Book Review: The Chaos by Rachel Ward

The Chaos (Numbers #2)

Rachel Ward

Review of Numbers (Numbers #1)

Publication Date: June 7th 2010

Publisher: Chicken House

Pages: 345

Genre: Paranormal, Horror, Young Adult

Adam sees “numbers” – when he looks in peoples’ eyes he can see their death-dates, just like his mum Jem used to. Adam has trouble dealing with his awful gift, and when he realises that everyone around him has the same series of numbers, he becomes deeply afraid of what might happen in 2025.

Desperate to find out what could be about to go wrong, Adam spends hours researching possibilities – war, nuclear accidents, killer viruses. He knows something big is coming, but what? And is there anything he can possibly do about it?

The Chaos returns with Jem's son, Adam, who as we discovered at the end of the last book can see the numbers as well. This time around, however, the stakes are much, much higher. When flooding causes Adam and Nan to move back to London all Adam can see anywhere is the numbers 01012027, and they are all violent deaths, so he knows there is something off. But when you have an ability no one would believe, how do you try and help save them all? And the ultimate question is whether or not one can change the numbers.

On top of Adam we have the character of Sarah who has had the same nightmare over and over again starring Adam of that New Years Day. Both of them know something is going to happen and want to change it.

Of course, who is going to listen to two troubled kids in a futuristic London where people are ID chipped? That feeling of helplessness and trying despite all of it is a major theme of this book, taking what happens in Numbers to the extreme.

What's also really interesting is how there seems to be the beginning of a dystopic government and I like seeing that. Usually with dystopic elements we just see them when they're already fleshed out and in place, so seeing a setting where there are only a few elements but you can tell they are heading that way is super interesting.

Once again Ward has written truly unique and interesting characters. With so many paranormal books having characters who are white, middle class, and have no problems with life other than vampires, werewolves or something to that extent, it is really nice to see that "hey, other people can have issues too". It also gives a lot more layers to the writing.

I did not see Nan exchanging numbers with Mia at all. With there being a young child on the cover of Infinity, I did start to wonder if Mia really was going to die or not, but I didn't see her gaining Nan's numbers coming at all and it shook me. I don't know why and of course that is probably going to be a major point of the third book. Was it Nan who did it, or Mia, or something else?

I also really wonder how the heck the government is going to take back the blatant lie about New Years that now everyone knows, somehow I doubt that Prime Minister will be in charge for much longer. I also hated how they kept trying to purge the internet of the information, it's just wrong and I had a lot of respect for everything Adam tried.

The Numbers is just a taste of everything at stake in The Chaos. There are similar themes of troubled kids and how no one listens to them, and how everyone is ready to jump at terrorism. There is an added theme in this book of a government turning Big Brother on us. I recommend this to people who love thriller books and want to read some unique characters

4.5 Bookmarks