Published: June 7, 2010 in the UK, March 1, 2011 in the US
Links: IndieBound (find this book at your local bookshop!)
Amazon
(not yet available as Kindle or audioBook editions)
Book provided by Big Honcho Media for fair review
Synopsis from Goodreads
Adam has more than inherited his mother’s curse: When he looks in someone’s eyes, he not only sees the date of their death…he feels the searing, shocking pain of it. Since Jem died, Adam has lived by the sea with his great-grandmother, Val. But when rising tides flood the coast, they return to London. The city is an alien, exciting, frightening place. Most disturbing of all, Adam can’t help but clock how many people’s numbers are in January 2027; how many are on New Year’s Day. What chaos awaits the world? Can he and Sarah stop a catastrophe? Or are they, too, counted among the “twenty-sevens”?
Ever since I listened to the first book in this series back in January I’ve been wondering what came next for Jem and her son Adam. And as soon as I opened this book I was sucked back in. Unlike his mother, Adam grows up with someone who understands what he’s seeing and helps him to cope with the fact that he is essentially surrounded by reminders of the mortality of every single person he meets. But it doesn’t help that he’s clocked his own mother’s number and therefore knows when she’ll die, before he’s even 10 years old. Adam is left to grow up, much like his father, under the care of his Nan, a woman with subtle but still formidable supernatural powers of her own.
The Chaos opens with Adam and Nan still living by the coast in a much altered future England: a future where children are compulsorily chipped, the sea is encroaching on the coasts of England and things are veering a little too close to a 1984 version of the world than would make me comfortable. And like all losses of freedom, they came gradually until the inhabitants of London in 2027 don’t even seem to realize how much they’ve truly lost.
But Adam’s less concerned about civil liberties than he is about a girl at school, Sarah. She’s beautiful and damaged and as soon as he reaches out to her she’s suddenly gone. Their stories intertwine as he searches her and the world creeps closer to what Adam knows is an impending catastrophe, one that’s going to kill thousands of people, one that he suspects the government knows about but isn’t talking about.
The tension in this story never seems to let up, as Adam, Sarah and those around them are thrown from the frying pan and into the fire over and over. Still, I couldn’t help feeling like salvation was right around the corner. And I was really hoping it was! I loved these characters, so overwhelmed by their circumstances and still so doggedly determined to change their stars. I love how once again, Rachel Ward gives her readers a hint of romance but keeps it as a side element and not the whole focus of her story.
As for the ending, it took me forever to figure out what was going to happen, and I’ll admit that I only guessed because I had some spoiler information from the excerpt for the final book on Goodreads. So if you want to be COMPLETELY surprised, don’t read the descriptions for Infinity, the third and final book in this series.
The Chaos is another action packed, character driven book by Rachel Ward that had me skipping sleep in favor of reading just one more page!
As I said, this is the second book in a planned trilogy and the third and final book is scheduled to come out June 6th, 2011. I can’t think of a better vacation read than this!
But before you can read Infinity, you have to read the first two novels!!
And Scholastic (via the lovely folks at Big Honcho Media) has given us a copy of both, Numbers and The Chaos, to give away so you can do just that!!! So, fill in the form below to be entered for your chance to get your hands on these fantastic books!! U.S.A. ONLY!
And for an extra entry into the contest don’t forget to let us know in the comments whether or not you’d want the ability to read someone’s death date…it does have some advantages….*shudder*
Now go and get lost…in a book!
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I don't think I would want to be able to see people's death dates. It would be pretty freaky. You would be able to see when your family members were supposed to die, which I think would really suck. Some of the reasons that people would die would be natural things that couldn't be prevented even if it was known ahead of time. Anyways, I think it would probably just make me really depressed to be surrounded by all that death.
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It sounds interesting, but I think ultimately I would be too depressed. I know we all have an hourglass on our life span, but I kind of like not knowing when the sand is going to run out.
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I would not like to have this power. It's too much responsibility for me. I would be stressed all the time and I would feel the need to save everybody.
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I think it would be interesting to have, but it could get daunting….so maybe if I could turn off the power.
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I've been wanting to read Numbers! I didn't realize the second book was already available!
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I would definitely NOT want to know a person's death date. Too creepy.
Thanks for the giveaway!
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I would totally not want this ability! I will keep being blissfully unaware thank you very much.
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I think it would be too much knowledge. Like Violet in Haven (by Kristi Cook), it would just kind of suck to know about the bad things that are going to happen people.
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No, I wouldn't want to know. When I was in 8th grade I was watching some friends play around on a wiji board (sp?) and one girl asked when she would die. She actually got a date but everyone blew it off except me. The next year on the date it said she would die, she did. I knew when I got up that morning that I was too late. But what could I have done anyway? She ended up driving off the side of a road that was a steep hill. Anyway, that haunted me a bit.
