In Hand of Chaos by J. Hamlet, we meet Anna Wei, a member of a kind of supernatural SWAT team. I have to say Hamlet does an outstanding job of creating a strong female lead – it’s definitely something to applaud. That’s not easy to do.
What think is great about this book is the weaving together of crime fiction and fantasy fiction, making the book fun, of courses, but also making it so that the story stands out to readers. Ethan, the antagonist, is also well-rounded. This is an important skill for writers to have, as making villains who read like cardboard cutouts can be an easy crutch for writers. I haven’t read a lot of books in the urban fantasy genre, so I found this a good introduction to it.
I’ve always been a fan of the X-Men. While this book is not about superheros, per sae, there is something about it that reminds me of the same spirit within the X-Men; And I think it’s because of the stark contrast. While in the X-Men universe, the mutants are seen as the enemies by the government, in Hand of Chaos, magic is freely embraced by the government.
There’s a bit of X-Files meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer going on here too. Anna works for a secret government agency where she has to take care of zombie-infested apartment complexes, necromancers, and undead hordes.
In all, this was an enjoyable book to read; it was a quick read. It will be fun to see what he does with the second book in the series.
Title: Hand of Chaos
Series: The Chaos Theology #1
Author: J. Hamlet
Publication Date: September 4, 2013
Genre: Dark Urban Fantasy
Synopsis
Exhausted, cynical, and confused, Anna is always there to report for duty. She’s part of a clandestine government team that defends the nation against supernatural terrorism—a job that understandably leaves her life in shambles and drives her to drink a little more than she should. Toss in a fear of intimacy with a desire to have friends and lovers like a normal person and, well, Anna is a troubled soul wrapped in a special agent with arcane, magical powers. Waking up hungover at five–thirty in the morning with a zombie–infested apartment building in the heart of DC to deal with, she knows she’s got the makings of the worst morning possible.
Her team is its own challenge. A battle–scarred Nigerian shaman, a bookish shapeshifter, an inept summoner, and a brilliant but cantankerous wizard round it all out. Her partner, an immortal and cursed Paladin, is the only person she knows more jaded than herself. Getting them all to work together is never easy, with Anna often caught in the cross fire.
Their target, Ethan Morgan, is one pissed off necromancer. His brother was KIA by his own government, the victim of an experimental magical weapon they decided to test on the battlefield. Now bent on revenge and sponsored by one of hell’s most powerful demons, Ethan has a plan of his own to make us all pay. Anna and her team are fighting against the wake of destruction, but Ethan is always one step ahead. With the number of bodies he leaves and reanimates growing exponentially, Anna’s wondering if they’ll stop him before he engulfs everyone in an undead horde.
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Everyone needs a hobby. And, like most people, I hope one day that my hobby will liberate me from my mind–numbing day job. I chose writing. Not one of the easier ones. I chose it at the tender age of 14, churning out terrible science fiction novels that heaped on the cliches and barely hidden tropes of all space operas. Thankfully, those creations reside in the prison of an old Commodore 64 hard drive and several 3.5″ disks (kids, ask your parents) in a landfill somewhere. And, let me be clear, the world is better for it.
Along the way, I kept writing. Through college. Through grad school. Through the beginning of my career, such as it is. I like to believe I picked up skills. I wanted to write novels that had things I wanted to see. Hand of Chaos, my debut novel, brings together elements of a spy thriller and a police procedural with dark and urban fantasy. I followed that with Scarred Earth, a serial alien invasion novel I’m releasing entirely through tumblr. I’m probably going about this all wrong, but I don’t know any other way.
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