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Early Review: Chaos Reigning by Jessie Mihalik (Consortium Rebellion #3)

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Chaos Reigning by Jessie Mihalik // VBC

Chaos Reigning (Consortium Rebellion #3)
Jessie Mihalik
Published: May 26, 2020 (Harper Voyager)
Purchase: Amazon or BookShop
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Margaret

Rating (out of 5): 4 stars

Note: while review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books in the series. If you haven’t started yet, check out VBC’s review of Polaris Rising.

Sci-fi romance has been one of my Favorite Things during the Stay at Home Times so I’ve been eagerly awaiting Chaos Reigning even more than I had been when the year started. And it did not disappoint. There’s a ton of action of both the fighting and flying varieties, plus some spying. Add in a Princess/Bodyguard Fake Dating Romance (my second favorite trope) and I’m so there.

Chaos Reigning follows Catarina, the youngest of the von Hasenberg sisters. She’s spent years cultivating her ditzy socialite image in order to gather intelligence on other Houses. Her work pays off when she’s invited to an off-planet party hosted by House James, who are suspected of orchestrating the plot to kidnap her older brother Ferdinand in the previous book. But even her siblings don’t realize just how capable Cat really is. Her sister Bianca insists on sending bodyguards Aoife and Alex with her to the party. And Alex will be posing as her boyfriend.

Cat’s attraction to Alex is a distraction from her mission, as is her lack of confidence in her own abilities. She’s spent so long pretending to be inept that she’s almost started to believe it herself. With Alex and Aoife’s help, Cat (and readers) will realize that she’s just as badass as her older sisters.

My problem with Chaos Reigning is the same one I had with the first book in the series, Polaris Rising. Because of the single POV, I never got to know the hero well. Alex seems to be all action and no intellect. He’s also so often with Aoife who has a much bigger personality that he seems bland by comparison. That impression carried over from the previous book where both characters were introduced, and he just didn’t overcome it. However, I do want to go reread Aurora Blazing in search of more clues about him now in case I missed something.

I’m satisfied with this series finale for the most part. Mihalik does a good job wrapping up the conspiracy plot that’s stretched over the three books. I would have liked to see more of the characters from previous books though. Lock and Ian, heroes of books one and two, never even speak and Rhys doesn’t appear at all. However there’s lots of room to continue in this world, including some interesting supporting characters that are introduced in Chaos Reigning, so I’m still optimistic about getting to see those old friends again.

The Consortium Rebellion is one of my favorite series of the last few years, right up there with Hidden Legacy. I suspect it will soon be one of my most reread as well.

Sexual content: sex, references to child abuse (medical experiments on child)

One Response to “Early Review: Chaos Reigning by Jessie Mihalik (Consortium Rebellion #3)”

  1. AmyM says:

    Agree 100% in regards to Alex’s character and feeling like you don’t really get to know him. With each of the 2 sequel books I also wanted more interaction between the previous characters and the current ones. I felt like the closeness of the von Hasenberg siblings really comes through well, but we sadly don’t get to see them together much.

    But I will say that this series has been my most perfect example of the sci-fi romance that I’ve seen yet.

    Great Review!

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