Thanks for the chance to win! I haven't read these ones yet and would love to!
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knowing a person's death day…too much knowledge !!!
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I definitely wouldn't want that kind of ability. If I had it, I'd want to try and save the people from death, which would just be too much to handle.
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No, I would not want to know someone's death day. It would be too sad to get to know someone and know when they are going to die.
gravesok@gmail.com
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No I wouldn't want to know people's death dates- I don't even like to play those kind of quizzes like that.
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I wouldn't want to know peoples date of death. It would be too upsetting. Tore923@aol.com
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I wouldn't want to know the date of someones death. But interestingly enough, the anime series Death Note had these death gods who had these special eyes that could see when you died. I find that similar but whatever.
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I think it might be interesting to know as long as I didn't know when I would die.. If that happened I think I might become a little too adventureous!
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I wouldn't want to read someone's death date. Most of all my loved ones. It would just make me worry.
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Well thats kind of a tough one. It could have its advantages but I don't think I'd want to know the day that Everyone is going to die on. Maybe if it could be turned on and off? Then yes. If not, then no.
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entered! i WOULD want to know, just bc having any supernatural ability would deff be cool. especially to know when all the evil leaders in the world would die. imagine having it back in hitler's day! i'd be like "die soon, gah!"
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It would be a cool power to have BUT over time it would start to get kind of freaky. I wouldn't want to have that kind of responsibility. I would be depressed all the time knowing that I know that someone's going to die yet I can't save them. Cool contest!
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That's a new super power.. I wouldn't want to, even if I did have advantaged. It'd hinder my relationship with the person and I definitely don't want the pain that follows!
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No I would not want that power. I'd be so freaked out and worried that they are going to die. I'd probably cry all the time too.
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I don't want to know people's death dates. I don't want to know mine!
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I would not want to know anyone's death date, especially not people I am really close to. I could not imagine how it would feel knowing the day family and friends were going to die. I think I'd be depressed all the time and I probably wouldn't ever be able to get it off my mind.
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No way! I wouldn't want to know about anyone' death date. Wow, what a burden!
Thx for the giveaway!
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I would never want to know when someone's death date was. HOw morbid!
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I would rather not know about the death dates – how miserable would that be?! Thanks for the chance to win! I keep seeing these books all over, but have not had a chance to read them yet.
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I would NOT want that ability. I would never be able to befriend anyone because I'd be too sad knowing about their demise.
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I definitely, do not think I would want to know when a person was going to croak.
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I really don't think I'd want that ability at all! How awful. That it way too negative of a thing to have to focus on all the time.
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I think that i would want to know because of how in the first book she got to save herself becasue she saw that so many people had the same dates but it definitely has its drawbacks also
thanks for the giveaway!
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While definitely one of the more unique "superpowers" I've heard of, I think I'll stick to the more traditional powers of shapeshifting, flight, or invisibility.
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No, I wouldn't want to know when people are going to die! To much responsibility.
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Omg 50/50….It would save a lot of unnecessary worrying and wonder…..and I guess you could prepare yourself for it…but still….a terrible scary thing!
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No. Absolutely not. I would not want to know my or anyone else's death date. (But the books sound good!)
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No thanks to knowing death dates! That's too much responsibility. I'll just have to take my chances.
Thanks for the offer! I've been meaning to read Numbers for so long and now it's time for book #3 already. I need to get moving! 🙂
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Before Numbers came out – probably while Rachel Ward was getting ready to or just had sent her manuscript to the publishers – I had the same exact idea for a story. It never got further than a girl being able to see the dates that people will die, but it was an idea nonetheless. When I found out about this book (thank God it was before I got into planning and writing the story…haha) I was so disappointed. "She took my story!" I couldn't help thinking. Of course, I'm over it now and am SO looking forward to reading someone else's interpretation of the idea….
So I guess my answer is YES I think I would want that ability… It would be crazy… 🙂
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It would really be horrible to know when someone was going to die. It's hard enough as it is. It would just be too much for any one person to have to live with.
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I super interested in this series!
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No, I would not want the responsiblity of knowing someone's date of death. I'd feel like every day I'd need to spend my time with them. I'd be an emotional wreck. I'd absolutely hate it. I'd rather my death and anyone else's be a surprise even if I could prevent a terrorist attack or predict a natural disaster. I'd probably be locked away well before that day ever arrived just from the emotional strain of it.
Heather
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I would hate to know when someone would die. I would go nuts, trying to prevent my loved ones and friends from dying and trying to resist the urge to hurry it along for the people I don't like. How horrible that would be!
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I wouldn't want to know when someone would die because then I would have to decide whether or not to tell then and figure out how to try to save them or if I couldn't stop it, it would probably just make my go crazy. i would want then to enjoy the time they had but I wouldn't want to burden them with knowing that they were going to die on a certain known date.
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