Fugitives of Chaos

Chronicles of Chaos #2

by John C. Wright

John C. Wright established himself at the forefront of contemporary fantasy with Orphans of Chaos , which launched a new epic adventure.
Wright's new fantasy, continuing in Fugitives of Chaos , is about five orphans raised in a strict British boarding school who begin to discover that they may not be human beings. The students at the school do not age, while the world around them does. The orphans have been kidnapped from their true parents, robbed of their powers, and raised in ignorance by pagan gods, fairy-queens, Cyclopes, sea-monsters, witches, or things even stranger. Amelia is apparently a fourth-dimensional being; Victor is a synthetic man who can control the molecular arrangement of matter around him; Vanity can find secret passageways through solid walls; Colin is psychic; Quentin is a warlock. Each power comes from a different paradigm or view of the inexplicable universe, and they should not be able to co-exist under the same laws of nature. They must learn to control their strange abilities in order to escape their captors. Something very important must be at stake in their imprisonment.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, Mythology, Adventure

353 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

John C. Wright (John Charles Justin Wright, born 1961) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy novels. A Nebula award finalist (for the fantasy novel Orphans of Chaos), he was called "this fledgling century's most important new SF talent" by Publishers Weekly (after publication of his debut novel, The Golden Age).

Reviews

[Linda Gallagher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Same reaction as to
Orphans of Chaos

I wanted to love this book, with all the mythos, but I was bothered by the sexism and the pompous intellectualism. As before, maybe I think it was pompous because I didn't "get" some of the physics or math. But it gave me the same feeling as talking with someone who is overly impressed with their own intelligence.

[Zachary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wright is an amazing writer. Period. You cannot pick up any of his books without realizing so - usually shortly after the realization that you have been completely swept away with the story he has woven. Fugitives of Chaos is nothing less than another brilliant work - but it should only be read in the context of Orphans of Chaos and Titans of Chaos, because the trilogy of books forms one complete story, each picking up almost exactly where the previous book left off.

Fugitives of Chaos picks up within a few days of the (seeming) defeat of the chaotist team of orphans/children. Amelia retains more of their escape attempt than the others, but Quinten, Colin, Vanity and Victor have all had their memories hidden from them. But even as forces known to them work to keep them captive, other forces, also unknown scheme for their freedom at the same time as others plot their utter destruction.

This is not a book which just moves a story from point A to point B. The narrative which unravels within more than doubles the stakes revealed in the first portion of the trilogy. The cosmos itself is at stake, and the freedom the children desire and strive for will be the very thing which destroys all they know and love.

If you are a fan of any level of fantasy or even of science fiction, this is a must-read. One could take a fraction of Wright's vision for this book and create an entire series from the potentials therein. Just stop wondering about it and grab yourself a copy!

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

After my enjoyment of the first book in this series, it didn't take long to dive into and finish the second.

Nor is this book a dissappointment.

And yet, four stars instead of five for the first. Why?

As I mentioned in my review of Orphans of Chaos, these are not three books but one big book broken into three parts.

As at the end of Orphans, there is little or no closure. As the middle part of a long story, this book has a rather flat narrative arc. While it was just as dandy as Orphans, in essence this is a rather long chase scene.

Sure, there is incremental character and plot devlopment, but nothing happens really differently than similar portions of the first book.

In my review of Orphans I compared the setup of this trilogy to Roger Zelazney's standard plot of the godlike amnesiac enslaved hero who gradually comes back to his power, escapes, etc. Unlike Zelazney, however, Wright has not given us enough diversion from the main path of the protagonists to make us feel satisfied at the end of the book.

Still, four stars, as it sustained reading pleasure and interest for a full more or less solid day of reading.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't think I was going to read this sequel after my disappointment with the first one, but here I am. That's a testament to the quality of Wright's writing.

The principal problem with the first book moves a bit more to the back in this book, which is not nearly as tawdry and problematic as the first portion of the story. Amelia gets a little more agency and becomes the central character of the book, as befitting her role as viewpoint character. She's still the subject of lusts by a number of characters and still is figuring out her own complex sexuality as a gigantic fourth dimensional immortal being forced to incarnate as a human being, but that's no longer central to the story save where it makes some sense in a story about a realistically lusty Greek mythology. And the sense that this is just the author's barely disguised kink diminishes enough that it's not as blatant as say Quentin Tarantino.

Instead. the big problem with this middle act is it involves a lot of combat between the burgeoning titan spawn as they discover their powers and natures, and those which would capture, control, and lobotomize them. And that combat, while somewhat interesting sort of begins to feel like the action scenes in the second Matrix movie, with Neo and his foils unleashing all sorts of mayhem and powers but without giving us a structure which lets the audience care too much.

