It’s rare that I read or listen to a new book and it just blows me away. That happened over the last few days as I listened to the audiobook of Christian author Lyndsey Lewellen‘s young adult sci-fi / dystopian masterpiece, The Chaos Grid.
If you love a good clean action-packed sci-fi book with a fast-moving original plot and memorable, care-for characters who overcome both gigantic external threats and internal conflicts, you’ll love this book.
Unlike many apocalyptic/dystopian books, this book (A). Is clean and appropriate for family consumption, (B). Provides a clear biblical theme without seeming preachy or awkward, and (C). conveys a distinct message of hope.
It also contains many distinct and creative elements you won’t find elsewhere, and a very well-woven lucid plot that is neither predictable nor difficult to follow. I will DEFINITELY devour Book 2 as soon as possible. Here’s the link to Book 1 on Enclave Publishing‘s website! You can buy it on Amazon, listen to it on Audible, or buy it directly from Enclave.
Author Lyndsey Lewellen has sky-rocketed to the top tier of my favorite authors constellation. I would love to meet her and her husband some day. I’m saddened to learn she recently received injuries in a car accident, so she’s in my prayers. Her social media post indicated she should make a good recovery.
Now my author-to-author notes about the book. One of the best things about The Chaos Grid is the incredibly good balance comprising all aspects of the story. For a good fiction book, especially speculative fiction, you need a skillful balance of the following elements:
- Plot
- World-building
- Character development, both static and dynamic
- Dialogue
- Theme and substory
- Unique elements
- Pacing
- “Delivery”
- Tone/Voice
As an author, I recognize the difficulty of keeping all these nine “animals” corralled and exercised. Some books recognized as “good” are actually deficient in one or more of these areas, and rely on their strengths in other areas to pull them through. But not The Chaos Grid. Ms. Lewellen’s writing has no particular weak spot, only strength. Let me tell you some things I noticed.
- Every detail is pretty much relevant. Very little info is just for fluff. This should be a goal for most, if not all writers, but this works pretty well in The Chaos Grid.
- The “Reader’s Contract.” The Reader’s Contract is the concept that every time the author brings out a point in the story, he/she forms a contract with the reader that this information is relevant and will be resolved. In other words, if you show a knife in chapter one, by the end of the book that knife should have been used for something important. If you introduce a concept, such as a distinct problem, it should be exploited and/or solved by the end of the book. Lyndsey Lewellen does this in spades.
- Character consistency. Each character’s personality, goals, fears, backstory, and quirks are carefully curated and applied for a consistent and meaningful interaction. This may not seem the case in some instances, but as the story progresses you learn WHY some of the characters’ seemingly incongruous traits actually do make sense. At the end it all comes together like a Rubik’s Cube.
- Subtle deep-story theme. It would be difficult for me to say much about this without revealing a huge spoiler. But two-thirds of the way through the book, I had a total ‘aha moment’ where everything crystalized and I realized where all the hidden clues had led me.
- A Texas-sized dystopian world. The story takes place in the Texas of around 200 years in the future. Place names are recognizable, and a morphed sense of the culture, too. This is particularly noticeable among the “shippers” the main character ends up operating among. An old joke revolves around the concept that everything is “twice as big in Texas.” Well this story packs a Texas-size wallop.
- Realism level. I’ve long noted that a story does not have to be super realistic to be worth reading. I like to judge a story’s realism level on a scale of 1-10. Bugs Bunny cartoons are around a 1, whereas To Kill a Mockingbird and Crime and Punishment might be considered examples of a 9 or 10. Now when you’re doing speculative fiction, such as dystopian, apocalyptic, and fantasy, we’re really not talking about the realism questions of whether the story’s premises are plausible, as much as the realism in tone, description, and delivery. I would put the realism level of this book around a 6 because there are a number of elements (even within the overall world-premises) that seem unlikely or not quite true-to-life. While some people may see that as a flaw, I do not, for the same reason that Looney Tunes is very good level 1 entertainment, so I consider this a good level 6 story. Where you run into trouble is if you are not consistent. The Princess Bride, for instance, is probably about a 2, but we still love it. The consistency keeping the entire movie at a 2-level is what keeps the charm intact. And this is where I stand for The Chaos Grid. Author Lyndsey Lewellen kept it at a consistent 6 or so, and that makes it a great cohesive read.
- Distressed romance without dirty content. Romance exists in this story, and it is intense. But it is clean, even though the characters hold a lot of tension and high-stakes angst at times. I thought it was handled very well and I have no problem with my kids reading this book.
- Controlled cliffhanger ending. The ending gives you a reasonable idea what to expect in Book 2, without leaving you dangling above the rocky beach below. However, there are a lot of questions to follow up on. The author did a great job of tying up the Book 1 issues well while still keeping the series arc issues open for further development.
- The spiritual angle. I feel this was handled well too. Many Christian speculative fiction authors end up doing some very weird things regarding God and theology. Lyndsey Lewellen handled the God factor very well in this book in my opinion. Now could it have been more intense, more realistic, more factual, and more Gospel-based? Yes. But based on the symbolism and deep theme story, which by the way, is distinctly tied into the biblical narrative, I think the author wove a very beautiful picture of God’s truth into this book, choosing to look at certain truths rather than, for instance, the Gospel of Christ. The Gospel exists in a subtle symbolic way, though, in a theme that promises to intensify in Book 2, which I have not read yet but plan to soon.
I hope this was helpful! I love this book and highly recommend it.
