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Chaos #1
Patterns of Chaos
An assassination is ordered-700 million years ago
Bron is a chaos catalyst. He wreaks havoc and destruction as surely as a hurricane wherever he goes. Commando Central has planted an electrode transmitter-receiver deep inside his brain and infiltrated him into the Destroyer Spacefleet to prevent it from gaining absolute mastery of the galaxy. But Bron's own brand of chaos is lethally unpredictable. And when whole planets are annihilated by monster hellburner bombs set on course seven hundred million years ago from distant Andromeda, aimed directly at Bron himself, both sides realise that something more colossal, more threatening and infinitely more powerful is taking a hand in Bron's weird destiny...
The Patterns of Chaos is SF in the grand style-a mighty tale of galactic intrigue and destruction.
Bron is a chaos catalyst. He wreaks havoc and destruction as surely as a hurricane wherever he goes. Commando Central has planted an electrode transmitter-receiver deep inside his brain and infiltrated him into the Destroyer Spacefleet to prevent it from gaining absolute mastery of the galaxy. But Bron's own brand of chaos is lethally unpredictable. And when whole planets are annihilated by monster hellburner bombs set on course seven hundred million years ago from distant Andromeda, aimed directly at Bron himself, both sides realise that something more colossal, more threatening and infinitely more powerful is taking a hand in Bron's weird destiny...
The Patterns of Chaos is SF in the grand style-a mighty tale of galactic intrigue and destruction.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
222 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1972
14 people are currently reading
138 people want to read
About the author
Colin Kapp
68 books7 followersColin Derek Ivor Kapp was a popular UK science fiction author, but one who never became a success in the USA. He was active, though not prolific, as an author in the 1960s through to the 1980s.
He is best known for his "Unorthodox Engineers" stories, which recount an eccentric group of engineers, who accomplish impossible feats of engineering against all odds.
Pen names: Colin Papp, Colin Capp.
He is best known for his "Unorthodox Engineers" stories, which recount an eccentric group of engineers, who accomplish impossible feats of engineering against all odds.
Pen names: Colin Papp, Colin Capp.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 8, 2013
I first read Colin Kapp's 'The Patterns of Chaos' way back in my late teens and had never expected to find it in print again... but happily like a number of other old science fiction books it has been resurrected, in this case as part of a Gollancz programme. I approached it with some trepidation in case it had survived the years less well than I, but in fact it still reads very well. The main technology drawback is that like so many other people of the time (early 1970s), Colin could not conceive that computers would have any means of input other than keyboards, nor output other than reams of paper. So the otherwise highly advanced devices used to calculate starship trajectories through both space and subspace, identify and trace causes of tiny ripples in entropy, track weapon sources and targets across enormous distances, and so on, are forever producing vast hand-outs from printer or plotter. No spoken input or visual output here!
Of course that is a secondary issue. At the heart of this book is a fascinating question. If as a rule entropy (the tendency of the universe to become disordered) increases, but we know that the efforts of intelligence can make it decrease - are there particular individuals who can make this happen more dramatically? Is it possible for some people to interpret or intuit the patterns of chaos more accurately, and so shape events more dramatically and purposefully? What would it be like to be around such a person?
Colin has made a valiant and credible attempt to tackle these questions, all wrapped up in a complex political and military plot on a very large scale. What seems at first to be a straightforward exercise to infiltrate a commando into an enemy base turns out to have much deeper and more sinister causes. We follow alongside the commando (Bron) throughout the book, but key information is withheld from us as readers by the device of him having lost his memory shortly before the action commences. It's a bit artificial, but it does mean that we learn the real significance of events at the same time that Bron does.
It's an exciting read, and one I was very happy to revisit, but I don't think I can give it five stars. The technology, and the very interesting philosophical issues raised by questions about entropy, considerably outweigh the human dimensions. There's is little character development (other than the steady recovery of memory), and the consistent style of sticking with Bron's perspective means that we get no real chance to see the world through the eyes of others. Nowadays I prefer more variety of viewpoint, and find this aspect of 'The Patterns of Chaos' a little disappointing. However, as an example of good science fiction writing by a British author, it is well worth the read. Four stars from me.