Still there is a great example of the 'pity repaid' in the story and a general quality to the prose lavish world building, erudite philosophy, and enough concern and curiosity on my part for the characters that I'll probably finish the trilogy.

[Noodles · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was... really disappointing. The pacing and the lore and the way their powers are explained are great, super engaging, and it kept me reading through the whole book. The main cast is generally well developed, but then there is the main girl. I can put aside the fact that she basically reads as the stereotypical boy-fantasy girl: clever but humble, sexy and sexual but not a slut, etc. What kills the book is the way she is so uncomfortably sexualized. Make what excuses you want, but the author wrote her character in a sixteen year old girl's body, gave her a sixteen year old's mindset, and then makes her the object of old men's sexual interests. The only old dude who gets crap about this from the narrative is the disabled one. The other one is described as masculine and justified? It's gross and beyond creepy.

[Clarice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this book definitely moved away from the "girl main character likes to get tied up" stuff. Thank goodness! Otherwise, yes the characters are all a bit lusty and otherwise ridiculous, but considering the Greek mythology inspiration this is not that surprising. What is surprising is when reviewers say that this is comparable to Harry Potter. Um... no. This is not comparable to Harry Potter. These books are not in YA for a very good reason. There are many adult situations.

Otherwise, this continues the story pretty decently. The various perspectives of each of the Chaos children is rather funny to compare, but overall it's a good time and the name dropping is rather awesome. On to book 3!

[Roberto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less exposition that in the first book of the trilogy, which is a good thing. However, I am starting to get a feeling this whole series is just a game of paper/rock/scissors where this paradigm beats that but is beaten by the other one. Since there are four paradigms, it's almost a game of paper/rock/scissors/lizard/spock, but not quite.

[Edoardo Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five children who are all its - non-human titans - are raised as humans in a boarding school in England (well, Wales, actually. John Wright is American and labours under the usual confusion as to the relations between Britain, England and Wales) by teachers who are no more human than they are: classical gods and supernatural beings. But the children slowly realise that they are not human, as their powers, all very different, awaken, and their teachers/captors become increasingly wary of their charges. It's a sort of grown-up Harry Potter/Percy Jackson, but one that takes seriously the nature and powers of the gods. Unlike with the YA stuff of Percy Jackson, the gods are the amoral, ruthless, highly sexual creatures of classical mythology. Wright takes his classcial mythology seriously, and works through its consequences with impressive thoroughness. This seems to have upset a sub-section of readers, judging by the reviews. Reading through them, I note how censorious and proscriptive a culture we have become. For myself, I enjoy the exuberance of Wright's invention and the humour, both sly and slapstick, that peppers the books.

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one better than the previous one. It's a nice fantasy story, with sarcastic humor. The plot its catchy and now I want to read the last one :-)

[Joseph R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another exciting tale in the Chronicles of Chaos by John C. Wright. This book picks up right where the first volume left off, with the five students losing their memories of all that has happened and that they have discovered about themselves. They've forgotten that they are hostages preventing an interdimensional war between the forces of Chaos (from which the students have come) and an wide assortment of other mythological forces, mostly centered around the Greek gods. They have magical and pseudo-scientific powers that they could use to escape, if they could only remember that they had them and they want to escape. The only exception is Amelia Windrose, who was able to put a bit of a block to the blocking of her memory. She quickly recovers and rallies the troops to flee their English countryside school/prison, beginning a fantastic flight whose only destination is freedom. Can they escape together? Will their flight mean the outbreak of war on an unsuspecting human population?

The plot is fairly intriguing. I found the first book foundered a little under the wide variety of mythology and the pseudo-scientific explanations and arguments between the students. Both of these are somewhat scaled back in this book as the band of schoolmates flees their school on Christmas day. Human drama and exciting action take over. In addition to fleeing the school, they have to regain their memories and their powers, and figure out what their final destination should be. This novel is a bit of a page turner and I look forward to the conclusion of the story in the final volume, Titans of Chaos.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fantastic -- I really can't say enough good things about it. It continues Orphans of Chaos, which blends a very contemporary, coming-of-age story in an English boarding school with Greek mythology.

It's an innovative concept, and Wright pulls it off superbly. The characters all, consistently, have distinct voices that represent both different personalities and (intertwined with their personalities) different modes of understanding the world specific to their godlike abilities. At the same time, the characters remain believably children, throughout. The author makes his own story by combining classic literature and modern culture, and in the process creates one of the most unique fantasy novels I've read in a long time.

