Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Synopsis:

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.

Review by Patrick:

Well I couldn't have picked a more appropriate name for this book: Chaos. Unlike Beautiful Creatures, where we were introduced to this magical world, and Beautiful Darkness, where Ethan has to go save his girlfriend from herself, Beautiful Chaos was ... chaotic.

I love imaginary numbers

I mean the synopsis is right. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat. (Seriously, how would you like 100º (38º C) weather in December. [I'm in the Northern hemisphere. If you are in the Southern, think July.]) I mean, this book starts off with an apocalyptic setting, and by the end of the book, you think the world might just end.

This was a you're-not-going-to-put-this-book-down type of book. Everything that goes on just leads to something else, and you don't know where it's going or where it's going to end. The authors did a good job letting the main character, Ethan, be really confused throughout the whole book. You didn't know what was going on with him, because he didn't know.

I'm a big fan of reading series of books. I love a story that you can sit down and spend some weeks with, but I dislike cliffhangers. If you look at the last two pages of this book, you will find, the biggest cliffhanger ever. I guess the writers/publishers team thought, "You've already read three of our books, let's make sure you read the fourth." Come on guys. If we read the first three books, most likely we are going to read the fourth. Some resolution would have been nice. Now I have to wait and see if this book is in our local library before finding out anything.

So this book has lots of action, and suspense from beginning to ... well I guess the next book, confusion, and most importantly ... Chaos. I liked this book, and I'm definitely going to get the next one. I'm going to give this one a rating of 4.

Up Next:
Gideon the Cutpurse, Inkdeath, Catch 22.