(Look at that cover! And this one makes complete sense to me. Remember how I was quite diplomatically not bowled over by the cover on Oracle of Philadelphia? THIS ONE makes perfect sense with the spear and all! Nearly from the beginning of the book. And now we have a visual for Bedlam, which is also quite nice.)
Summary from the publisher, Red Adept Publishing:
When good fails, chaos rises to the challenge.
The daily life of a chaos demon is delightfully sinful—overindulging in Sri Lankan delicacies, trespassing on private beaches in Hawaii, and getting soused at the best angel bar on the planet. But when Bedlam learns that the archdemon Azrael has escaped from the Abyss in order to wreak vengeance against the person who sent her there—Bedlam’s best friend, Khet—he can’t sit idly by.
Only one relic possesses the power to kill Khet, who suffers immortality at Lucifer’s request: the mythical Spear of Destiny, which pierced Christ’s side at His crucifixion. Neither angel nor demon has seen the Spear in two thousand years, but Azrael claims to know its location. Bedlam has no choice but to interpret woefully outdated clues and race her to its ancient resting place.
His quest is made nearly impossible by the interference of a persnickety archivist, Keziel—his angelic ex—and a dedicated cult intent on keeping the Spear out of the wrong hands. But to Bedlam, “wrong” is just an arbitrary word, and there’s no way he’s letting Khet die without a fight.
My Thoughts:
I think I liked Raising Chaos even better than I liked Oracle of Philadelphia! That bodes very well for this series, that the books keep improving. One thing that took Raising Chaos up a notch is the alternating point of views. In this book, we get to go inside Bedlam's head! I know: scary, right? lol It's not quite as chaotic as you might expect, and we find out just how sweet Bedlam's heart is. He really does always have the best of intentions for his friends.
So in Raising Chaos Khet/Carrie/Caela has moved on from Philadelphia and is now in North Carolina, at the beach. And guess what? I live in North Carolina! I love the south, and I love when book settings match my life... so Raising Chaos gets good book rating stars right off the bat for setting! Caela (that's how she introduces herself at the beginning of the book, so that's the nomenclature I'll use in this review) arrives at the beach and nearly immediately lands herself a job waiting tables at a bar. She also makes some new friends pretty quickly... but one of them is in trouble. Caela is faced with a dilemma. How involved should she get? Can she get involved and help this girl without revealing her gift as Oracle? This is P.O.V. #1. We get to know Caela a little bit better, but I can't really say that this story line advances the overall plot of the Earthbound Angels series very much. Still very good and still necessary, but Bedlam's plot line is where the action's at. I'll get to that in a minute.
The 2nd P.O.V. is a new character, Siren. Siren is an angel who can never ever tell a lie. Through Siren we get to know a little bit more angelology (I might have just made up that word; I'm trying to say "history of angels and demons") and we get to see inside the hottest angel bar (I just love that angels get to knock back a bourbon after a long day; makes me look forward to Heaven that much more). I found myself referring back to the list of angels and demons at the beginning of the book a few times during the Siren chapters, but it's not too bad. And definitely worth the effort to understand. It's just quite a few new names appear during Siren's early chapters, but you'll need to pay attention because you'll want to know this back story. It's also really interesting to be inside a tipsy angel's head!
The 3rd P.O.V is Bedlam!!! I'm so excited about this. Do ya'll remember in my review of Oracle of Philadelphia how much I liked Bedlam? And how I was a little conflicted about that because he's a demon? Turns out he totally deserves to be liked! In Raising Chaos, Bedlam overhears Azrael plotting to get the Spear of Destiny and use it to kill Caela once and for all. Bedlam immediately springs into action and goes on a quest to reach the Spear first and keep it from Azrael. He might not be able to fall in romantic love with Caela, but he totally loves her as a friend! I love his loyalty and commitment as he takes on this huge goal of getting to the Spear to save his bestie.
I really, really, really want to gush on and on about the ending to Raising Chaos because it's AWESOME and INCREDIBLE and I DIDN'T SEE IT COMING and I WANT TO CELEBRATE but I also don't want to give away any spoilers. But if you read the book and then read this review (or vice versa) please, please, please comment so that we can discuss!
And now for some very exciting news: if you check back tomorrow you'll get to read a guest post by Elizabeth Corrigan!
So in Raising Chaos Khet/Carrie/Caela has moved on from Philadelphia and is now in North Carolina, at the beach. And guess what? I live in North Carolina! I love the south, and I love when book settings match my life... so Raising Chaos gets good book rating stars right off the bat for setting! Caela (that's how she introduces herself at the beginning of the book, so that's the nomenclature I'll use in this review) arrives at the beach and nearly immediately lands herself a job waiting tables at a bar. She also makes some new friends pretty quickly... but one of them is in trouble. Caela is faced with a dilemma. How involved should she get? Can she get involved and help this girl without revealing her gift as Oracle? This is P.O.V. #1. We get to know Caela a little bit better, but I can't really say that this story line advances the overall plot of the Earthbound Angels series very much. Still very good and still necessary, but Bedlam's plot line is where the action's at. I'll get to that in a minute.
The 2nd P.O.V. is a new character, Siren. Siren is an angel who can never ever tell a lie. Through Siren we get to know a little bit more angelology (I might have just made up that word; I'm trying to say "history of angels and demons") and we get to see inside the hottest angel bar (I just love that angels get to knock back a bourbon after a long day; makes me look forward to Heaven that much more). I found myself referring back to the list of angels and demons at the beginning of the book a few times during the Siren chapters, but it's not too bad. And definitely worth the effort to understand. It's just quite a few new names appear during Siren's early chapters, but you'll need to pay attention because you'll want to know this back story. It's also really interesting to be inside a tipsy angel's head!
The 3rd P.O.V is Bedlam!!! I'm so excited about this. Do ya'll remember in my review of Oracle of Philadelphia how much I liked Bedlam? And how I was a little conflicted about that because he's a demon? Turns out he totally deserves to be liked! In Raising Chaos, Bedlam overhears Azrael plotting to get the Spear of Destiny and use it to kill Caela once and for all. Bedlam immediately springs into action and goes on a quest to reach the Spear first and keep it from Azrael. He might not be able to fall in romantic love with Caela, but he totally loves her as a friend! I love his loyalty and commitment as he takes on this huge goal of getting to the Spear to save his bestie.
I really, really, really want to gush on and on about the ending to Raising Chaos because it's AWESOME and INCREDIBLE and I DIDN'T SEE IT COMING and I WANT TO CELEBRATE but I also don't want to give away any spoilers. But if you read the book and then read this review (or vice versa) please, please, please comment so that we can discuss!
And now for some very exciting news: if you check back tomorrow you'll get to read a guest post by Elizabeth Corrigan!
I have to say I was gobsmacked at the ending! After I picked myself up off the floor I had to do a little happy dance!
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