Review: very intense and deep fantasy read
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 17, 2013
Chaos Born. Chronicles from the Applecross 1. Rebekah Turner .Review from Jeannie Zelos Book Reviews.I'm finding this a really difficult review to write. I love fantasy books, especially those that are intense and have depth, not just the light and fluffy that's the norm. I loved Lora too as the heroine, she's struggling, has a hard life, and yet has her own code of integrity.So what am I having a problem with? Well, there's almost too much depth here, the book is so stuffed full of different types of people, Humans, Full Bloods and Mixed Breeds, run within a world that’s dystopian and so very different. Add to that the problem that The Weald, the place where this book is set, is a little world of its own set within another world, with its own specific rules....Then there's the fact of so many different types of hierarchies, each having their own rules about what's acceptable, and who takes precedence....you can see where I was really confused in the beginning. In fact even though I’ve finished I’m still unclear about so much. Hopefully book two will help clarify issues.Lora is having problems after her last job went wrong, not her fault but mud sticks. She  owes money to the wrong type of person, one who'll take his dues in blood if necessary, so she needs to make some cash quickly. But there's been weird goings on in The Weald, and she's been asked by a childhood friend to look into it – not for the cash she needs but for friendship. She hopes sorting this mess and finding the killer  will restore some of her credibility. Then she gets more enmeshed, bullied into doing things she doesn't want, beaten up time and again, put in the path of danger from people her in her world and from supernatural sources. She's so much she needs to know but doesn't, everyone is holding secrets that concern her, and not knowing can lead her into real dangers.Its a very intense read, with so much to take in. Just when I thought I was getting a fix on the characters something would happen that confused me once again. Seth, a Balck Watchman – one sort of the law keepers- seemed very arrogant, he's a part time lover of Lora's and clearly he was very sexy, but what does Orella, the woman who helped bring up Lora, have against him? Then there's Roman, Nephilm, who’s seriously hot...yet at first meeting he and Lora do not get on at all well. I can see the beginnings of a love triangle there forming – maybe :) And what's behind Lora's charm pendant that Orella gave her as a child, and is so insistent that she always wears it. What about the fact Lora can use magic when she shouldn’t be able to, and has to keep that concealed?Its a novel packed so full of secrets, conspiracies, dangers, and combined with the myriad of types of character and the different levels of law keepers, I almost gave up trying to work out what was going on. For me its a potentially great read, but so confusing, with little background information to let me work out how everyone fits together and what their role is. It almost feels like I’ve jumped into a well established existing series, so though I think its got five star potential for me, this book is a three star read. I did enjoy it, but could have got so much more out of it if I’d understood more instead of feeling like I was floundering in a sea of oddities.Its a bargain price though for a solid 301 pages  – currently free!  So you've nothing to lose by getting this, and it may be that the confusion I felt is purely personal and it works better for others. Its partly steampunk in feel, and TBH that’s something I struggle with and usually avoid, but its not heavy on the tech side so not a huge problem.NB: ARC received via Netgalley.