All Hail Chaos

[psocoptera]

All Hail Chaos, Sarah Rees Brennan, 2026 novel, middle of a trilogy that started with Long Live Evil. Brennan has a lot of pieces moving on the chessboard but she keeps all the plates spinning, to mix a metaphor; she's funny and interesting and good at making me care about her characters. If you liked the first one you've presumably been eagerly awaiting this one and if you didn't like the first one are you even still reading this paragraph. (But she's doing some really interesting stuff about Story and about The Remix in particular, like, the elements and moments that become core to a story and how they can get shuffled or slanted but are still what makes that story that story. Like the book is also full of memes and jokes and cross-examination of romantasy but I think we're building up to some really interesting stuff in the last book about how much a story can change and still be itself, which is something I find very interesting as a person who thinks a lot about fannish retelling and reinterpretation.)

Comments

[oracne]

I need to catch up on these!

[conuly]

The first one - and presumably the second - is fun, but beware, the book our protagonist finds herself in was clearly written with the purplest prose that Crayola ever has produced. It's definitely a style choice.