Review: Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Series: Caster Chronicles #4
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 23rd 2012
Source: Bought

Is death the end... or only the beginning?

Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.

Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes -- even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.

Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

Omg. I actually have no words to describe how I'm feeling after reading this book. I'm so upset that this series is over now, but what an amazing ending to a series. Well done Kami and Margaret.Ethan and Lena are one of my most favourite couples ever and them being torn apart was heartbreaking. 

The story is told from two different perspectives. The very first couple of pages are from Lena's perspective and it linked back to the previous book and basically told you that Ethan is dead. There was no escaping it there and I slightly teared up at the start hearing it from Lena. Then throughout the book there are three different parts: Book 1 is Ethan, Book 2 is Lena and then Book 3 is Ethan again.

I love the change to Lena because we've never actually got to experience anything from her perspective before and I enjoyed learning more about Lena and we also got to learn what was happening with all the other characters in the book which we wouldn't have got if the whole story had been from Ethan's perspective. 

Ethan and Lena's relationship is one of the strongest I've ever read about. I think it helps that their relationship isn't portrayed as fully physical, but more emotional and mental. I enjoyed reading about the depth of their relationship and how much they understand each other. They're one of the strongest YA couples I've ever read about.

The whole story line of the last book was exciting and heartbreaking (because it's the last book) and I just couldn't put it down until I knew everything would be alright in the end. Ethan and Lena are apart for nearly the whole book as Ethan's in the otherworld and Lena's alive in Gatlin.

I enjoyed seeing Ethan's journey through the otherworld and seeing him reunited with his Aunt Prue and his Mother brought a tear to my eye (especially with his mother). Throughout the novel, Ethan is trying his hardest to get back to Lena but his Mother is trying to get him to stay with her - which you can completely understand because she hasn't seen her boy in so long - but I was hoping that there would be a way for Ethan to get back to Lena because he shouldn't have had to die in the first place. I really liked Ethan's inventive way of communicating with Lena from the otherworld and I love how she never gave up on him when other people were telling her that there was no way Ethan could come back. For me, that just emphasized how strong their relationship is. 

There was plenty of action in this book (in the otherworld and in Gatlin). In the otherworld, Ethan was making his way to the Far Keep to erase his death page which would bring him back to life an on his way he encountered Sarafine. I wasn't sure whether to feel sorry for Sarafine or still hate her, but it was hard to hate someone who had been tortured and who sacrificed herself so that Ethan could go and kill Angelus and get his life back. 

Meanwhile, in Gatlin. There was a fight between The Casters and Abraham and his army which resulted in the death of Abraham and Hunting and I was cheering after this scene. They caused so much pain and trouble throughout the series and it was brilliant to see the end of them. 

The end of the story when Ethan returned was heartbreaking. Ethan returns to see Amma sacrificing herself so that the world is in balance. I just couldn't take it anymore and I ended up in tears. Poor Ethan. All the effort he went to to get back to his family and then he has to watch the closest person he has to a mother sacrificing herself so that the world is in balance is too much for him. But then Lena showed up and I cried even more at their reunion. It was beautiful to just see them together again after being apart for so long. I really liked this quote  from Ethan when they were reunited:

"I'm not even sure we remembered to kiss. What we had went deeper than a kiss."

And that, for me, just proves how solid their relationship is.

I also loved that we finally got to find out what Amma had found Link doing in their basement when he was nine and I just laughed. I actually thought it would be something more juicy, but Link coming from a confederate family and trying on a union soldiers uniform was really funny. And then Amma with the crossword at the end started me crying again. I get so emotional when I'm reading books. I loved the epilogue as well with Ethan and his chocolate milk and I knew everything was going to be fine.

This was such an amazing end to such an amazing series and I'm so grateful to Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl for writing characters and a story line that I fell in love with the minute I picked up the first book. Thank you so much for such an amazing journey and I'm so sad that it's had to come to an end, but I will always treasure these books and I know I'll definitely read them over and over again. This series is one of my favourite series ever and I highly recommend that you read it.