Woman Reading

(This is a short story.)

Chaos Unchained is Chao’s story. He’s been busted drinking alcohol. The penalty for his infraction is 6 months in the mining prison on Earth. There he meets Beau, a prisoner with a goofy smile that he can’t seem to stop thinking about or seeking out. The synopsis asks if they can survive the months apart after Beau is released, but I think that it was more about finding a connection even in the worst of places.

First off, I really loved the start of the first book. The Prologue was incredibly intriguing with Chaos being sent to prison on Earth in a pod, where he was strapped down and zero control if anything happened to him as he was shooting through space toward prison. It isn’t hard to imagine the fear that would consume you, all alone in a tiny space pod that I pictured as not much bigger than an MRI machine, feeling yourself hitting meteors and so sure that you’re going to be knocked off the path and left to float out there all alone. Fricking terrifying.

Earth’s prison was pretty unique. With the jailers not caring what happens on Earth, so long as the mining is finished, I can imagine that the set up and hierarchy would be pretty close to what Mr. Cox created. Fight, fuck, or work in the mine. Chaos, being the natural badass that he is obviously becomes a fighter, which is basically what you think. If he wins a fight, those who bet on him win stuff. Honestly, I liked the set up in prison a lot, so I was very nervous for future books and what would happen when the reader joined the other MC members on Mars.

Of all of the books, Chaos was definitely the MC member that I found ‘hottest’. Beau was really cute, too. The goofy things he would say, and how cute Chaos thought silly Beau was. They were adorable. I think that Mr. Cox was pretty good at keeping his characters in character no matter what was happening. It’s not an easy feat, not losing yourself in the plot and having a character respond outside of the personality they were given.

The only thing is, and I knew this was a short story series before I started, I wished that this first book had been longer. I would have enjoyed reading more about the Prison time, rather than have a jump from the first few weeks to three months in, then again to the final days at 6 months.

See this review, and others, at Badass Book Reviews!