The Children of Chaos

The Children of Chaos (Cruel Gods #2) by Trudie Skies is the high fantasy sequel to the Thirteenth Hour.

     The Children of Chaos is of similar quality to the first book; the characters remain likable with fun interactions and chemistry. We see more of the other realms and the fantasy world building remains both good and varied. However, visiting so many of the realms caused the book to drag slightly since the various visits and adventures in those realms fail to change the core plot in a tactile way. The scenery variations and aesthetics are nice, but its ultimately the same story 7 or 8 times with with slightly different plots. One of the adjacent issues is that outside of visiting the realms, there’s not a whole lot of interactive plot; the plot progresses and the characters are involved in the plot and they’re doing things, but the plot doesn’t change. They’re given a timeline to fulfill the plot (from a structural side this is to exert pressure and narrative tension) but I as the reader never felt any tension from that ticking clock. In another plot development, one of our main characters is tricked and loses a significant ability, but this doesn’t affect the plot aside from a few scenes of wishing. Things happen in the book, but the narrative, the situation doesn’t evolve from them. And this isn’t terrible, I enjoyed the book, but it ended up feeling too big and a little lacking on substance.

     A few other minor criticisms: the political undertones in the first book are more prominent with a transgender subplot (for those who care about such things, I personally had encountered quite a few of these at the time of reading and had started to grow fatigued) and a somewhat (whether intentional or not) ‘smash the patriarchy’ vibe to the narrative, which will appeal to some readers and displease others. It also felt like the author significantly increased the presence of sexual/risque scenes in the narrative, and not really to its benefit.

     At the end, the Children of Chaos is a solid continuation of the series and high fantasy story if you’re looking for stories with a lot of magic and creativity. If you enjoyed the first, you are likely to find enjoyment in the sequel as well.