The Chaos King

Wall and the Wing #2

by Laura Ruby

When a madman sets his sights on her, Georgia, the only person in the world who can become invisible at will and the Richest Girl in the Universe, must confront a pack of laid back vampires, a living lion of stone, a candy-loving sloth, and the Second Richest Girl in the Universe to survive.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Fiction, Adventure, Magic

325 pages, Hardcover

First published March 5, 2007

About the author

Raised in the wilds of suburban New Jersey, Laura Ruby now lives in Chicago with her family. Her short fiction for adults has appeared in various literary magazines, including Other Voices, The Florida Review, Sycamore Review and Nimrod. A collection of these stories, I'M NOT JULIA ROBERTS, was published by Warner Books in January 2007. Called "hilarious and heart-wrenching" by People and "a knowing look at the costs and rewards of remaking a family," by the Hartford-Courant, the book was also featured in Redbook, Working Mother , and USA Today among others.

Ruby is also the author of the Edgar-nominated children's mystery LILY'S GHOSTS (8/03), the children's fantasy THE WALL AND THE WING (3/06) and a sequel, THE CHAOS KING (5/07) all from Harpercollins. She writes for older teens as well, and her debut young adult novel, GOOD GIRLS (9/06), also from Harpercollins, was a Book Sense Pick for fall 2006 and an ALA Quick Pick for 2007. A new young adult novel, PLAY ME, is slated for publication in fall of 2008. Her books have sold in England, Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, Serbia and Montenegro. THE WALL AND THE WING is currently in development with Laika Studios for release as an animated feature.

Ms. Ruby has been a featured speaker at BookExpo, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) annual convention, the Miami Book Festival, the Florida Association of Media Educators (FAME) convention, the Midwest Literary Festival, the International Reading Association's annual convention, and Illinois Reading Council annual conference, among other venues, and she has presented programs and workshops for both adults and children at numerous schools and libraries.

Currently, she is working on several thousand projects, drinking way too much coffee, and searching for new tunes for her iPod.

Reviews

[Nic · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was definitely some good stuff here, but I liked The Wall and the Wing better.

The humor is fun, in an over-the-top way, and occasionally surprised me with a more subtle touch, like the brief mention of thousand-year-old Phinneas deciding to become a history teacher.

Mainly, I was glad that Georgie's lying to her parents was addressed, because it bothered me. When she lied about small, silly things, like whether she'd had a chaperon at Bug's apartment (um, you're only thirteen, and the two of you lived together in hotel rooms not that long ago), then I was annoyed, but then she also lied about big dangerous things. When Mandelbrot got into her bedroom, she not only claimed she'd just had a nightmare, she then did nothing to stop him from getting in again! I know Georgie has had a rough life and not been able to depend on people much, but her parents don't seem so fragile to me that she should keep trying to "protect" them by not telling them the truth. After awhile, it becomes a pretty opaque ploy for the author to avoid getting the parents involved.

Still, Mandelbrot is sometimes genuinely creepy, and this is a neat world with lots of fun touches. Even if the author DOES NOT KNOW HOW PIG LATIN WORKS. (Seriously? You make Pig Latin a key point in your story, then translate a whole passage into it wrong?)

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start my review by saying how suprised I was with The Wall and the Wing - The Invisible Girl, the first book, I had not expected it to be half as good as I found it to be. Actually I read it on a dare, a guy in my class picking it randomly off the shelf and handing it to me telling me that it looked like a book I would enjoy. The truth was it was a book I did enjoy and the day the librarian handed me this book and told me it was the next book I was beyond happiness.

This book proved to be a little less exciting than The Invisible Girl which captured my attention with it's quirky but cute storyline, and inventive plot. Although it is still the same main characters, they have aged and changed and in some aspects it seemed as though they had become other people entirely, Gurl AKA Georgie is living in wealthily with her long-lost parents and Bug who after finding fame is too busy making advertisments to spend any time with Georgie, too busy to realise how little she likes her new school. We see a very different side of the characters in this book, personally I liked Bug less in this book he just seemed to be so far away in his own little world that he lost everything I liked about him in the first place.

This book still manages to suprise, and is far from predictable as was The Invisible Girl, but in my opinion just lacked the same appeal and quirkiness that the first book did. I still recommend it if you have read the first book, it certainly provides a very different take on Gurl and Bug's world, but I just didn't find it as entertaining or captivating as the first.

