Review: Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Redemption (Caster Chronicles #4) by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Publisher: Little Brown
Publication date: October 23rd, 2012
Number of pages: 451
Format: Paperback
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Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?

Ethan Wate always dreamed of leaving the stifling Southern town of Gatlin. But he 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 Ethan 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 or risking their loved ones' lives. Can Ethan and Lena rewrite their fate and their spellbinding love story in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series?

And here we have it. The conclusion of a four-part saga, of love, mystery, secrets and redemption.

The end of Beautiful Chaos, we were left with a shocking decision and act made by Ethan that I couldn't see what would happen next, nor where we would be left in regards to Ethan and his relationship with Lena, and everyone else he loves.

In this spellbinding finale to an amazing and addicting series comes all the answers we could want and need. Changes are made. Events transpire and we have come to expect shocking reveals.
Ethan finds himself in a place he never thought he would be. Lena and his family can't seem to accept he is gone and will do anything to bring him back, if possible. While he did made the ultimate sacrifice, it's not what  Ethan thought it would be. He is too is willing to go the great lengths to get back to the ones we loves.

This story comes to a climating end for our beloved characters. I applaud Kami and Margaret for bringing us this unique story. For these amazing characters and the gorgeous town of Gatlin where nothing is as it seems.

The love between Ethan and Lena has no bounds, and there wasn't anything these two would not do for one another. The moment they met... that was it. While they have had their ups and down, and obstacles they have had to face, but in the end... love really was the key, and they are better for one another than they are apart.
Linc and Ridley, now their on and off relationship has been one of my favourite things about this series since the very beginning, and in this book we finally get the payoff we have been waiting for the longest time now. This is probably one of the most complicated relationships in this series, but just seeing where they ended up just made everything worthwhile..

There sure was some heartbreaking scenes, new revelations about events and characters we know and love, but what series doesn't come with risks?
I'm sad this is the end, but I look forward to see this series on the big screen. I hope it does well, so we can continue to see this series played out on screen.

Kudos to the authors. They are a great combination and I look forward to their future works, together and separate. A force to be reckoned with. One that rivals Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie.

Verdict:  4.5 /  5

Review: Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Chaos (Caster Chronicles #3) by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Publisher: Little Brown
Publication date: October 18th, 2011
Number of pages: 518
Format: Paperback
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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.

In the third installment to Kami and Margaret's Caster Chronicles, we find it has been two months since the events of the previous book. Everyone is trying to deal with the reprecussions of the fallout of Lena claiming herself. It's not all good.
The town has gone crazy, and Link's Mom is talking like it's the end of days.
She just may be right.

Ridley is trying to come to terms with her now-mortal status, and it ain't good. You would think this is the first time she has been ordinary and without any magical powers, but I suppose when you experience that sort of power to go without it would be as if you are missing something crucial and you just aren't the same without it.

Suddenly Ethan starts to get another moon song speaking of Eighteen Moons.. and he and Lena start to wonder who it refers to, since Lena's birthday is far off so it can't possibly be talking about her.
It's a race against time as they try to discover the answer to the riddle those songs are usually associated with.

If I am honest, this book didn't get that good until the 2nd half. I felt things were dragging on, and I wondered where things were heading.
Ridley annoyed me to a point, and I felt so bad for Link.. who clearly really likes her, more than she likes him.
But by the end of the novel I really liked it, and the cliffhanger.. wow.. I can't even imagine what the next book is going to be like.

There was some interesting developments, and some new and some returnee characters have come back into the fold.
One of the reasons I was drawn to this series was that it was narrated by a male protagonist.. You just don't find that very often nowaways. And while it did take awhile to get used to.. I think I couldn't imagine this series any other way.

