Thursday, March 20, 2014

Audiobook Review: Beautiful Chaos by Garcia, Stohl, Pruneda


Beautiful Chaos (Caster Chronicles #3)
Authors: Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Paz Pruneda

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 516 pages
Publication Date: October 18, 2011

Narrator: Kevin T. Collins
Listening Length: 16 hours and 15 minutes
Audiobook Publisher: Hachette Audio


Goodreads:
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:
I've continued my listening commitment to the Caster Chronicles series.  I still absolutely love the narrator Kevin Collins.  I enjoyed the complexity of this story compared to book two, Beautiful Darkness.  This book focuses on "fixing" the order after Sarafine and Abraham's failed attempt to turn Lena into a dark caster.  All of my favorite characters are back plus we get to know a few more.  Some bright spots in a rather dark story would be: Link's evolution into a Linkubus, two of the aunts moving in with Ethan, and the friendship between Liv and John Breed.  Some of the more disturbing parts were Ridley's struggle returning home, the character Abraham, Aunt Prue, Marion's trial, and the decisions Amma makes.  Some of my favorite parts are when Ethan and Lena travel back in time to learn about their families and the references to Southern culture and small towns.  The ending of book three definitely has me wanting to immediately start the final book, Beautiful Redemption

I have to admit it's been hard to maintain my focus sometimes given the length of these books and there is listening time.  For those of you who also enjoy audiobooks, how important is the narrator in keeping your interest even when a story starts to drag? 


Posted by: Sheri

2 comments:

  1. I have never actually listened to an audiobook! I don't know why but I just haven't ever been tempted before. I love reading the book myself and don't know if I would enjoy the series so much if I was listening to it. I like reading your reviews and seeing how the story went because I gave up after the first book. I felt like the first book was too long and that it really dragged in parts.

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  2. Sometimes its hard to stay focused for long audiobooks even with a good narrator, but narration does make a difference. One of my favorite audiobooks is The Diviners even though it's like 20 hours or something but the narration is just PERFECT.

    I do plan on listening to the rest of this series I just don't know when...

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