4 Stars.

[Cmoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite books, a YA that I read in 2007 ... So imagine my I surprise when I stumbled across the book in audio! an Audible Escape (I might add), narrated by one of my favorites, Renee Raudman!
So what does the daughter of the richest couple in the world have to do with a giant Octopus, vampires, a cat named Noodle, a boy called Bug, pig-latin and Mr Fuss?  Well that's for Laura Ruby and Renee Raudman to know, and you to find out! And don't worry about this being book 2, as it absolutely can stand-alone! Get this for the sheer fun of it, and if you have kids, all the better you can share!

[Shar Patigas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sequel to the book The Wall and the Wing. Even though it’s the second book, I was still able to follow the story. I haven’t read the first book and I can’t find it anywhere. But the story in this book contained just enough explanations to help me keep up with the story.

The Chaos King is a nice light read. I started reading it last night and finished it tonight. It was a really easy read. The story is pretty light and quite detailed, nothing heavy or difficult. It was quite relaxing reading this book after The Books of Beginning. And I really like the whole teenage drama thing going on between Bug and Georgie, even though it was a bit cliche.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed The Wall and The Wing, the first book in this series, so I was anxious to see if the sequel measured up. While it wasn't quite as good (we already know that Bug can fly and Georgie can disappear) it has enough suspense and original characters in it to keep it interesting. The author makes some great digs at society's obsession with fame and wealth as well as cleverly mocking today's naming cliches by having characters like Roma Radisson, Bethany Tiffany, and Sean Paul Todd (or is it Todd Paul Sean.) A wonderfully original fantasy.

[LinBee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't as good as The Wall and the Wing, which was the first book. Though, I love Gurl a.k.a Georgie and Bug a.k.a Sylvestor, the 2 main characters. The dynamic between the duo is lacking in the beginning of the book, but at least it is wrapped up by the end. I also love Georgie's Polish cook, Agnes. She is so good at noticing what Georgie wants and when.

[Evelyn Erb Bognar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this aloud to my 10 year old daughter.
She LOVED the previous book in the series when we read it a year ago and we read read it before reading this book, the 2nd in the series. She really liked this book (not quite as much as the first but still really enjoyed it) and is disappointed that there is not a third book. We both like the two main characters and the adventures the go on. We recommend this book to lovers of fantasy books for middle grades.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this sequel to The Wall and the Wing, Georgie has a bit of trouble adjusting to the change from being an unwanted orphan to the richest girl in the universe. She has her rare ability to turn invisible, but the boy she cares about has let his fame as a Wing – someone who can fly – go to his head. Though Bug doesn't really enjoy all the perks of being the airborne equivalent of a star athlete, he goes along with everything his agent says because he has to. But he doesn't understand why things aren't working out with Georgie. Meanwhile, she has to face the other girls at an elite school where, it should be no surprise, a girl who went from unwanted orphan to richest girl in the universe isn't kindly looked on. The loneliness of these two kids, and the bad feelings that come between them, are enough to stir the reader's sympathy, even before they get embroiled in a mystery involving a social clique of bored vampires, giant extinct creatures coming inexplicably to life, stone lions that stalk the basement of the public library, secret passages, double agents, an avant-garde art show that goes completely mad, and a seemingly all-powerful villain who has evil designs upon reality as we know it. Or rather, as Georgie and Bug know it, in their somewhat magical alternate world.

Georgie finds a girl who she thinks understands what she's going through, but she ends up disappointed. A homeless man with an army of cats finds himself on the run from a deadly enemy. Plots and counterplots, violent attacks and hostage situations, monstrous rampages and heroic saves, and embarrassing moments captured by news cameras (or worse, missed by them) change the fortunes of the two hero kids, test their ability to rely on each other, and begin to reveal deeper feelings in a story that seems to beg for another installment – though, more than a decade later, none has materialized.

Laura Ruby has also written the two "York" books (The Shadow Cipher and The Clockwork Ghost), plus several other books including Lily's Ghosts, I'm Not Julia Roberts, The Boy Who Could Fly, Bone Gap and, due to be released later this year, Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All.

[dylan king · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great I actually rate this 4.5.It was a gripping and exiting read I highly recommend it.