Of course that is a secondary issue. At the heart of this book is a fascinating question. If as a rule entropy (the tendency of the universe to become disordered) increases, but we know that the efforts of intelligence can make it decrease - are there particular individuals who can make this happen more dramatically? Is it possible for some people to interpret or intuit the patterns of chaos more accurately, and so shape events more dramatically and purposefully? What would it be like to be around such a person?
Colin has made a valiant and credible attempt to tackle these questions, all wrapped up in a complex political and military plot on a very large scale. What seems at first to be a straightforward exercise to infiltrate a commando into an enemy base turns out to have much deeper and more sinister causes. We follow alongside the commando (Bron) throughout the book, but key information is withheld from us as readers by the device of him having lost his memory shortly before the action commences. It's a bit artificial, but it does mean that we learn the real significance of events at the same time that Bron does.
It's an exciting read, and one I was very happy to revisit, but I don't think I can give it five stars. The technology, and the very interesting philosophical issues raised by questions about entropy, considerably outweigh the human dimensions. There's is little character development (other than the steady recovery of memory), and the consistent style of sticking with Bron's perspective means that we get no real chance to see the world through the eyes of others. Nowadays I prefer more variety of viewpoint, and find this aspect of 'The Patterns of Chaos' a little disappointing. However, as an example of good science fiction writing by a British author, it is well worth the read. Four stars from me.
January 11, 2018
This science fiction novel was a book club selection. It's nominally a space opera, but it covers a lot more ground than that label would suggest and actually has quite a high idea-to-page ratio, which is always something I admire in SF.
The story opens in media res with the main character, Bron, trying to move through a city that's under orbital bombardment. We soon learn that Bron is a secret agent. He's not alone, but mentally linked to a team of handlers located on a distant outpost who are connected to him at all times. Bron is, in effect, what he refers to later in the book as the meat component of a geshtalt entity.
Bron has a problem at the beginning of the book in that he lost his memory in a concussive blast a few moments before the book starts, and must now play serious catch-up. Bron's mission is to infiltrate the group known (rather lamely) as The Destroyers, a sort of free-wheeling mercenary group apparently bent on, you guessed it, destruction. But luckily this situation is not as simple as it seems. When the planet Bron just recently vacated is blown up, Bron discovers that the Hellburner missile that did the job was not actually launched by the Destroyers, but had been travelling at sub-light speeds from a distant galaxy for the last million years. In other words, it was launched an impossibly long time ago, far, far away. The plot really thickens when we learn that Bron himself was apparently the target.
What follows are space battles, interpersonal conflicts, crossing and double crossing, power coups, an intergalactic journey, a creepy (and very stealable!) sign of the existence of alternate universes, the discovery of a method of predicting the future by reading the patterns in chaos (futuristic extispicy?) and a bunch of liquid geese.
The Patterns of Chaos is not top-notch literature and most of the characters fall pretty flat, but it does have some nice descriptive writing (space battles compared to blossoming flowers) and is rich with ideas and concepts to try to wrap your head around, which is exactly what I want an SF novel to have. And all this is a pretty compact 187 pages. If you like Science Fiction for the far out stuff, this book is definitely worth checking out.
The story opens in media res with the main character, Bron, trying to move through a city that's under orbital bombardment. We soon learn that Bron is a secret agent. He's not alone, but mentally linked to a team of handlers located on a distant outpost who are connected to him at all times. Bron is, in effect, what he refers to later in the book as the meat component of a geshtalt entity.
