Read way back in 2021, its only now after reviewing the first two books in the series, Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl, that I've getting round to sharing my thoughts on the third and final books in the Caster Chronicle series of books ...
Ethan Wate is in love with a Caster girl. When he looks at Lena, its like there's no one else in the world.
But Ethan is a mortal, and on her seventeenth birthday Lena made a choice that changed everything. The girl Ethan loves has broken the world with the supernatural powers she is struggling to control ....
Now, if they are to fix the chaos Lena has caused, one of them must make a terrible sacrifice. Sometimes there isn't just one answer. . Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending. ... Back Cover Blurb
In Gatlin, its funny how the good things are all tied up with the bad. ... First Sentence, Before: Sugar and Salt
There's something strange about walking into school holding hands with a person you actually love. It's strange - not bad strange. The best strange. I remembered what made couples hang around attached to each other like cold spaghetti. ... Memorable Moment, Pg 25
Ethan Wate always dreamed of leaving the stiflingly Southern town of Gatlin.
But her never dreamt that finding love with Lena Duchannes would drive him away. Lena is a caster girl whose supernatural powers unveiled a secretive and cursed side of Gatlin, so powerful it forced him to make a terrible sacrifice.
Now Nathan must find a way to return to Lena - and Gatlin - as she vows to do whatever it takes to get him back. Even if it means trusting old enemies and risking their loved ones' lives ... ... Back Cover Blurb
Other people had flying dreams. ... First Sentence, Lena: Beginning again
It was the way the snow fell from the ceiling, even though I was inside. The cold white drifts piled in the doorways and and filled the fireplace, swirling into the air like ash. I looked up to see the ceiling crowded with storm clouds that wound all the way up the stairwell to the second floor. It was pretty cold, even for a ghost, and I couldn't stop shivering. ... Memorable Moment, Pg 55
My Thoughts ... That I remember very little of either Beautiful Chaos {read August 2021} or Beautiful Redemption {read September 2021} does not bode well. Thank goodness then for copious numbers of post-it-notes and a good old fashioned notebook.
My least favourite book in the series {to give some context, I rated the first two books, Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness, **** on GoodReads as I did the fourth and final book in the series, Beautiful Redemption} I rated Beautiful Chaos a somewhat miserly **.
Paranormal fiction whose main characters are teenagers, marketed at ... yep, you guessed, a teenage market. It came as no surprise that there's a certain amount of well, fluff and angst but there's fluff and angst ... and then there's Beautiful Chaos.
Paranormal fiction whose main characters are teenagers, OK so Ethan and Lena are nauseatingly in love with each other, I get it. That they can't full 'be together' {if you get my meaning} because, well, lets just leave it as can't be together, I get it. That it increasingly felt to me as if Ethan is actually really in love with Liv in a 'grown-up' way as opposed to with Lena who he can't fully be with because, well, he just can't. That after the odd love triangle thing with Liv and someone obviously so uninteresting that I've forgotten his name, Liv and the someone whose name I have forgotten actually {Hmm! That would be to include a spoiler} ... Puh-lease!!!
In a nutshell ... What felt like more of the same old- same old and at 500+ pages of, teenage angst and endless talking with not a lot happening too long {typing this I can only imagine I was in a generous mood to rate it the ** that I did}.
As for the fourth and last book ...
OK so it was all a bit {alright then, a lot} cheesy but what I considered a great conclusion to the series, I'm glad that the Caster Chronicles ended with Beautiful Redemption, not least because after the weak third instalment {Beautiful Chaos} I don't think I'd have been as keen to invest too much more time finishing the series if there had been any more than one book left.
That I enjoyed it; that we actually got to see a deeper side to Lena, to see how she perceived all these happenings, that the 'baddies' Saraphine, Abraham and Angelus turned up again, that there was the introduction of a new character {Xavier} who was deliciously complex {its just a shame he didn't feature in any of the previous books}, that there was the death of a much loved character which saw me crying buckets {definitely a sign of a good book}, that all of the characters got what they deserved, that, come the ending, everything was satisfyingly tied up, well, as my nana would have said, I'll go to the foot of our stairs.
6 comments:
Not something I'm in the market for these day, but I'll give it this: All four books have great covers!
Felicity,
After reading your review for
both of these books. I am not
certain if I would appreciate
them. But thank you for your
honest and excellent review.
Raven
I think I did try the first one but I never read more
I struggle with YA and the drama and cheesiness is part of it, but a love triangle would be too much for me. I'm glad the fourth book redeemed the series after the poor outing of book three for you.
I've never read the series, but it's always been on my radar. I did do the unthinkable...and watch the movie prior to reading...and I rather enjoyed it, so it simply went to cementing it onto my "to read" list for sometime upon a time.
Now you see I didn't like the film. Can't remember if I saw it before or after reading the book ... before I think but I can't be sure, all I do know is I thought the book better.
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