Beautiful Redemption

Beautiful Redemption is the fourth book of The Caster Chronicles series written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

Synopsis
''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.

Plot
The book is divided into three “books,” with the first and third books written in Ethan’s point of view and the second written in Lena’s.

Ethan Wate finds himself in the Otherworld’s version of Wate's Landing, where he sees his mom, Lila Evers. Although Ethan was happy to see his mother again, he longed to see Lena Duchannes again. To make his presence known, he created crossword puzzles at Gatlin's local publication, The Stars & Stripes, to get his messages across.

Ethan was ultimately told by his Aunt Prue that his death wasn’t supposed to happen, and, upon consulting Obidias Trueblood (the Dark Caster, Hunting Ravenwood and his pack killed, as witnessed by Link), learns that the only way he could go back to the Mortal world was to remove his page from The Caster Chronicles, which was with the Keepers at the Gates of the Far Keep. To get there, he must get two "river eyes" – two perfectly smooth black stones – to get across the Great River and to the Gates, where he must give the Gatekeeper "something he can’t refuse." Ethan acquires the first “river eye” from Sulla Treadeau the prophet, one of the Greats. The second one was given to Lena by her great-aunt Twyla. Making another crossword puzzle in The Stars & Stripes, Ethan acquires the second "river eye". Uncle Abner gave his crow, Exu, to Ethan, explaining that crows are the only animals capable of crossing one world to the other.

Lila, although saddened that her son chose to embark on a difficult journey, lets Ethan go. Ethan, with the help of the map given to him by Aunt Prue, navigates the Otherworld and through the river, where he meets the River Master. They played blackjack before the River Master allowed Ethan to cross the river. The river eye, upon being thrown by Ethan, revealed corpses in the river.

Upon reaching the shore, Ethan climbed treacherous mountains and reached the Gatekeeper named Xavier, who said that he would only show Ethan the Gates unless he gives something to Xavier. Xavier was revealed to be an old Keeper condemned to be a monster and the Gatekeeper after questioning Angelus' "experiments" – injecting Caster tissue and blood upon himself to be more than Mortal – which led to the death of Xavier’s loved one. Upon seeing the Book of Stars, the Light equivalent of the Book of Moons, Ethan realized that the safest place for the Book of Moons was with Xavier. Making another crossword puzzle, he asked Lena to give him the Book of Moons.

Lena, meanwhile, was convinced that Ethan was doing everything he can to get back to the world, much to the dismay of the others. Upon receiving Ethan’s message asking for the Book of Moons, Lena created a plan to get to Abraham Ravenwood, the person last known to have the Book. After failing to acquire it from his home, The Dark Side O’ The Moon in New Orleans, and rescuing Ridley along the way, Lena thought that their best chance of having the Book was trading it with John Breed, the person Abraham sought. Trusting Ridley and her power of persuasion, Abraham, along with Hunting, met with Lena, John and Link at His Garden of Perpetual Peace. Abraham almost killed Lena and John had it not been for Macon Ravenwood's intervention. Macon, with his developed Light Caster powers, kills Hunting through sunlight. While Macon directed the sunlight to Abraham’s direction, Link stabs him with his garden shears.

However, the Book cannot cross the Mortal world to wherever Ethan was without help. They asked Amma, with the help of the Greats and the rest of the Casters in Ravenwood, to bring the Book to Ethan. In the middle of their ritual, Genevieve Duchannes’ Sheer appears, offering her help in bringing the Book to Ethan. Although reluctant at first, Lena gave the Book to Genevieve, who, in turn, gave it to the Greats. Ethan, while waiting for the Book of Moons, helped Xavier catalogue his many possessions while slowly losing his memories of Lena. Upon the arrival of the Book, Ethan suddenly remembered everything about her. With the Book in his possession, he offers it to Xavier, who shows him the Gates of the Far Keep.

Upon entering, Ethan met a Keeper who said that to enter the Far Keep, he must pass through the Warrior’s Way (he must pass through a labyrinth). In the labyrinth, he saw Lena’s mother, Sarafine, now a blind Dark Caster, surrounded by bones. Expressing her deep hatred for Angelus, she burned herself to death so that Ethan can get to the Far Keep.