Bron has a problem at the beginning of the book in that he lost his memory in a concussive blast a few moments before the book starts, and must now play serious catch-up. Bron's mission is to infiltrate the group known (rather lamely) as The Destroyers, a sort of free-wheeling mercenary group apparently bent on, you guessed it, destruction. But luckily this situation is not as simple as it seems. When the planet Bron just recently vacated is blown up, Bron discovers that the Hellburner missile that did the job was not actually launched by the Destroyers, but had been travelling at sub-light speeds from a distant galaxy for the last million years. In other words, it was launched an impossibly long time ago, far, far away. The plot really thickens when we learn that Bron himself was apparently the target.
What follows are space battles, interpersonal conflicts, crossing and double crossing, power coups, an intergalactic journey, a creepy (and very stealable!) sign of the existence of alternate universes, the discovery of a method of predicting the future by reading the patterns in chaos (futuristic extispicy?) and a bunch of liquid geese.
The Patterns of Chaos is not top-notch literature and most of the characters fall pretty flat, but it does have some nice descriptive writing (space battles compared to blossoming flowers) and is rich with ideas and concepts to try to wrap your head around, which is exactly what I want an SF novel to have. And all this is a pretty compact 187 pages. If you like Science Fiction for the far out stuff, this book is definitely worth checking out.
June 16, 2024
Knyga nebuvo labai bloga, bet istorija dėl kurios kaip tik ir ėmiau šią knygą skaityti mane netgi supykino nors nepasakyčiau, kad jį buvo itin šlykšti, tiesiog kėlė tokį vidinį pasišlykštėjimą. Tačiau pats pirmas apsakymas man pasirodė ganėtinai įdomus nors nesu mokslinės fantastikos gerbėja. Apskritai, nerekomenduočiau, bet tikrai atsirastų žmonių, kuriems ši knyga - meno kūrinys.
July 14, 2012
Another of the books that I greatly enjoyed as a teenager but haven't read for some years. Fortunately it turns out that this is one I still enjoy. A man wakes in the middle of a vicious attack upon a city by a starship, dragged from unconsciousness by a voice inside his head. He has no memory of who he is and what he's doing there, but the voice in his head is no hallucination. The first priority is to get him up and moving to where he's supposed to be -- because Bron is a deepcover agent with a telepathic link back to his base, and being amnesiac doesn't excuse him from the job he was sent to do. Within a few hours, the planet he's on will be destroyed by hellburners, deadly missiles that can tear a planet apart. And in those hours, the Destroyer fleet will raid, taking slaves and goods, and most particularly anyone with expertise in chaos theory -- the concept that the patterns of chaos can be read to predict the future. One of the first things Bron learns about himself is that he has a synthetic personality embedded to allow him to pass as one of those experts, making him a target for the raiders - and a Trojan horse.[return][return]Which would be an interesting story in its own right, and the initial phase of the book is a very good story of a deepcover agent rediscovering who he is a bit at a time, while in the middle of the most dangerous job he's ever done. But Kapp takes it to a new level, as Bron comes to understand that the hellburner was aimed at him. Specifically him, personally. And that it's been on its way for 700 million years...[return][return]This is a solid piece of 1970s space opera, with a plot on the grand scale combined with some fascinating details to flesh out the universe, and some well-realised characters. It's short by modern standards, but that's all to the good, as it's a tightly written story. An entertaining way to pass a few hours.
October 18, 2025
This book gives you a hell of a ride. It’s all pretty implausible, both overall and in detail, but you don’t stop and think about that at the time because you’re along for the ride; and it’s a good ride, well paced, full of excitement and striking images.
It kicks off with a bang in classic style: a normally capable man has been dropped defenceless into a mysterious situation of crisis and mortal peril, and an unlucky bump on the head has given him amnesia. Furthermore, people he can’t see are talking to him inside his head.
It goes on like that for at least 70% of the book: by luck or good judgment, he gets through crisis after crisis as we gradually learn with him more about what’s going on. Beyond the 70% mark, we’ve found out more or less what’s going on, so the ride is still of interest but somewhat less exciting. The ending completes the picture of what’s been going on; the details are implausible but at least they involve striking and memorable images.