I was glad we got to see Ethan's dad and see how he was dealing now that he has come back to the land of the living. I wondered if he was going to stay locked into his study forever.
You discover more about Link and how he plays a bigger role in this book than he had before. With him now quarter of an Incubus, and a good part of this book deals with his kind.
We also get to see more of Lena's mother, Sarafine and more of her past with Lena's father. It was good to get an insight of what happened all those years ago when Sarafine, whose name was Izabel before becoming dark and how she became who she have come to see her today.

And then there is the book's evil. Abraham. He is who is behind pretty much everything as he was in the previous book. He really was one bastard, even dead. I wish so much on him, and none of it is good.

Verdict:  5/5

Review: Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Darkness (Caster Chronicles #2) by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Publisher: Little Brown
Publication date: October 12th, 2010
Number of pages: 503
Format: Paperback
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Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, 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. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.

Sometimes life-ending.

Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

This book picks up the story a few months after Beautiful Creatures left, as the characters deal with the consequences of the events from the previous book.
Lena is depressed as she deals with her personal loss, as her boyfriend, Ethan tries to help and be there for her. Ridley has found herself vulnerable, and more so now than ever before, and she isn't handling it very well.
Not to mention having to attend High School? Go figure.
The relationship between Ridley and Linc reaches new lengths and is one of my favourite parts of this novel. In book 1, they were this fun thing where she liked to mess with him and him with her. But in Beautiful Darkness, you start to see that Ridley doesn't like competition when it comes to this guy and might feel she isn't good enough for him if she is just ordinary without any special talents. If she has to compete with human girls? Ridiculous.
Lincoln has found himself with new abilities after being attacked by an Icubus and he has to learn everything about who he is now all over again.

We have new characters, such as new guy, John Breed.. and Liv, an assistant at the library come into play and their roles within the caster role become evident as the story moves on.

The relationship between our core characters, Ethan and Lena go through some struggles as they both battle with things that are going on around them.

This was a great sequel to Beautiful Creatures, even though I did feel things were dragging on a bit, but the end was definitely interesting and made me itch for the next book. I feel this was the calm before the upcoming storm. Something big and epic is upon the horizon, I can feel it.

Verdict: 4/5

Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1) by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Publication date: December 1st, 2009
Publisher: Little Brown
Number of pages: 563
Format: Paperback
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There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

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.

In the first of a four-book saga comes a new world of the supernatural that will trace you, entice you and make you flip through page after page.
This is a romantic supernatural love story of not only about two young lovers destined not only just for each other, but also to change the world.

We meet our protagonist, Ethan Wate, is a sixteen year-old teenager living in a small town of Gatlin where everybody knows one another; parents, students and the like. It's not often that the people get treated to a newcomer, and when it does happen..it's as if Christmas morning has arrived.
It's quite rare when you discover a book series where you have a male protagonist. It may have become more so these days, but it was a nice surprise to discover a different change of pace. It supplies you with a different vibe to a book vs from a female protagonist.

Ethan's life changes quickly with the arrival of Lena Duchannes, the neice of the town's shut-in, who not only takes Ethan by surprise but he also discovers she happens to be the very girl he has been dreaming about for months.

Gatlin soon becomes a place where nobody will never forget. It's a place where the caster world becomes its full focus and Ethan, Lena nor anyone will be able see it as just Gatlin, a boring and ordinary town.
There are secrets that lie beneath and through the town, away from the human eye, and if you start to dig and find yourself in their world... well, you'll discover a whole new world you may not be ready for.

The relationship between Ethan and Lena was done beautifully, and so natural. It's certainly your ordinary love story, what these two have goes back longer than either one of them understand, not initially that is.
Two young teenagers that, even though their kinds aren't meant to co-exist and be together, there is something that is pulling them to a point where nothing else is an option. Love is a choice in which they have no control over.

We have some other fascinating characters including Ethan's best friend, Linc and Lena's wayward cousin, Ridley, and I have a feeling these two might have something, but good luck in trying to get them to admit it.

This is a crazy, action-filled adventure as we go through the past and discover that not everything as it seems, and there is more to it than anyone thinks.

Verdict: 5/5