beautiful Chaos this way (mostly because Beautiful Redemption is already out).  It seemed to complete the story in the way it needed to.

There were some definite face-palm moments where you just really wanted to shake Lena & Ethan.  I felt they took a little too long to catch up.  I felt ahead of them for most of the story.  Which is a little odd-feeling.  And the fact that Amma really got on my nerves was frustrating, too.  She went real dark, and stayed there for the entire book.  I can understand, but it felt strange to me.

I also disliked John Breed for most of the story.  When I Tweeted Garcia & Stohl, Kami said she loved John, and since she did write the book and all, I decided to keep an open mind—which paid off, because now I really like him, too. 

So, my couple little irritants aside, Beautiful Chaos is a beautiful installment in the Caster Chronicles.  I already have Beautiful Redemption downloaded to my Audible app ready to start on my commute Monday morning!

5 Moons