This is probably Kapp’s best book, and one of my old favourites, which I’ve been rereading from time to time over the decades. I deduct a star for implausibility; because it seems rather old-style sf for a book published in 1972; and because the last 30% is not quite as good as the rest of the book. But I warmly encourage sf fans to read it anyway.
It kicks off with a bang in classic style: a normally capable man has been dropped defenceless into a mysterious situation of crisis and mortal peril, and an unlucky bump on the head has given him amnesia. Furthermore, people he can’t see are talking to him inside his head.
It goes on like that for at least 70% of the book: by luck or good judgment, he gets through crisis after crisis as we gradually learn with him more about what’s going on. Beyond the 70% mark, we’ve found out more or less what’s going on, so the ride is still of interest but somewhat less exciting. The ending completes the picture of what’s been going on; the details are implausible but at least they involve striking and memorable images.
This is probably Kapp’s best book, and one of my old favourites, which I’ve been rereading from time to time over the decades. I deduct a star for implausibility; because it seems rather old-style sf for a book published in 1972; and because the last 30% is not quite as good as the rest of the book. But I warmly encourage sf fans to read it anyway.
April 28, 2016
I didn't finish this book, nor come close, as I was really put off by Colin Papp's overt misogynistic writing style. One of the primary characters in the book is consistently referred to as "Honey-Bitch" and the back cover describes her as "a sadistic bitch-goddess," which I guess should have been a dead give away. I guess I didn't realize it was going to permeate the entire book so sordidly. It's rather nauseating. Why not call the male lead "ball sac?" That might even things out a little bit? And while this is an old book, published in 1972, it's still "new" enough to have been published well after women's lib got its start, so it should have been more sensitive to this fact, unless the author was, as I've suggested, simply a misogynistic asshole. Which I assume is the case. So I read two chapters and quit. It didn't seem like I would be missing much anyway. Not the most enticing sci fi I've read. If you want dated, sexist, bad sci fi, this is for you. Otherwise, trash it. One star.
August 7, 2022
Die Destruktoren plündern einen Planeten nach dem anderen und zerstören ihn anschliessend. Ein Einsatzkommando soll ihre Ursprungswelt herausfinden, damit man sie angreifen und vernichten kann. Dazu wird ein berühmter Wissenschaftler, der die Strukturen des Chaos erforscht, durch einen Agenten des Teams ersetzt. Man erwartet (zu Recht) dass die Desktruktoren als nächstes den Planeten Onaris erobern werden und sich den Wissenschaftler krallen werden.
Gelesen als Teil von https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
Zum Buch selbst: das Worldbuilding überzeugte mich nicht, die Action ist reißerisch. Man kriegt nichts vom Innenleben des Protagonisten Bron mit, obwohl man als Leser in seinem Kopf steckt. Die physikalischen Theorien über Entropie und Chaos sind hahnebüchender Unsinn. Ich musste abbrechen.
Gelesen als Teil von https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
Zum Buch selbst: das Worldbuilding überzeugte mich nicht, die Action ist reißerisch. Man kriegt nichts vom Innenleben des Protagonisten Bron mit, obwohl man als Leser in seinem Kopf steckt. Die physikalischen Theorien über Entropie und Chaos sind hahnebüchender Unsinn. Ich musste abbrechen.
December 2, 2014
1981 grade B+
2002 grade B
2002 grade B
May 17, 2016
Very good oldschool sci-fi with a very strong sense of philosophy and probability made into science.
December 18, 2016
Jak nie przepadam za SF, tak Formy Chaosu trafiły do mnie w pełni. Genialne !
