Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Genre: fantasy, paranormal romance
Series and Book #: Caster Chronicles #4
Pages: 451
Summary:

I’d had nightmares about him before. Before I knew him, or at least knew he was going to be Ethan. But this wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen in any nightmare. It was real.

 

Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.

 

Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan’s return, vowing to do whatever it takes—even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.

 

Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.

 

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I don't really know why there is a fourth book. I think Kami and Margaret could have made it a trilogy and called it a day. Beautiful Redemption seemed like a novel they tacked onto the end because there were some loose ends that needed tying. There weren't any crucial moments in this book that there couldn't have been tucked into the first three novels.

Other than the apparent pointlessness of this book, it was fine. I liked both Ethan's world the dead and Lena's land of the living. I would have liked if there had been more challenges in the labyrinth leading to the Far Keep. It seemed really easy to pass through. Kami and Margaret made it seem like it was a feat no one dared face. Lena wasn't weighed down by grief for Ethan's loss. She was a bit manic in her search for any evidence Ethan was trying to communicate. I guess I would be, too, if my boyfriend had died and told me he would try to speak to me in the afterlife.

Many previous characters were found in this book. I am so glad that all the relationships worked out in the end. Ridley and Link, Liv and John, Lena and Ethan...it seemed everyone got their happily ever after. Amma found her peace, as did Ethan's dad, Marion, and everyone in Gatlin. As cheesy as it may seem, all these characters deserved happiness. I have loved them so much. This was an amazing series that I will never regret reading.

The Cover: I don't really understand the staircase.

Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Genre: fantasy, paranormal romance

Series and Book #: Caster Chronicles #3
Pages: 518
Summary:

This summer has changed everything, in both the Caster and Mortal worlds, even if the folks in Gatlin didn’t know it.

 

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 impacts 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.

 

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"When I first met you, that's what I remember. I looked up at the sky and thought, I'm going to love this person because even the sky looks different."

Lena from Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl, page 494

 

I hate Ethan for not telling anyone about his dreams or about his getting "sick" (if you call losing part of your soul getting sick, I guess). Because I think a lot of pain could have been avoided if he just had been honest with Lena! The panic in Gatlin is fun to watch. Throughout the series its been made clear that a lot of the citizens of Gatlin are pretty superstitious. Since there are signs of the apocalypse its a welcome change of pace to witness the city suddenly readies themselves for the second coming. Especially since Link has changed, Ethan is slowly losing his mind, and Lena can't control her crazy powerful magic. It's seriously chaos.

In this book, Ethan and Lena's relationship has solidified to the point Lena can stand to let Ethan go, but only because she knows he will do everything in his power to bring her back. Amma, on the other hand, goes to great lengths to change fate so that he won't die when previously she was a firm believer in the Order of Things. Roles are reversed and its great that throughout the series, Kami and Margaret have been able to offer a broad view of the characters personalities. It makes the characters very realistic.

 

*WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!* Seriously, though? The ending? Really, Kami and Margaret? REALLY? DID YOU REALLY HAVE TO PUSH ETHAN OFF OF A WATER TOWER? WHAT POINT ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE??????

 

Anyway, I don't know what to say except that Beautiful Chaos is just as excellently written as the first two books of the Caster Chronicles. 

 

The Cover: I don't know what to say other than that it's perfect just like the others 

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Genre: fantasy, paranormal romance
Series and Book #: Caster Chronicles #2
Pages: 503
Summary:

Some loves are meant to be. Others are cursed.

 

Ethan Wate used to think of his small Southern town as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along.

 

Together, Ethan and Lena can face anything, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away. Haunted by strange visions, Ethan finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

 

Now that Ethan’s eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there’s no going back.

 

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The second book is just as good as the first! I'm so upset I wasn't able to continue this series until now, long after I've read Beautiful Creatures. That was such a long time ago.

Lena acts like an actual person mourning from serious loss. Albeit she is a Caster and has a more powerful way of displaying her emotions. Although this whole series is based on Ethan and Lena's relationship, their not being together didn't make the book collapse. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl have added enough substance to the novel that it's not boring when Ethan and Lena aren't together. I think that is an excellent way to write a book, because a single relationship shouldn't be the sole purpose of a book. There should be adventure, mystery, and bigger problems than two teenagers who are having trouble in paradise.

There was so much going on but it wasn't overwhelming. I was able to keep all the details straight as I read the book. Ethan, Liv, and Link's treks through the underground world of the Casters were fun if not a good glimpse into the magical world Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl are writing about. They are very good at making their setting and characters truly realistic.

The Cover: The lettering is so lovely. Thank goodness they haven't changed the covers. I don't know if I would like any other covers.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Genre: paranormal romance
Series and Book #: Beautiful Creatures #1
Pages: 563
Summary:

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

 

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

 

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

 

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I've heard so many mixed reviews about this book that I decided to read it, and here we are. Me adding my own viewpoint into the already muddled thoughts about this novel.

 

I loved it. I really, really did. It wasn't overly mysterious that it was annoying how little I knew, but it wasn't blatantly honest about everything. The setting and the atmosphere was also deliciously dark and a bit creepy. What's more fun than reading a book about spell casters in a sleepy Southern town? Especially spell casters with a very dark past. Kami and Margaret are excellent storytellers who had ways of adding details without piling them on and who created this world full of darkness and light.

 

Ethan and Lena. Lena and Ethan. Elena. Lethan. Either way, they are so wonderful together. Lena was a beautiful character, whose complex personality only heightened Ethan's interest in her. I loved her powers and the shocking abilities she possessed. I loved the way she interacted with others, the way her bark and her bite were equally powerful. Ethan was a bit more transparent than Lena, but I loved the way he accepted everything about her with unflinching love. They were so perfect together, Lena's seeming darkness to Ethan's everlasting light.

 

Overall, I really loved this book. I don't know what else to say. Kami and Margaret reeled me in with promises of darkness and light and I received that in a novel filled with beautiful creatures. If you've heard mixed reviews as well, I'd say just read it and add your own. Sometimes the best voice is your own, as Lena's only too keen in understanding.

 

The Cover: Goodness, everything about this book is wonderful, including the cover.