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Sarah Rees Brennan is back with book two of the Time of Iron series, All Hail Chaos, with more world-building, more plot twists, and, of course, more Evil™️
Some girls say “I can fix him.” Rae, it seems… can make him worse?
Content warnings: cancer
After a disastrous attempt at manipulating the first book in her favorite series to suit her preferred ending, Rae how finds herself in the sequel. The rules have changed, the stakes are higher, and her beloved gutter guard Key is in full Evil Emperor Mode. Helplessly drawn to her favorite character, yet trying her best to help him avoid the prophecy of doom only she knows is coming, Rae must once again play the villain and hope that she can outsmart a plot that seems bent on following its original outline.
Sequels are hard. When I love the first book in a series so much, I always find myself diving into the next with an equal mix of hunger and trepidation. While the tone and the plot are entirely different than the first book, I found myself laughing at the inside jokes and gasping along with each surprise twist. Even more fun were the tangled excerpts at the beginning of each chapter featuring snippets from both the original story and the “revised” (read: Rae stirred the plot again) editions.
This series is a love-letter to fantasy readers and fandoms, openly acknowledging tropes and incorporating allusions and quotes from well-known fiction. Prime example? The curtains.
And the ending? I knew it was coming, saw the percentage creeping steadily upward on my kindle screen, and I still ended up involuntarily slamming my palm to my kitchen table and yelling “YOU’RE KIDDING ME,” loudly enough that my roommate came to check on me. I am simply foaming at the mouth for the final installment.
A final note: as a fellow cancer survivor (though nowhere near what Brennan has gone through) I have to add how moved I was at both the sections in the book where Rae has to grapple with her experiences and trauma, and at Brennan’s personal notes within the acknowledgement section. Life is so hideously unfair at times, and having another cancer scare after beating stage four cancer of a different variety is, to put it delicately, fucked up. I was in tears of rage that it happened and relief that she was okay. Ms. Brennan, I hope you can feel the warmth that lives in my heart for you. I hope Rae continues to be what some would call a raging bitch and what I saw as the Divine Wrath of the Valerius line at how she was treated when she needed help the most.
Get a copy from Bookshop.org here!
Get an audiobook from Libro.fm here!
Get a Kindle copy here!
