Titans of Chaos [Hardcover]

It is my considered opinion that Mr. Wright could use a touch more discipline in his writing. His early works, particularly the Golden Age trilogy, were incredible--absolute must reads. He has virtually created a new genre--modern mythology. If it weren't for Google, I'd have been lost in the dazzling, non-stop introduction of characters, themes, and ideas grabbed from history and polished up for a new era.

"Titans of Chaos" is the conclusion of the Chaos trilogy of which, the first volume, "Orphans of Chaos," seizes the reader from the beginning with a complex web of characters new and familiar. Five children are coming of age and realizing that they are not British subjects but rather the descendants of gods from various dimensions and realms, each of whom has particular powers that are neutralized in some fashion by a mysterious cabal that wishes to contain the powers these children represent. Though hinting at an epic confrontation of powers, the first volume came to the abrupt end all too common these days as publishers seem to be unwilling to publish one book when they can publish three.

So, in the second volume, "Fugitives of Chaos," Mr. Wright has his five protagonists make a break for freedom, which is somewhat complicated by the fact that his characters don't know who they are running from nor where they might run to. The book didn't seem to follow the same path as had been mapped out in the first volume and suffered from certain excesses not relevant here.

Yet based upon the strength of prior works, I signed up to get my copy of "Titans of Chaos" hot off the press. It is a much better work than the second volume but seems as though the author tossed off a chapter at a time without any sense of when or how things would wrap up. "Titans" is almost a stream-of-consciousness version of storytelling. Thus, the Chaos trilogy is completely unlike the Golden Age trilogy in which the ending was foreshadowed by a conversation that takes place in the very first chapter of the first book. Much of the power of the Golden Age trilogy was found in the fact that Mr. Wright knew where he was going and it was quite a ride.

In "Titans," the development of several of the characters ends as the narrative focuses much more closely on Amelia Windrose. Clues and hints to Amelia's background and purpose never quite pan out and the ultimate battle involved an entirely new character who had not even been hinted at in the first volume--it was also strangely anti-climactic. And why, after the reader has invested so much in these characters, must the author present as the ultimate ending of a story involving the interplay of gods, powers, principalities, etc.--good and evil incarnate--going to end in a tawdry, though (thankfully) implied rather than explicit, episode of adolescent fornication?

I am and remain a huge fan of Mr. Wright; however, his gifts as a writer evidence that he is capable of much, much more. Another reviewer has likened the Chaos trilogy to a Harry Potter for adults--yet what is fascinating about the Potter books is that each book adds to the prior, that the author gave out just enough hints in earlier works to make the journey endlessly inventive and interesting; they have a destination. The destination of Chaos promised to be a confrontation between powers that predated the Earth itself, or possibly a discourse on the Promethian gift that so defines humanity. It promised to be more than what it was and that has left this reviewer terribly disappointed.

Nevertheless, I recommend this work as head and shoulders above most other offerings of the genre and will eagerly await Mr. Wright's next effort.

They go to Mars. They go to Hollywood. They fight a zillion-page-long battle with every nasty and annoying thing that the bad guys can throw at them. One of them has a naked encounter with a much-older man who kisses her and makes her feel all warm and tingly. Someone else kisses her and makes her feel all wibbly-wobbly. The end.

What I liked: Some of the gods in Hollywood routine is fun. Also, the end is unsettled, which is fitting -- though perhaps too neat -- for a war between order and chaos.

What annoyed me: First, Wright continues to use his nominally British characters to put down the British and go all gooey over all things American. Definitely unsporting. Second, Wright can't decide whether he's writing a war epic, a teen sex comedy, or a handbook for young lords and ladies on gender-appropriate behavior. His desire to write the latter is the only explanation I have for his constant focus on gender. (Actually, I have another explanation, but I'd rather not go there.) Any time Amelia can choose between calling herself a "girl" or referring to herself in a gender-neutral fashion, she chooses "girl". (E.g., when she changes back from her 4-dimensional winged form into her 3-dimensional form, she never becomes "human", she becomes "a girl".) She constantly refers to the masculine qualities of Quentin and Victor (but rarely Colin), and sometimes to the feminine qualities of Vanity, when any of these could simply be treated as personal qualities. It's like a primer saying "this is what girls should be like, and this is what boys should be like." Blech. And third, we're treated to another sexually charged encounter between the crusty old headmaster and one of his underage charges. Blech.

Recommendation: Read the first novel if you care to. Read this one if you read #1 and #2 and want some closure, but don't expect too much.

This final volume in the Chaos Trilogy is a wonderful extra-dimensional Toad's wild ride for adults. TITANS OF CHAOS is absorbing fun.

Our heroes -- Amelia, Victor, Colin, Vanity and Quentin -- markedly mature (in comparison with the previous books) as they fight fantastic battles against armies of Amazons, sirens, nymphs, mechanical steeds, and maenads under the command of lord speedy himself, Trismegistus, a.k.a., the Olympian, Hermes.

Before the bloody wars commence however, the five "young people" hide away to explore and expand their individual paradigms and powers, and Wright's imagination carries us along on a nimble romp through ways to bend "reality." Among the joys: soaring with Amelia on her "superwoman" flight; the reader's freedom-seeking spirit is unleashed too. Great entertainment also is the group's impromptu space adventure; they (especially Amelia) hope to plant a Union Jack where no one has trod before. However....

TITANS OF CHAOS just bursts with the flowering of the titans' superhuman talents as the author spares no effort to describe the added geometries, spirits, physical properties, secret passages, and moral webs they perceive and harness in our humdrum 3-D world. This is gorgeous mind candy.

TITANS OF CHAOS finishes as satisfyingly as one may dare to hope. While ORPHANS OF CHAOS gripped the reader with the dizzying audacity of new concepts and a horde of gods' identities, and FUGITIVES OF CHAOS filled in some blanks and kept a forward momentum, TITANS OF CHAOS thrillingly fulfills the promises implicit in the previous books. This trilogy isn't for every science fiction or science fantasy fan, but it is a full-bodied accomplishment that some will truly adore. Enjoy the saga in its entirety now.