Re-read on 09.25.2015

[Jamil · Rating 3 out of 5]

free from the need for set-up that plagued the first book in the series, we really dive into the world in this book. a dynamic dialectic between different paradigms and ways of seeing the world, einsteinian vs newtonian vs aristotelian, etc., magic vs shamanist vs mathematics vs atomic materialism, boys vs girls, youth vs adulthood, titans vs olympians vs the children of chaos. it's 5 kids from different worlds running away from their oppressive boarding school environment in search of freedom and seeking to understand the inexplicable universe.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

As others have noted, the Chronicles of Chaos are really one big book that was broken into three parts. As such, this book does suffer a bit from "Middle Book" syndrome-- we've passed the excitement of the initial reveal, and are now working toward the final climax (that comes in book three). It does have a bit of it's own story arc in that the books can be classified as Book 1: Holy Crap we aren't human, what are we? Book 2: How do we work and Book 3: Finding a way to remain free. So it does have a bit of it's own arc in that our protagonists are focused are realizing the full depths of what they really are. However, since a lot of this is very conceptual and requires a massive amount of intellectual energy, the overall story suffers a bit (thus knocking a star off the rating).

Honestly, I don't know how Wright could have done it better, considering he's dealing with such terribly huge concepts. I think in some ways it's just the nature of the story. We certainly see some wonderful character development, some nice action, bit of romance. But the cumbersome nature of the concepts he's dealing with leaks through into cumbersome (lovely, but cumbersome) language used in the writing.

I've seen some people complain of "sexism": I don't know. In other contexts, maybe, but when dealing with primordial beings that are beyond Forces of Nature, and these beings being embodied in adolescent human forms, a bit of lustiness is to be expected. Some have objected to the primary female protagonist's somewhat confused (dismayed but also enticed) reaction to the strength of the maturing boys around her, but this seems true to the experience of adolescence. And, since we are dealing with such immense, primal beings, of course it would be massively amplified. We're not dealing with humans, so the experiences will not be on the same scale.

Wright's language and writing can get cerebral, a trait balanced by a boyish rambunctiousness for life. This might be difficult for some readers to encompass, and it might come across as arrogant, but having read some of his blogs, it's just the way he writes. Very intellectual, very enthused about life. It can be a bit intense.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and look forward to future re-reads.

[Brian Paterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Immensely slow. I’ll accrue it a couple of stars toward the one book that this unruly series might have become. Just because a narrator is cross-dimensional does mean the story should now be padded out to four dimensions by the intrusion of further gods and similar beings from out of perved space. I will only read a novel where the narrator is in the room and their consent is demonstrated, where they know a story is being told and control the flow of information without a need to read some author’s sneaky privacy policy. The moment? This narrator doesn't tell her friends something that ‘she’ just told the reader in immense peepshow detail. I doubt that ever happens. In fact, that was probably an author mansplaining a female character. Women do freedom so much better than the effort presented here- thankfully, or there would be nothing to read.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm in love with this series. This will be my second read and I've gotten something different out fo it with each read. Philosophy, Mythology, Mathematics, Theology and more in one epic trilogy. Characters are memorable, relateable and the author takes his time to create the world and the relationships in story believable and heartfelt.

[Brook · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one more than the previous one, possibly because more bizarre stuff happened, possibly because there was less weird sexual tension and low-key sexism. It was a lot of fun the whole way through, and I think it carried itself well--it didn't feel like a "middle" book. Still a few things that irk me but much less so than the previous one.

[Estauromai · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was much better than Orphans of Chaos. It might be that I was so confused by the names and weird pseudomagic in the first book that this one became easier. It might be that this one actually had a plot. It could also be that I cared about the story. Whatever the reason, this book was good enough to make me want to read the third book.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun series, worth reading for the reader that has read all the major fantasy series, and is looking for something new

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun

[Rick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring (tedious exposition of the philosophy of the kids' made-up powers) and puerile (more of the same from the first book, with the male author gazing at naked, teenage female bodies)

[Griffin Fickes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the first one. Not a high bar.

[Aelvana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia wakes up in the beginning of the book having forgotten everything she learned in the last one---but the chemical she manipulated to have free will decides to release her memories instead of eradicate them. With her knowledge of her teachers' treachery restored, Amelia and the other orphans break free of their school and advance out into the wide world.

Wright certainly knows how to keep up the tension. From page one I was struck by the impossibility of Amelia's situation: how can they escape when she is the only one who remembers what happened, and even she can't use any of her power? It takes a great deal of time for her to orchestrate her plan, and when she carries it out, the nature of their foes makes victory always a question.

The companionship among the five of them was wonderful, and I found myself liking even Colin a lot more than I thought I would. Sure, he's still an arrogant, leering jerk, but somewhere in the depths of that shriveled soul he does have half a heart. Victor pleased me most. I had always thought his powers in the last book were underplayed, but he shows off in spades this go-around, and it was worth the wait. His ability to manipulate matter allows him to do some awesome tricks, and his utterly logical mindset makes him unintentionally hilarious. In a battle with another logical being, they fire beams at each other and blow things up while chatting quite amicably about the probability set of me winning versus you winning....

