Fugitives of Chaos, by John Wright

Fugitives of Chaos is the second book in John Wright's Orphans of Chaos trilogy. Read my review of the first book, Orphans of Chaos here.

I have to say that this book was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it right from the get-go, unlike the first one which took a little getting into. Here there is no initial "what the heck is going on here?" stage - instead Wright quickly draws the readers into the plot, and in a few pages both the readers and the protagonists know what is at stake for them. I thought it interesting that Wright followed my advice and put a cast of characters at the beginning of the book - useful when so many of the characters have a number of aliases.

I again enjoyed the dynamics of the relationships between the five orphans, and often found myself chuckling, or downright laughing in a number of places, at their antics. Like the previous book, philosophy/mathematics/mythology play a definite role in the story; however, this time they do not weigh the book down, but rather provide the opportunity for a bit of mental calisthenics.

The book comes to a satisfactory climax, and if one problem is resolved just a little too neatly, the series's overarching conflict is quickly re-introduced - leaving the reader waiting in anticipation for the third book, Titans of Chaos.

The only problem that comes to my mind with the book (and this held true for the first one as well), is that Wright wrights (ha ha) primarily from the perspective of one of the female orphans, but does so in a manner that seems like how a guy would wish/expect girls to think, not how they actually do think (though admittedly I'm no expert on how women think!). This detracts from the genuineness of the character, and I could see it annoying some female readers. However, it might appeal quite nicely to teenage boys!