Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Publication: 2011

# of Pages: 516

Source: Audiobook 

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 andimpossible 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.

**Please keep in mind that this is the 3rd book in a series so this review may contain spoilers. 

As the third installment of the Caster Chronicles, Beautiful Chaos provides an interesting perspective into the world of Gaitlin, SC. Following the events of Beautiful Darkness, the entire balance of the world has been thrown off because Lena has chosen both light and dark aspects. Being the first caster to do so creates an infinite amount of issues and problems. And as in every other book, Ethan receives a prophecy from a strange song/individual. 

To be honest, I struggled with this book. At best the plot almost seemed formulaic. The reader is sttill struggling with the same problems: Lena becoming a light/dark caster and Ethan getting strange prophecies in the form of as song. Once again, Ethan and Lena become dependent upon one another and the teenage angst of their relationship returns. What bothered me the most was the fact that my favorite character Liv was randomly put together with another character in a romantic situation. Just in the last book she was interested in another character. In my opinion she was better alone. To me she was a strong, intelligent, and independent character and placing her in a relationship took those attributes away in a sense because the relationship felt rushed. I didn't like seeing her as a dependent character. In some aspects I wanted a little more in terms of character development. 

What I did really enjoy in this book was the relationships between the adults and the teenagers. There was a level of trust and concern on everyone's end that made the book emotionally strong. I truly enjoy books that illustrate positive relationships between teenagers and their adult counterparts. And in these relationships the reader does encounter some heart-breaking moments, but I was able to see how they fit into the context of the novel. 

In terms of plot development, as stated earlier, I think it was a little on the recycled side; however, I did enjoy the inclusion of Ethan's memory loss. I think it did add a certain flare to the story. If this aspect of the plot was explored a little more I probably would have given the book a higher rating. I think the end of the book was supposed to provide a sort of twist, but I wasn't shocked and an ending that was supposed to be so powerful lost it's spark for me. In all, I really preferred the second book more than this installment as it seemed really jumbled and redundant. I would recommend continuing with the series after this just to see how the whole series wraps up.