A retelling of the book of Jonah meets Firefly and Dune. If you like a rough-and-tumble team of misfits driving outdated tech in dystopian Texas, then this book is for you!
Juna, a blue-haired spitfire, is tired of her uncle’s ‘mission’ to help those who cannot be saved. To avoid the cursed city Plex, she makes a split-second decision to join the shippers, and it’s not at all what she expected. Monster rigs, extreme weather fluxes, sand pirates, mutated creatures, and Chaos storms are just the tip of the iceberg. Juna fights to keep the secret power within her necklace hidden and refuses to help the Plex and its murderous citizens at all costs. Her infuriating but handsome boss drags her kicking and screaming through the Grid hoping he can change her mind about the power she carries.
Chaos Grid is a fantastic merging of the Firefly crew, the planet Dune, and a biblical story about running away from your calling. Like many Enclave Publishing books it’s hard to categorize. A sci-fi dystopian retelling is the best label I can make for you, but it doesn’t even scratch the surface of this masterpiece. I believe this is a standalone, but this is my official plea for a sequel. I need to know what happens afterward!
My only complaint is a personal one. I wasn’t a fan of Juna’s boss Dax, and the hints of enemies-to-lovers arc between them. He comes off as cruel instead of the normal grumpy versus sunshine and enjoys picking on Juna more than setting her up for success. I know many readers enjoy this dynamic, so it doesn’t influence my high praise of this novel. I did enjoy the mystery of why he always wears sunglasses.
Scoresheet:
Spice/Romance: Clean read/No spice. Slow-burn romance. Only an enemy’s brief mention of forced intercourse.
Violence: No excessive gore. But dead and wounded bodies are shown.
Morals/Worldview: Christian worldview. Good morals.
Recommended reading age: 16+