[Zoey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vary good, I like when the first book talks a little about vampires thain the second is the vampires are the bad guy. I also like the how the vampires realy don't like blood thay like seeds 🙃🙃🤣🤣

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very entertaining YA book. I liked the heroine. She is the Richest Girl in the Universe, but feels uncomfortable with her wealth and status. I liked a world where almost anyone can fly. I liked the twists in the fast-moving plot, more cute and exciting than clever. It did make me laugh out loud at points. I didn't realize this was a sequel until after I began reading, but I didn't need the back story to enjoy this book.

[Paige Spindler-richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book to lead me to believe that finding a well-written and fun book to read doesn't require having you scour the library. I actually found The Chaos King (one of my favorite Fiction books) by randomly grabbing it off the shelf. The story is so weird and endearing that I can't help but go back to it again and again. Laura Ruby is a very creative author who knows how to write a clever novel!

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fun kid-lit book with lots of strange nonsense plot threads that all weave together into something beautiful at the end.

I liked the first one (The Wall and the Wing) better-- it stood on its own as a fun story-- this one is more of the same characters, but what can you do?

I don't know what I can say about this book that would sound intelligent, but it's smart, funny, quick, and unexpected.

Read this book, read The Wall and the Wing, and read some stuff by Jon Berkeley.

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun light read about brave kids battling an odd conspiracy. It was a little confusing that the title and intro emphasized a chaos vs. order theme that wasn't reflected in the shifting factions (none of which seemed to be fighting for order) but the double-crossing was clever, and I didn't read the first book so maybe I missed something explicative.

[Maureen E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read The Wall and the Wing earlier this year and I was hoping this was a sequel. It was. Despite all appearances, Gurl and Bug’s troubles have not disappeared. What with the sudden loss of the Professor, snotty classmates, the trials of fame, and numerous misunderstandings, they have a lot to deal with. [Dec. 2009]

[Chantal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet story of Bug and Georgie, as they discover that there is a lot more in the world than most people realise, including animals that are no longer extinct, vampires, animals that can talk and books that can kill (and of course, the ability to fly and disappear).

Suited to ages 10+
Protagonists aged 13/14

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This we also all loved. And today, long after we finished reading it, I understand why. Look at the reader icons here.

Clearly, on the internet, no one knows you're a computer-using cat. Except Laura Ruby, who shall be properly acknowledged as a goddess henceforth.

You'd think I was drinking, wouldn't you?

[LemontreeLime · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never read this sequel to The Wall and the Wing, and recently found nice hardcover copies of both for my niece, as they were two of her favorite books from junior high days. This one is just as gonzo as the first, but makes sense in it's insanity. I sort of felt that the proto-super-villain Mr. Fuss was underused, perhaps there should have been a third novel to the set involving him?

[Meme · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious fantasy-- it contained the same tone used in The Wall and the Wing. I loved both stories. You can still hear the faint resonances of the "If a tree falls to the ground, and no one is around, does it make a sound" quote from the first book.

[Kori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to this on cd with the kids. We really enjoyed it - good sequel to the Wall and the Wing - I think both girls and boys would like it as well - Hughie liked the parts about the vampires - now he wants to be one for Halloween!

[Camille Stanford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very interesting, though there were a couple times where the strangeness (people flying is a common occurence) kind of threw me off of the storyline. Not badly, just a little bit. Overall, I enjoyed it, and I liked some of the irony because of the characters.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sequel to the incredible "The Wall and the Wing." I didn't love it quite as much as the first one, but I still think it's one of the most original fantasies out there for kids.

[Allanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sequel to The Wall and the Wing ... which I now must read.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, cute and quirky excellent read for young fantasy lovers!

[Violet]

Awesome 2nd to the series hope's for more

[Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an amazing book until the ending. The ending left more questions than it did answers, and the chapter after the last was seriously confusing. Other than that it was a wonderful read!

[Jacqui · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book until the end. Was a bit ordinary ending so kinda ruined the rest just a little bit. Still satisfying but not amazing is all.

[Zilverña · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, it's clearly for Kids.:D

[Sai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light, funny, and entertaining. This is a happy book for the young and young-at-heart. Very pleased was I to find myself enjoying the humor and simple unsimplicity of "The Boy Who Could Fly."

[Sierra · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good but i much prefer the first book.