The Chaos

So, I didn't realize this was a YA book when I started it. I wasn't a YA fan when i was young, and I"m not a YA fan as an adult. That being said, I read the entire book and tried to keep an open mind. It has a lot of the shortcomings of most YA novels - heavy-handed themes, some superficial characterization, deus ex machina plot points, semi-lame dialgoue. But, would I recommend it to a young reader? Sure. This is the story of a teen-age girl trying to find her brother and/or get home safely while Toronto (or maybe the world) is consumed by a myterious phenomenon that makes everything crazy. The craziness or - "the Chaos" - is mostly super random. Bathroom stalls turn into singing clocks (a detail I remember, even though i couldn't picture it.) Little horse heads fly around. A volcano emerges from the center of Lake Ontario. Etc. The protagnoist herself is fending of a physical transformation. The whole story has a Alice in Wonderland quality about it, but with some of the events grounded in world mythology - the main cahracter encounters a phoenix, Baba Yaga, a roiling calf, and so on. I'm totally sure waht the point of the story was, except maybe just a new, fanciful way to package the standard YA ideas of beliveving in yourself, aaccepting your own differences as well as others', and your parents probably aren't as bad as you think. I did like the main character. Nalo Hopkinson has a knack for creading flawed main characters that you still root for. It's a hard trick to pull off, so I'm willign to forgite the fact that some of the traits seem recycled from other books (I'm fairly certain the main character of The Chaos will grow up to be the main character of The New Moon's Arms.) I know this is sort of a mixed review, but the bottom line is: If you want to recommend a book to a young reader who likes fantasy/mythology and wants a book with a sort of manic plot and diverse characters (including characters of color, queer characters, and characaters with disabilities) this is a perfectly fine book to recommend. It's certainly better than, say, Twilight.