So maybe it is geek humor, but it's the funniest, most intelligent fantasy I've read in a long time. Make no mistake, though, it will stretch your mind to read this book, if only for the sheer number of mythological personages gracing its pages. Gods and other legends seem to have half a dozen names apiece, and use them all. It can be hard sometimes to keep track of who's who. Along with that, the fact that the five main characters see the world from completely different viewpoints means they're always talking about how they interpret events. In this, Amelia wins hands down. Next up I think would be Quintin, since he went from shy and spooky to confident and really spooky (always in a good way).

After all of the battles, after every physical and magical and spiritual struggle all five of them went through to get free, the ending still manages to come around with a surprise. I won't spoil it, but I will say Amelia is not infallible, as easy as it is to make that mistake given that she's narrating the whole story. What she thought about the events at the end of the last book wasn't true, and what she started then completes itself here. The concept plays throughout the book in various subtle ways.

Now the only problem is getting my paws on the next book, which either just came out or is coming out in about a week..... Highly Recommended.

[Gregory K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a reason this story will never be turned into a movie. Half of the book is a big long conversation about what happened in the other half of the book. More often than not the story is reflecting on itself and explaining itself rather than moving forward. As I move through the middle of this trilogy of books the story is really beginning to sag. There are some interesting moments still, parts that remind me of the potential of this story, but ultimatley I am disapointed (and bored). The author keeps trying to push me to feel sympathy or to feel anxious but I couldn't get over the fact that he is pushing me and that these feelings are not coming up on their own. The adolescent sex-fantasies were a little more toned down in this volume at least but they were still present and just as distracting as ever when I got to them.

Really these are just my own grumblings because at this point if you have gotten through the first book you either love or hate this story by now. But if for some reason you are new to this series it may be a good idea for you to give this series a taste test before you comit. Some really do like it after all and the story is definatley not all bad.

['Nathan Burgoine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book not quite as engaging as the first, but it was still good. I think it suffered a bit from "bridge book syndrome" where there's a lot of moving from book one and set up to book three and not so much content for it to stand alone by itself - an easy problem in trilogies. That said, more of the students uncovering who and what they are is a good thing, and the various paradigms being explored are still interesting.

Edit: I actually really quite enjoyed this book - and the first one in the trilogy - and it's a shame the author is someone I no longer wish to support and won't be going further in the series. John C. Wright's blatant homophobia make it very clear that he doesn't need me to buy his books. I'm sure he wouldn't want me anywhere near him at all.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kids at an orphanage discover that they are not human. Learning that they are being held as hostages, they attempt to escape (again).

I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as the its predecessor Orphans of Chaos. There is a lot more physics/math and Greek mythology references in this story. I loved that stuff in the first book, but here it felt more like the author was throwing stuff in just to make things sound smarter For me it eventually started to get in the way of the storytelling.

There is good character development, but I felt that not enough happened story-wise.

The book is a decent read, and I look forward to read the conclusion in the third book.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a hard one to rate, as I had mixed emotions. I was consistently engaged and fascinated with the deep plunge into mythology and science, despite my lack of deep understanding with either. I also thought the book came really alive at certain points (for example, Amelia facing off against Echdina). At the same time, there seemed to be a lot of exposition and long moments of characters standing around talking. I'm not sure where this is going, but I'm still hoping for a decent pay-off in the third book.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about five british orphans who turn out to not be human. They are are from different reality paradigms (mythology, quantum physics, the occult, etc.) Each one has a unique ability to alter reality in a significant way and each paradigm is counteracted by another, to maintain balance. This is book two. The first was called Orphans of Chaos. There's a third, but it's not on the shelf yet.

[Keith Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Middle books of trilogies tend to be about taking the situation introduced in the first book and making it as bad as possible before resolving it in the third book. Fugitives actually advances the plot of Orphans considerably as the five young people make good their escape and continue to expand their control over their powers. Wright also further develops the characters connections to Greek mythology.

[Koori no hi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the first book in the set, the story continues from almost exactly the same place it left off in the previous story. I like the different take on the Greek/Roman gods and the education levels of the kids (if only more people could read over a fith grade level - my own highschool brother can't- so sad)
The characters are recourceful and their personalities are growing. I look foreward to reading the final book

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tension and suspense increase substantially in this, the second, of the Chaos trilogy. The amount of detail on the subjects of Mythology, Philosophy, Metaphysics, Physics and Geometry can sometimes be a bit overwhelming but, all in all, Wright does a pretty good job of keeping his readers engaged. This is just a little bit too much soft-core sex for my tastes, but other readers probably like it.