Review: Chaos
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 3, 2013
I gave Chaos 3.5 Stars.*I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.*As an avid fan of mythology books, I obviously had to read this one when I got the chance. The synopsis spoke of a descendant of Aphrodite, with a very bad temper. I got that, all mixed with some real-life issues such as grief, and some YA high school drama.As a protagonist, Maggie was pretty average, with the exception of her bad temper. She wasn't really likable until I got a good way through the novel. I felt horrible for her for having to go through everything that was happening with her grandmother, but I felt like she got herself into half the trouble she was in. She knowingly acted selfishly, and wasn't all that great towards her mother. I definitely understood her frustrations, but when a character deliberately acts wrong and for no reason, it takes me a bit to warm back up to them.My feelings for Mac were much the same. I thought he was very cocky, and he also did things that I thought were mean. It didn't make what he did right, but at least he had a reason for doing some of the things he did. By the end of the story, I definitely started to like him though. He was a lot more than he first appeared, and I was very glad for that.The side characters really helped flesh out this story for me. I felt really bad for Maggie's mom, since her life was definitely not easy. The situation with Maggie's grandma was just very sad, but I do think that there's more hidden there. Libby and Bink were an amazing support team for Maggie, but I'm wondering how much that will change in book two given some of the things that happened in this story. Finally, there was Rafe. I never liked him, and thought Maggie was odd for mixing with him just to get Mac jealous. The revelations concerning him were really interesting, and again, I think that there will be more things discovered about who exactly Rafe is.The world-building was interesting. Set in New Hampshire, the story was a mix between YA teenage drama, discovery of Maggie's powers, and a story about a girl trying to cope with real life. I really liked how the author managed to mix all of these elements into one book, and I felt like it was well-done. However, the pace wasn't as good as it could have been, and consequently, I didn't really become too interested until near the end when it became unputdownable.Overall, I liked this book. It was an interesting mix of YA issues, fantasy elements, and even a serious, real-life issue. It took me a while to become truly invested in all the storylines, but everything got a lot more exciting and action-packed near the end. I would recommend this book to any reader of YA, who doesn't mind some high school drama throughout your fantasy. ~ Brianna