Five stars: This series continues to excel.
Things are not quite right in Gatlin, nor are they right in the Mortal and Caster Worlds. The events that transpired at Lena's forced Seventeenth Moon Claiming created far reaching consequences. A crack splintered through the Order of Things; a slit formed in our world that is slowly spreading, sprawling and decimating life as we know it. Gatlin is plagued by relentless, scorching heat, grasshoppers, a dried up lake and the Baptists led by the intimidating Mrs. Link, waving their signs proclaiming the end of world and reminding all of us sinners to repent. Our friends are haunted by their own torments. For Ethan, it seems that the debt from Lena's Sixteenth Moon Claiming is due. Every night he is trapped in sweaty, terrible, haunting nightmares, filled with visions of falling and death. He feels blurry, out of focus and he is catching glimpses out of the corner of his eye; is something shadowing him? The worst part is that he is forgetting things, losing more of himself each day, it is as if something is gnawing at his mind. Amma knows that Fate is expecting payment and she is tortured by the steep price. She is distracted and frazzled. Her crosswords set aside, pie making abandoned and The Greats aren't answering. Lena, has claimed herself, she is sharp, bright and ready to fight but her Caster powers are misfiring as are all the Caster's powers. Link is dealing with his transformation into Linkubus and moaning over the unattainable Ridley. As each day passes and the apocalypse nears, Ethan once again finds himself in a battle. This time it is different, he is struggling against the Wheel of Fate. The march of the present to the future and into destiny. The Wheel is grinding, chewing through time and pulverizing everyone in her path. No one can escape, she crushes all. Can Ethan avoid the Wheel's path?
What I Liked:
*I am a big fan of this series and book three did not disappoint. In fact this is the best book yet. I "ripped" into the pages and scarfed them down, it was so good. The plot of this book moves away from Lena and onto Ethan. The big boot has fallen and our characters are trapped under the stomp. Chaos and destruction reign. This story is thick. There are so many sub plots trailing the main story of Ethan trying to restore The Order and himself. This book will have your mind whirling, it is deep! Be prepared for anything. It builds and builds to a heart wrenching ending that will have you running to check when the next book is available. You NEED to meet my friends in Gatlin but please start with book one, Beautiful Creatures.
*The characters this time around have grown and matured, Lena especially. At last she has ascended beyond the emotive, brooding, dramatic girl to staunch and determined. I really enjoyed her transformation. Ethan is amazing, for all you Ethan lovers out there, your boy is as always, courageous and endearing. His willingness to sacrifice will shred your heart. Linkubus, provides the laughs and he excels in his new super hero role, he so isn't "lame like Aquaman." Everyone has returned more developed and better. There is one heart breaking loss along the way. Be prepared to shed some tears. I wonder where my friends will go from here?
*This entire series is peppered with many memorable quotes from so many famous people from Dickinson, Poe, Plato, Da Vinci and even Winston Churchill. Any literary connoisseur will love not only the quotes but the references to some great literature. I have decided that Ms. Stohl and Ms. Garcia need to (only after the finale of the Caster's Chronicles as I do not want my wait time extended) publish a Gatlin cookbook and lace it with famous quotable lines.
And The Not So Much:
*I am still conflicted over the John Breed character. As I suspected in Beautiful Darkness, he is an important character. This time some light was shed on why he seemed so flat and "puppet like" in the last book. His character fills out in this installment and I even grew to like him, as does Ethan after he gets over wanting to punch him in the face but I feel that I am still missing something. Hopefully, it will all become clear in book four.
*This is a personal preference but I wanted more Linkubus. I was hoping that with the transformation that Link would be even more prominent than he was in the last book. It starts out with a strong dose of Linkubus but toward the end his presence fades. He does remain a solid, steadfast friend and he rips in at timely moments to save the day. I think to satiate the Linkubus hunger there must be a spinoff series featuring the lovable Link. Plus, I still don't know what he was doing in Amma's basement when he was nine. A burning question that needs an answer.
*As I mentioned previously, this is a complicated story line with many threads that all intertwine. However, I was disappointed that there were so many lines and none of them draw to resolution. Especially with the climatic, tear jerking, and tender buildup ( I am not even kidding about this) and then the heart splitting, jaw dropping ending that will have you screaming...."NOoooo...." Ladies, how can you be so cruel to slap us in the face with that finale and leave us suffering with a painfully, long, length of time to wait!
Book three in The Caster's Chronicles is bigger and better than the first two. In Gatlin, where things never change, it has changed and mostly not for the better. Our friends in Gatlin, transformed from their previous traumatic adventures are trying to evade the deadly, revolving Wheel of Fate, as she crunches through time and devours all. Can our heroes somehow defy her trampling spokes and change the future? Can they bring about a New Order and stop the Chaos? I expect book four to be an epic finale.
Final Quotations:
"That when she looked at me, it was like there was no one else in the world. That when I looked at her, I noticed every detail about her while everything else faded away. That I was only myself when we were together."
"“Books?” Ridley looked disgusted. “Carry?”
"We sat in silence, holding hands until it hurt, until the sun fell away—behind the words, behind the glass and the trees and the river. The night slid across her bed, and I waited for the darkness to erase everything."
"Everyone’s crazier than usual. My mom started talkin’ about buildin’ a bunker again. She’s buyin’ up every can at the Stop & Steal, like we’re gonna hole up in the basement until the Devil gives up or somethin’.”
“Book banners are no better than book burners.”
“Maybe it needed to be broken. Sometimes things have to break before you can fix them.”
" You know vegetablism is one step closer ta a world without panties an’ preachers. That there is a documentated fact.”
"We change whether we want to or not.”
"Same goes for the people you love and the people you don’t—and the people who love you and the people who don’t.
The only thing that mattered was that you cared about a few people.
Life is really, really short."
“Maybe my mom’s right and this is the End a Days. Maybe she’s gonna get a chance to use her wheat grinder and her gas masks and that inflatable raft after all.”
“I’ll love you until the day after forever."