Inside, he was welcomed a hero. Ethan expressed his wish of removing his page from The Caster Chronicles, in which Angelus fervently refused. Angelus revealed that he re-wrote several fates of Casters to fulfill his plan of annihilating the Mortals, and that Ethan’s death was not supposed to happen. The apocalypse, which started after Lena’s Seventeenth Moon, should have continued until the world is free of Mortals had it not been for the Lilum, who told Ethan what must be done to restore the Order.

Xavier appeared as Ethan’s friend and proposed a challenge: the one who reaches the Chronicles first shall do whatever he wishes. Ethan entered the Chamber of the Chronicles and found himself facing the Chronicles. However, he was separated from it by a pool of water. Angelus appeared and taunted Ethan with the body of Ethan Carter Wate, who also tried to remove his page from the Chronicles but failed. Ethan reminded Angelus of him being Mortal, to which Angelus fervently denied. As proof, Angelus threw himself to the pool full of corpses. Thinking Angelus dead, Ethan finds the bridge and crosses the pool, but was stopped by Angelus, who performed a Cast underwater. Ethan realizes that he had one more “river eye” and throws it at the pool. The corpses went back underwater, and Ethan reached the island where the Chronicles lay. The book lay open in Angelus’ page; Ethan removed it from the Chronicles and burned it, causing Angelus’ death. He finds his own page (written by Obidias as punishment for trying to remove his own page, along with turning one of his hands into snakes) and removes it.

He finds himself back at the water tower where he jumped and saw Amma going upwards, joining the Greats: Amma had traded her life for his. In Gatlin, the news of Amma Treadeau’s death was met with utter disbelief. Lena and Ethan spent their time again together and learned that they could touch and kiss each other just as any two human beings could do. Link and Ridley renewed their on-off relationship, while John and Liv’s relationship went stronger. Amma, through another crossword puzzle, sent a message to Ethan, wanting him to "be good".

The book ends with Ethan offering glasses of chocolate milk to Aunt Prue, Twyla, Amma and his mother and, drinking his own glass, remarked that “life has never tasted sweeter.”

Book One: Ethan

 * Ch. 1: Home
 * Ch. 2: Fried Green Tomatoes
 * Ch. 3: This Side or the Next
 * Ch. 4: Catfish Crossin’
 * Ch. 5: Another Lunae Libri
 * Ch. 6: Silver Button
 * Ch. 7: Crosswords
 * Ch. 8: Broken Bottles
 * Ch. 9: The Stars and Stripes
 * Ch. 10: Snake Eyes
 * Ch. 11: Darker Things
 * Ch. 12: Still Here
 * Ch. 13: Where The Crow Carries You
 * Ch. 14: Messed-Up Things
 * Ch. 15: The River Master
 * Ch. 16: A Rock and a Crow
 * Ch. 17: The Book of Stars
 * Ch. 18: Shadows

Book Two: Lena

 * Ch. 19: Mortal Problems
 * Ch. 20: A Deal with the Devil
 * Ch. 21: Dark Side of the Moon
 * Ch. 22: Bird in a Gilded Cage
 * Ch. 23: Dar-Ee Keen
 * Ch. 24: The Hand that Rocks the Cradle
 * Ch. 25: Death’s Door
 * Ch. 26: Quantum Physics
 * Ch. 27: The Cracks in Everything
 * Ch. 28: Caster Catfight
 * Ch. 29: The Hands of the Dead

Book Three: Ethan

 * Ch. 30: Lost Time
 * Ch. 31: Keepers of Secrets
 * Ch. 32: Throne of Bones
 * Ch. 33: The Wayward’s Way
 * Ch. 34: The Caster Chronicles
 * Ch. 35: A Crack in the Universe
 * Ch. 36: Translation
 * Ch. 37: What the Words Never Say
 * Ch. 38: Eleven Across
 * Ch. 39: A Hymn for Amma
 * Epilogue: After

Characters

 * Ethan Wate
 * Lena Duchannes
 * Amarie Treadeau
 * Sarafine Duchannes
 * Link
 * Ridley Duchannes
 * John Breed
 * Emmaline Duchannes
 * Macon Ravenwood
 * Genevieve Duchannes
 * Twyla Valentin


 * Aunt Ivy
 * Aunt Delilah
 * Uncle Abner
 * Abraham Ravenwood
 * Hunting Ravenwood
 * Obidias Trueblood
 * Angelus
 * Xavier
 * Prudence Statham
 * Lila Evers