SPOILERS FOR BEAUTIFUL CHAOS 
 Ethan Waite is dead after sacrificing himself to restore the order of things. Oddly, though the stakes are set out in this novel to be the highest they've ever been, I never truly felt them. In fact, the stakes in the series have never felt as high to me as they were in the first book. The conflicts of the supernatural world are all well and good, but Beautiful Creatures established the town as a unit almost as frightening. And I fell in love with that conflict, and what that explored. After we moved the story basically firmly within the Caster world, things didn't seem to have the same weight. 
 Part of this may be because the supernatural worlds never felt as flushed out as the mortal one. The way the two coexist, the way the Caster world operates within the mortal world, is fascinating and full. And although I was initially excited for Ethan's journey through the afterlife, when he started to wander it lost specificity. There is already a disadvantage in the supernatural world in that it is something new, which means it needs to be a very specific world. The tone of the world is rich, rooted in Southern gothic style. But the actual rules and conflicts of the world don't seem beholden to anything. For instance, the series seemed to have building up to a major confrontation with Abraham that is addressed midway through Beautiful Redemption. Even a return appearance of Seraphina felt lackluster. So when that was resolved early in favor of another conflict that was somewhat established in the last book, my investment was just not as high. Overall, many of the events felt anticlimactic. 
 If nothing else, this series has a strong ensemble. Most of the novel I found myself thinking I'd rather have a spinoff between Liv and John Breed as we only really get to see their brand of happy on the periphery. I want to know their story. I've been through Ethan and Lena's particular brand of angst before. While I appreciate the series for always cementing the commitment between the two (although thinking about it in light of their age that can also feel somewhat stifling--hence the book two shennanigans with Live and John Breed), I feel like I've been on this journey before.