Beautiful Chaos (Beautiful Creatures, #3)

by Kami Garcia

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 from the Great Barrier, 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's not Lena -- and the mysterious figure is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself -- forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and he's afraid to ask.

Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.
SPECIAL BONUS: Includes "Dream Dark," a thrilling short story set before Beautiful Chaos. When Link joined his best friend, Ethan Wate, on a quest through a mysterious network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, he knew the journey would be dangerous. But he had no idea it would change his life forever.

• ISBN10: 031612351X
• ISBN13: 9780316123518
• Publish Date: 12 June 2012 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown & Company
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 528
• Language: English

Reviews

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

3.5
I'm still enjoying this series, although the ending (among other things) made the whole book seem a little bit like a bridge novel to get to number four. Book number three in a series tends to be my favorite for some reason (Eclipse, A Storm of Swords), usually because it is action-filled, but this one really wasn't. Although you do get a lot backstory, which I appreciate.

With that said, the audiobook experience (narration, sound effects, music) was absolutely amazing! This is a series that I believe is actually enhanced through audiobook. Awesome narrator and the music really sets the "mood" for the story. If choosing between the physical book or the audiobook, I definitely recommend the latter for this entire series. ~The Audiobookworm

[tellemonstar]

Cross-posted at Book Reviews With the Blogmonstar

Ethan and Lena broke the world when Ethan went looking for Lena and she Claimed herself. Now the Order of Things is broken and must be fixed. Someone will pay the ultimate price to fix these mistakes.

I have really enjoyed this series. The writing is beautiful and the storyline is very intriguing. Beautiful Chaos is no exception. I enjoyed it better than Beautiful Darkness, because there was a whole lot less running around, and we found out quite a few things about some of the characters which in some cases were very surprising.Some things were less surprising, but helped other parts of both the first two novels, and Beautiful Chaos make more sense.

When Lena split the moon in half on her claiming day, no-one really had any idea of the consequences. But that choice broke the order of things, and everyone is having consequences. Lena’s powers, often unpredictable, are haywire, as are the powers of every other Caster in her family. The Greats won’t talk to Amma, who has gone past dark and into crazy territory, and Ethan is having problems remembering. Even the most innate things, like what hand he writes with, are slipping from him. The Wheel of Fate demands it’s price, and Ethan is going to be the one who suffers the most. Gatlin really has become chaotic, too. Heat wave so long that that’s it’s the middle of winter and there’s no end in sight. Lubbers (similar to locusts, apparently) have literally eaten every crop, plant and shrub. Everything is pointing to a Biblical-style apocalypse. Everything about the effects of the Claiming was very well written, and you could almost see the Lubbers and feel the heat.

Beautiful Chaos has plenty of Abraham Ravenwood, and Sarafine and Hunting in it. We learn much more about Sarafine’s past – indeed how she became Dark and fought the darkness inside her for as long as she could. We also learnt much more about Abraham’s role in this whole scheme – about how he influenced and manipulated Sarafine, to how John Breed’s life with him was like. Basically, Abraham is a pretty big bad ass. It appears, too, that he is virtually unstoppable.

Ethan has to make a very difficult decision at the end of Beautiful Chaos. After learning the reason as to why he has been forgetting and feeling fuzzy, and figuring out that very big part he has to play in fixing the universe, we get one of the best cliffhangers since the Fever series.

[Kim Deister]

My review: This has been my favorite thus far in the series. There are so many twists and turns and I was always trying to guess what was going to happen next. It was action-packed and the secret quotient was definitely raised. The weaving themes of love and sacrifice, both romantic and not, was beautiful and it makes the reader look just a little differently at them.

The characters were as strong as they have ever been, as real as possible when created within the pages of a book. I was swept right along with them through their highs and their lows. I actually did my fair share of crying, ugly crying, at points!

Things to love about Beautiful Creatures...

--The mood. This is most definitely NOT a "feel good" book! But I liked that because it was raw and heart wrenching and real. The feelings that it evoked were intense and engrossing.
--The ending. Not that I wanted the book to end, but the cliffhanger was good!

Things I wanted more of...

--The supporting characters. So much of this centered on Ethan, which was great, but I have grown to enjoy a lot of the less central characters.

My recommendation: Love, love, LOVE so definitely pick this up!

[mrs_mander_reads]

I really think this whole series is a work of genius. I've enjoyed them from start to finish, and the third book was no exception. It's a huge cliffhanger, and I'm racking my brain trying to figure out when I can get to the bookstore to buy the last book. I think that if you like supernatural fiction at all, or young adult fiction at all, these are definitely worth reading.

[tweetybugshouse]

what an ending what is going to happen next?

[angelarenea9]

This book was miserable to get through. Not completely the books fault, I kept losing my place, but it was not helped by the fact that it was yet another poorly executed story. Most of the book was cliché, and even the parts that were interesting were sloppy and hard to understand unless you looked at it in a very simplistic view. At this point my need to follow through with series and see them to the end is what is keeping me in this series.

[Stephanie]

The middle dragged a little for me, but other than that I really enjoyed it. How can it end like that?!

[Linda]

5+ stars!
I have goosebumps, I have tears, I have a small smile, and immense pride. Yes, pride, for a character in a book - how is that for excellent writing?
Ethan was both broken and whole, weak and strong, lost and in charge. He was ready to do whatever it took to save Lena, and all the other people he loved.
This book was very dark, but it really needed to be, in order to make this story be told. And even dark as it was, it truly was beautiful. And filled with utter chaos.
Lena was back to being Lena - most of the time. Link was getting used to being a Linkubus, and Amma went off the deep, dark end - for all the wrong (or right) reasons.
This is a series I will definitely keep on my 'To Read Again' shelf!