Novella Readathon #12: A Necessary Chaos

I have not yet read a proper Romance for this project, though plenty of the novellas feature romantic subplots. A Necessary Chaos entered my TBR when it was described as ‘Mr. and Ms. Smith, but Fantasy and Gay.’ This pitch combines three of my favorite things – I don’t know why I love that movie so much, sue me – and I hoped it would be a nice tonal change after The Lathe of Heaven. The two had a pretty stark contrast; as A Necessary Chaos is, quite frankly, a bit of a mess. It was a mess that worked for me however, because it was so tailored to the things that I enjoy. As it stands though, I can only recommend this for people for whom the premise is immediately exciting.

Elevator Pitch:
Vade is a Whisper, a member of the Empire’s magical secret police, seeking revenge on the rebels who killed his sister. Althus is an anarchist in the Phantom Dragon, hoping to bring the system crashing down. The two have been lovers for years, meeting up to spy on each other. Just as they start thinking that their feelings are too serious for a fake relationship, however, they each receive the needed push to finally commit to killing the other. Perhaps them being honest with each other about who they are was the key to unlocking a true relationship all along, and it will bring an Empire to its knees.

Why this Book Was a Mess
Oh boy, there’s lots to say here. Generally though, I think this book should have been a full length novel. Sort of like Psychopomp and Circumstance, Lambert introduces a bunch of elements that have delightful vibes, but he never gives them the space to develop and resolve satisfactorily. There’s cool magic, but it never gets deeper than Marvel Cinematic Universe fights (they are very fun fights, to be fair). When magic is used to reveal twists, it felt convenient for the climax instead of something characters had been working towards. Vade and Althus have great chemistry with each other from the first page, but the confessions of love feel odd from two men who have more or less only interacted via long weekends on luxury beaches. Vade’s pivot from imperial assassin to rebellion fighter is so jarring it gave me whiplash, without any attention to the psychological aspects of what deprogramming might look like. Honestly, this book felt a lot like The Wings Upon Her Back, except the focus got shifted to something much pulpier, without the intricate character and thematic work that Mills brought to the table. In the end, I don’t think any single aspect was executed better than ‘good,’ and A Necessary Chaos tried to achieve too much for a novella. Had this expanded in page count, I think the bones of the plot beats, character arcs, and worldbuilding all could have manifested into something really interesting and high octane. Lambert kept jumping to payoff, however, skipping the build-up necessary for those intense moments to have an impact. 

There were also an unacceptable amount of typos. Self-Published books get a little bit of a pass on this, but Neon Hemlock has shown me that it can put out high-quality novellas that are impeccably edited and proofread. The very first sentence was a run on. It wasn’t the intentional kind either: no comma was used before a coordinating conjunction connecting two independent clauses. While its unfair, that first sentence meant that I was laser focused on this for the rest of the book, meaning I focused on these problems throughout the story. Other sentences are missing verbs, and still others reuse words so closely that the prose feels awkward. Even if the structure and execution of the ideas of this book were great, the prose was still going to hold it back. 

Why I Liked It Anyways
One of my rules for this readathon was to not review or ‘count’ anything that I give less than 3 stars. This is one of those books that probably should be getting 2.5, but my personal enjoyment factor was higher than it will be for the average reader. If gay men having sex and magic fights is your speed, then this is still worth a look. This book opens with Vade and Althus on a romantic getaway, which was a great way to establish a clear tone, relationship dynamic (emotional and physical) between our leads, and motivations for each.

I’d be interested in exploring more of the magic in this world. Essentially, each of the three big empires got large because it found pathways to different dimensions, and leveraged those links for magic. Vade and Althus both use the magic of the Torture Dimension, essentially casting magic spells that have a pretty wide variety of effects – this was the least interesting to me, mostly because Lambert allowed it to be so broad in how it applied. I would have liked more consistency in the types of effects it can achieve. As it stands, it can do everything from illusions to memory wipes to elemental magic to healing. The War Dimension allows mages who access it to phase through flesh and objects, as well as other spatial warping. The Cancer Dimension mostly channeled fungal and plant effects in a variety of cool ways. The aesthetics were great, with each branch granting a variety of gnarly side effects. The battles were well-choreographed and exciting. We only see creatures from the Torture Dimension, but the felt appropriately cruel and intense – finally a straightforward possession storyline! Really, this story felt like a Shonen Manga in novella form, and it pleased the goblin in my brain chanting ‘cool powers go boom.’ It sparked ideas for what other dimensions Lambert could have integrated into a larger series, and the magic it would inspire.

I read a couple books like this every year, where my personal biases push it further up the ladder than I think it will for others. It was a great book for me, but I don’t think I can recommend this to the general reader.

Conclusion: flawed but fun