Beautiful Chaos review -- Garcia & Stohl

Title: Beautiful Chaos
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Pages: 518
Format: Hardcover

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.

Review:

Wow. Totally crazy.

Beautiful Chaos is one of those totally conflicting books. Right now, I don't know how to feel about it. The first three hundred pages were doze-off-while-reading boring, and the last one hundred pages were like a perpetual climax. Books like this really make me angry because they're nearly impossible to review, but with this one, I'm going to give it a try.

Ethan is the one going insane in this book, not Lena like in the other books. So if you're tired of Lena's constant "Ohmegaaad I don't know what I am and I need to find myself Waaaaaaaah!," this book is for you, because you get it from the narrator's point of view and it's not so obvious. It's really not that bad with Ethan, because he's more of a guy and he keeps the whining to himself.

From the very beginning of the book, you could tell something was up: Ethan thought chocolate milk tasted weird. Chocolate milk. How could chocolate milk go wrong? Chocolate milk is probably my favorite beverage (besides brown and orange sodas). I just don't understand. I'm at a loss for words.

As I said earlier, the first three hundred pages were relatively uneventful: a lot of it is Ethan talking to his friends about how things have gone wrong and them guessing how it can be fixed. The End of Days is almost here, and the fact that Ethan's about to witness it is scary to him.

THE CLIFFHANGER OMG THE CLIFFHANGER I HATE CLIFFHANGERS SO MUCH BECAUSE OF THIS BOOK THE CLIFFHANGER OMG.
Yeah, that's what you're going to be thinking, too, after you finish the book. I almost felt like crying at the end. It was so heartbreaking and poignant and --

I also didn't appreciate how MY FAVORITE CHARACTER(S) EVER DIED!!! (For those who have read it, the two deaths that happened in the last half of the book DROVE ME NUTS! I loved both of the characters, even though one of them I shouldn't have, and I can't wait to see what happens in the next book.

The bad thing about cliffhanger endings is in the beginning of the next book, the result of the cliffhanger will be shown in a boring way. I hope that doesn't happen in the next book.

Only time will tell who will narrate the next book . . . those who've read it know what I'm talking about.

The fourth and final Caster Chronicles book is at the top of my anxiously-awaiting list. Can't wait for it to be out and for us to finally figure out what's going to happen in the world of the Casters!

I graciously award this book five owls.

Five Owls