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Review: Chaos Born by Rebekah Turner (Applecross #1)

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Chaos Born by Rebekah Turner // VBC ReviewChaos Born (Chronicles from the Applecross #1)
Rebekah Turner
Published: Nov. 14, 2012 (Entangled)
Purchase at: Amazon
Review Source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Amy

Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars

Rebekah Turner has created an interesting world in Chaos Born. In a setting similar to the Victorian-era, the Weald is a place where religion and magic compete for supremacy. A place where regulators, consisting of solider humans and nephilim, working for Grigori priests, mete out punishments to those who use “darkcraft” (dark magic). Applecross specifically is a gritty, gray, dirty place where humans feel themselves above anyone of a supernatural race. On the other end of the spectrum is the Outlands, or what is considered the modern day world. The people of the Weald can easily pass through a tollbooth to get to the Outlands although most prefer to stay where the magic is strongest.

Lora Blackgoat is a runner in The Weald (what many consider a mercenary in the Outlands). A recent job gone bad has tarnished her already questionable reputation and made her somewhat of a laughingstock. When an estranged childhood friend comes to her for help, Lora sees it as an opportunity to turn things around. When Lora starts to look for the Butcher of Applecross, getting to the end may lead her somewhere she didn’t want to go.

I liked Lora’s character. She was one of those perfectly flawed characters. She has her vices and she makes mistakes, she seems to have trouble following her everywhere, but at the center she always strives to do what is right. Regardless of how bitchy she may come across, there are those she truly cares about and she will fight for them with all her strength.

As far as flaw go, the same can be said for the majority of the secondary characters in Chaos Born. We know Lora’s character, as the story is written from her point of view, but the trend in Applecross seems to be looking out for yourself first and foremost. It’s difficult to know everyone else’s true motivations. This is something that Lora has to deal with more and more as the story progresses.

Rebekah Turner sets Lora up with two love interests. Seth, a Captain of the City Walk, has been Lora’s on-again off-again for almost half her life. She just can’t seem to resist him but she also doesn’t completely trust him either. The scenes between Lora and Seth were filled with a lot of chemistry. They have a kind of tug-of-war going on between them and Turner does a wonderful job conveying their frustrations with one another.

On the other hand, when Lora first meets Roman it is one of those scenes where they don’t really interact, but you can tell the significance of their meeting and you try to read faster to get to the next time they share a scene together. Their attraction to one another is subtler than that between Lora and Seth. Roman is a Regulator and a nephilim. Nephilim Regulators have a tendency to literally go crazy over time and many people give them a wide berth.

While the initial mystery of the story is solved by the end, the investigation leads to many secrets being revealed that will have to be dealt with in future books. Chaos Born was one of those books that, when finished, I was really happy I found it and read it. I look forward to reading book 2 Chaos Bound, which releases early December!

Sexual content: Kissing, references to sex

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