The Chaos by Sergio Gomez #BookReview

Alejandro Ramos and his son Charlie are two of the last remaining survivors of The Chaos, an apocalyptic event which brought about the end of civilization. Wandering through the ruins of Northern Pennsylvania, they hope to find refuge in the company of other survivors. Their effort seems futile until Alejandro’s radio finds the voice of a man offering food and shelter to anyone alive. Everything depends on them making it to the given location…and staying out of sight of the creatures that rule when the sun goes down.

Title: The Chaos | Author: Sergio Gomez | Publisher: Self-published | Pub. Date: 16th December 2016 | Pages: 324 | ISBN: 9781522797098 | Genre: Science Fiction | Language: English | Starred Review: No | Source: Self-purchased

The Chaos Review

‘The Chaos’ is post-apocalyptic novel that borrows from similar works like ‘The Walking Dead’, ‘The Road’ and ‘I Am Legend’ but does enough differently to justify it’s existence. It’s not exactly subtle in its approach, but it makes up for that by being fast-paced, gripping and having a few good ideas up its sleeve.
The book follows father and son Alejandro and Charlie as they make their way across a ruined American landscape fighting for survival against the vicious Noches – nocturnal creatures with glowing red eyes, teeth and claws. How the world has come to this is spelled out through various bits of back story, and author Sergio Gomez does a good job of keeping things interesting by teasing out the details of the end of civilisation rather than laying it out in a linear fashion. In fact, those details don’t matter overly much, as what ‘The Chaos’ is really about is survival action, tempered with a bit of father son bonding.
The plot plays out as these kind of stories tend to, with Alejandro and Charlie meeting various other survivors along the way. Some are good, some bad, but none are as nasty as the Noches. Gomez never explains exactly how they came to be, but they do make a good monster – violent, relentless and gifted with animal cunning. That last point makes them a more interesting foe than zombies. It also gives the book its most interesting scenes. As it progresses we get more insight into the Noches and they become more sympathetic than your average post-apocalyptic demon. This makes the choices Alejandro has to make more complex and add a bit more depth to the book. I’m not sure Gomez develops this idea as far as he could have, but it still makes ‘The Chaos’ a more nuanced read than a lot of other end of the world thrillers.
The writing is fine throughout, readable with a good flow. The action sequences are thrilling and the characters distinct enough that I never got them confused (something that happens to me A LOT). I enjoyed the father son relationship aspects in particular, and Alejandro and Charlie are interesting enough not to seem like clones of the leads from ‘The Road’ or ‘Walking Dead’. Gomez does lay things on pretty heavily at times. There’s certainly no missing the messages he wants to convey, but that doesn’t stop the book from working. I’m sure fans of this kind of book will enjoy it as much as I did.

---

You can find this book at many retailers via clicking on the appropriate link on Goodreads (Buying direct from retailers is a good way to support indie authors); however, in the spirit of supporting literacy programs, we would like to point out that you may be able to purchase this book through BetterWorldBooks.