October 29, 2025
Bron is a Commando working for Earth’s Central Intelligence. His current mission is impersonating the galaxy’s best Syncretist - a kind of polymath who can make links between disparate facts at an almost intuitive level. Unfortunately for Bron and his handlers, who can communicate with him through an implant in his brain, Bron has suffered a head injury in a Destroyer attack, leaving him partially amnesiac. The Destroyers have come to steal Bron’s syncretist persona of Ander Haltern from the planet Onaris. As he is spirited away a number of hellburner missiles obliterate the whole planet. Later examination reveals that the bombs were not sent by the Destroyers, but originated in a different galaxy and set out some 700 million years ago! Bron was targeted before humans existed. Gradually, with some memories recovered, Bron realizes that his handlers have not been honest with him and that GenStaff’s real offensive is the alien menace. And Bron is a weapon of galactic power, channelling a Syncretist and being the unknown instigator of the plan. Fighting a deterministic universe Bron eventually must try to find out just why aliens are so intent on killing him. Colin Kapp’s book starts off okay, meanders a bit, then wanders to a close. Old school superscience that’s pretty dated.
July 14, 2025
storia strutturata bene ma il finale non mi è sembrato in linea con la complessità della storia. troppo semplice, veloce e un po deludente
March 12, 2024
I read it the first time probably 40+ years ago. It impressed me more then than it did now.
The story tells of humans and an alien race who (independently) use chaos theory to identify how all the zillions of things that happen in the universe lead to events - and they learn to predict events of significance. There are intrigue, misunderstandings and twists within this framework. In a sense the scope of the book / concept is large. It's a short book.
It's not hard SF. While there is a resolution to the primary focus of the story, it does end suggesting things to be done later.
The story tells of humans and an alien race who (independently) use chaos theory to identify how all the zillions of things that happen in the universe lead to events - and they learn to predict events of significance. There are intrigue, misunderstandings and twists within this framework. In a sense the scope of the book / concept is large. It's a short book.
It's not hard SF. While there is a resolution to the primary focus of the story, it does end suggesting things to be done later.
November 28, 2016
A Hard Sci-fi book, Yet it was a good story, kapp was able to keep you interested despite the deep predictive chaos theory. The story is about aliens that are attacking our worlds through the science of chaos theory which is like predicting results. They know all the moves we will make... A man named Bron is a wild card, he makes the most illogical choices that throw a monkey wrench into their fool proof plans.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 31, 2018
Cheap thrill. Story had a nice progression. Not the most compelling lead character, but the side characters were alright. The ending felt kind of rushed, and it was more of a fantasy than sci-fi. Overall I'd rank it 2/5. Worth picking up if you don't have any heavy-hitting books waiting on your shelf.
August 9, 2011
An above average old fashioned space opera. In some ways, it appears to be a forerunner to the New Space Opera movement.
Read
May 20, 2015Science-Fiction
discarded
January 28, 2018Oh no no no.
The rape-y subplot in a classic invasion story? Why? Why was this a thing in sci-fi 40 years ago?
Do you think I'm exaggerating?
Let's go through the first 10 pages or so.
Some context, a character we've just been introduced to is one of a trio in some military techno project that helps the amnestic protagonist in some hitherto undefined way. She;s talked to some older dude who seems to be running things, it's noted that she is wearing:
which, well, thank goodness. Can't have her in military garb, how then would you know she's a woooman?
Anyway, they have a nice professional chat about their colleague (who's on some planet with laser wielding aliens) and she goes off to the control panel. And then we get this guy. I can't actually be bothered to write out this garbage. Here's a picture:
and, wait, there's more:
Life's too short. Next.
The rape-y subplot in a classic invasion story? Why? Why was this a thing in sci-fi 40 years ago?
Do you think I'm exaggerating?
Let's go through the first 10 pages or so.
Some context, a character we've just been introduced to is one of a trio in some military techno project that helps the amnestic protagonist in some hitherto undefined way. She;s talked to some older dude who seems to be running things, it's noted that she is wearing:
... a simple jet-black sheath which detracts nothing from her femininity...
which, well, thank goodness. Can't have her in military garb, how then would you know she's a woooman?
Anyway, they have a nice professional chat about their colleague (who's on some planet with laser wielding aliens) and she goes off to the control panel. And then we get this guy. I can't actually be bothered to write out this garbage. Here's a picture:
and, wait, there's more:
Life's too short. Next.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews