Enduring Chaos

Sisters of Chaos #1

by Catherine Fitzsimmons

Cursed with fearsome eyes and a dangerous gift, any chance of Damian Sires having an ordinary life was dashed the moment she was born. All her life, she has hidden her abnormalities and fought for acceptance behind the shadow of a veil and her respected merchant father.

When Damian's power spirals out of control and casts her out alone into the world, she finds herself caught up in plots as old as the gods themselves. Bitter exiles, deposed nobility, clandestine knights, and a divine being with an ancient grudge all close in on the unstable power radiating from Damian.

Desperate to keep that power contained, she sets out with mysterious allies in an attempt to find someone who can help her in a world that fears magic. Yet the source of Damian's ability is far more deadly than she imagined.

Genres: Fantasy

400 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 2013

About the author

I was born in New Hampshire and now live outside Toronto by way of Germany, Belgium, Seattle, and Austin. After working for a number of evil empires, I decided to forgo things like a salary and regular human interaction to start publishing company Brain Lag, which has now published over fifty titles by twenty different authors from across North America and Great Britain. I try to find time for reading, writing, art, gaming, baking, playing guitar and piano, photography, and more at home with my husband, daughter, and two crazy tabbies.

I don’t use Goodreads much, it’s merely a convenient method of keeping track of the books I read. Feel free to go to the About section on my website if you want to contact me.

I don’t usually write detailed reviews because I don’t have to. But I’m happy to get into more detail if you’re interested or would like to discuss anything. I also tend not to mark when I’m reading a book because I don’t want to mark books as DNF.

My rating guide:

⭐️: I don’t use this rating, as any book I might rate 1 star I DNF
⭐️⭐️: I read this to the end, but I wasn’t impressed/I didn’t enjoy it
⭐️⭐️⭐️: It had promise and I enjoyed reading it, even if it was flawed, OR it was pure fluff and I enjoyed it as such
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: I thoroughly enjoyed this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: World-shattering

Reviews

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The dealings of the gods are not as simple as the Seers would have us believe... The gods bicker and we suffer.

This was a compelling fantasy set in a Medieval Europe-esque world, populated by dragon knights, mysterious mercenaries, magic-fearing townsfolk and gods who are not who they seem. Coincidentally, I started watching 'The Witcher' around when I started reading this and I felt surrounded by a strong medieval fantasy atmosphere, immersing me even more into this book's world of Faneria. I could definitely see the character Domino as a dark-haired Geralt (the Witcher).

Fitzsimmons is great at constructing each setting as we moved throughout the myriad scenes, with enough detail to make it vivid in the reader's eyes but without overburdening us with superfluous information. These scenes come together to gradually create a layered world, and the medieval setting certainly felt very convincing! The characters also built up gradually, and I liked how tangible Damian's (our main protagonist) character arc was. She grows from being naive, frightened and a touch over-reactive to someone with a much stronger sense of self, maybe still a little scared but a whole lot wiser.

Speaking of characters, there were many different POV chapters that took a while to get used to. It was much easier to give up trying to remember all the names at the start, and to just relax, follow the plot and soon I was clear on exactly who was who. Typical of high fantasy, there were multiple seemingly unrelated plot threads that gradually wove together, with growing foreboding and several unexpected twists.

The themes of morality, the dangers of prejudice and the corruptive nature of too much power were all nicely handled. I also found the cosmology quite fascinating, especially the goddess Nephrita. The villain is a complex, slow-cooker antagonist which served only to despise them all the more. How far can the ends justify the means?

There was just a splash of romance, minor but I'm definitely invested, and I enjoyed the blessed absence of a love triangle!

After that jaw-dropper of a revelation in the epilogue, I'm really looking forward to the sequel 'The Unseen Force'! There are plenty of secrets yet to be revealed and at least one important event that I sense has only been delayed...

Thank you to Brain Lag Publishing for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Lesley Donaldson · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my goals this year is to read and review more Canadian authors. We have a wealth of talent North of the 49th parallel. Having the power of a god is not all its cracked up to be, as Catherine Fitzsimmons shows readers in her fantasy novel Enduring Chaos.

Read my entire review and share your thoughts!

Anyone who loves "coming of age story" adventures will identify with the beats in Damian's journey through medieval-esque Elderra. In the absence of emotional distress, Damian is timid about the world at large. But, she's a good negotiator and people who don't know about her magic genuinely like her.

Losing everything changes that. Although she's so lost about killing her father that she clings to the males who show up in her life, Damian grows increasingly bold. Her choices lead her through a series of events, each one raising the stakes, as she discovers the truth about the magic within herself.

Enduring Chaos touches upon themes of trust and power, and why neither is predictable.

The protagonist is among a sprinkling of female characters. In particular, there weren't any stand out physical combatants (guards, soldiers, etc) who played an active role in moving the story along.

That's a little disappointing, given the narrative's restrictions on the actions of the most powerful female characters (a male mage controls a female god, for example). I hope that the next book in the series will have a little more gender diversity among the physical sword-carrying roles.

Overall, Enduring Chaos provides a solid foundation for what looks to be a complex trilogy. I would recommend this book to fans of sword and sorcery fantasy and those who like coming-of-age adventures.

[Alison Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enduring Chaos, Book #1 of The Sisters of Chaos, is an absorbing addition to the fantasy genre. Damian the protagonist is a fully-fleshed out character that readers can latch onto and enjoy routing for as she struggles to find her place in the world of Elderra. There is a fair bit of world-building in EC that grants depth and intrigue to the setting and essentially lays out the foundation for the series to follow. And there's certainly ample fodder for a great fantasy series to be found here. Damian's magical powers may mark her as an outsider but one that manages to draw some interesting characters to her side and her quest to find help to deal with the mysterious powers growing within her. Catherine Fitzsimmons has done an exceptional job developing the main character while avoiding the typical damsel in distress trope and showing a decent person at odds with their society through no fault of their own. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to start a new fantasy series. I look forward to reading the sequel, The Unseen Force, that was recently released.

[J.A. McLachlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and different fantasy novel with sympathetic characters and a fast-moving plot. Kept me guessing till the end.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating and full of magical mystery. I NEED the next book now !

[Mrs. Kenyon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Damian Sires has hidden her entire life. A veil hides her strange eyes and her special gifts are never to be shown. When she loses control of her power and the ship carrying her father and their cargo goes down, she is left alone with a mercenary, the only other survival of that day. She is in a world that fears magic and she doesn’t understand why she is the way she is. She makes some unexpected allies and they set out to discover the source of Damian’s power.

Enduring Chaos is the first book in a new fantasy series. Sisters of Chaos promises to create a story worth following, but this first book leaves a lot to be desired. Fitzsimmons’ world building is great and the characters create a bond with the reader, but I feel this entire book is only setting up for a long series. Unfortunately, I kept thinking of other fantasy series that this story reminded me of. I look forward to the next book in this series, but wish I had waited until the second book was available.

[Chi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book. It has multiple view points. Some view points were boring compared to the main character's point of view.
Damian,the main character, is on a barge in the beginning of the book, accompanying her father to sell cloth at a festival. The barge catches fire and she is saved by a man she knows next to nothing about. The adventure really begins after the barge and the readers become acquainted with all of the different views in the book. I encourage anyone to read the book!
Got an ARC from netgalley.