Book Thoughts: Beautiful Redemption

Title: Beautiful Redemption
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Series: Caster Chronicles #4

***Spoiler warning for earlier books in the series!!!***

Oh my goodness gracious.

What a stunning conclusion to a truly fantastic series. The Caster Chronicles is easily among my favorite series, and the conclusion is no different. (And yes, I cried.)

Parts of the book this time are told from Lena's perspective, which was different, but in a good way. I liked getting Lena's perspective. I just love all of the characters SO much, and the relationships between them and the way they're all both good and bad. This is about to turn into a sappy character rant, so I'll stop. After one more comment: Lena and Ethan's relationship is one of the best I've read. I love it and them so, so very much.

There were places I struggled with the mythology. I had to raise my eyebrows at some of the portrayal of the "afterlife," or Otherworld, just because there were places where it was a bit typical - and then I met Charlie and everything turned upside down. "Find x, cross the river, bargain with y" felt a bit too hero's journey - and anything else would have been completely wrong.

I just read 80% of this book in one sitting. And I wish it could go on forever. I love this series so much. If you haven't read it, DO. I'll be digesting this one for a while.

Book Thoughts: Beautiful Chaos

Title: Beautiful Chaos

Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Series: Caster Chronicles #3

**Warning: Potential spoilers for books 1 and 2!**

I bawled like a baby through the last thirty pages or so of this book and I'm desperate for book four. It ripped my heart to pieces and kept me turning pages all afternoon. 518 pages of I-can't-put-this-down. I love this series so freaking much.

I had to wait longer than I liked to get access to this book after it was released, so when I finally started it, I was a little hazy on details of the earlier books. It didn't take me long to get back in the swing of it, though, and I could. not. put it down.

In the penultimate novel of this series, we see the effects of Lena's Claiming at the end of book two. Her Claiming was unnatural, and now there is a crack in the Order of Things. Gatlin is feeling the effects, and so is Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals. No one is unaffected, and the whole wonderful cast of characters must work to figure out how to restore the order and what it will take to make things normal again.

I love Ethan as a narrator and I love Lena and I just love all of the characters and ahh I cannot say enough good things of this series. I don't want to spoil anything, so I should probably stop talking now, but like I said before, I sobbed through the last couple of chapters (yes, actual tears) and then had to go seek out a hug afterwards. I NEED BOOK FOUR, STAT.

Book Thoughts: Beautiful Darkness

Title: Beautiful Darkness
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Series: Caster Chronicles

I loved Beautiful Creatures, the first book in the Caster Chronicles, so I've been dying to read this since way before it was released. Sometimes in cases like that, the sequel can't possibly live up to your expectations, but I think Beautiful Darkness did.

I will confess that I had a hard time getting into it at first - it started off a little slowly. But once it got going, it really got going. After getting through about fifty pages throughout the week in my few free minutes at school, I sat down this morning to read a bit more over breakfast. I decided that I would read while I ate, then go work on college essays and NaNoWriMo. Around 3 pm, with only a brief interruption to get lunch, I finished the novel and hadn't written a word. I simply could not put it down.

Ethan is still crazy in love with Lena, but Lena is struggling with a dark secret and even darker emotions that are pulling her away from Ethan. Suddenly, she's hanging out with her evil cousin Ridley and a mysterious new Incubus, leaving Ethan feeling pushed aside and desperate to save her before she turns Dark. Her Seventeenth Moon is coming up, and Lena will have to be Claimed soon. And Liv, Marian's new assistant at the library, is only convincing Lena that Ethan has moved on. But, of course, in Gatlin, SC, nothing is what it appears to be.

I loved so many things about this book. The characters - Link and Liv especially, and Ethan's great-great-aunts, and Ridley, and of course Ethan most of all - just came to life in my mind. I wish we had gotten to see more of Lena, although I'm confident that she'll be more important in book three. I would read pages and pages of just small talk between these characters, because I love them that much.

And the plot. Oh my goodness. I really want book three NOW, because I just have to know what happens next. Beautiful Darkness keeps working at solving the mysteries introduced in book one, answering a few questions and raising plenty more, and there's always something new happening. I feel like that description is really cheesy and doesn't do the book justice at all, but I'm not sure (1) how much I can say without accidentally spoiling something and (2) how else to say it. It just takes hold of you and refuses to let go until you've read every last word, and then leaves you hungry for more of it.

Long story short: I adored this book, every bit as much as the first one if not more, and I can't wait for book three! Absolutely read the Caster Chronicles.

Book Thoughts: Beautiful Creatures

Title: Beautiful Creatures
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Series: Caster Chronicles #1

The book I was reading today was absolutely FANTASTIC. Like, I'd put the book down, walk by a mirror, and be like "...wait a second. That's me. Oh, right, this is the real world. Becky, not Lena and Ethan." It's that well-written. You can completely forget about the real world and just get lost in the characters and their story.

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, tells the story of Ethan Wate and Lena Duchannes. The people of Gatlin, South Carolina are pretty much stereotypical Southerners. Their families have lived in Gatlin for years and years and years, and they still have Confederate flags and talk about the War of Northern Aggression or the War for Southern Independence, and nothing ever changes. Ethan Wate is the only one who seems to want to leave. So when Lena Duchannes moves to town and things start happening, Ethan can't help but be drawn to her.

A strange song called "Sixteen Moons" keeps popping up on Ethan's iPod. The weather goes crazy around Lena. And strangest of all, they have the same dreams - about each other. As their friendship grows and changes, they discover a mystery, a curse, and things that Ethan never could have dreamed he'd encounter in Gatlin. Danger, mystery, romance, magic, and a sense of something bigger coming... this novel has it all.

I know I rant and rave a lot about great books, but when I say a book is good, I mean it. And when I say a book is great, I mean it. And when I say a book is Seriously Fantastic and you Must Go Read It Right Now, I most definitely mean it. BEAUTIFUL CREATURES falls into that last category. The conflict, the mystery, and the danger are all wonderfully developed, and the story moves quickly (so don't let the length of the book scare you off). But the action does not at all take away from the characters. Ethan and Lena are two very complex, very real characters who really can make you forget about yourself for a few hours. I completely adored this book. Not an exaggeration. Read it, you guys, it is made of awesome. BEAUTIFUL CREATURES is a beautiful book.