I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book because I love historical and literary fiction, especially queer characters in history, and it reminded me quite a bit of Herland. Sylvie is born a twin to Silas, a birth that results in the death of their mother and sends their father into alcoholism.

The first half of the book had beautiful prose and some wonderful insights into the art of translation. Sylvie gets a job in war-torn Nashville to translate an ancient Greek play, Lysistrata, about women who change the tide of conflict by using sex as a game. The insights into compulsory heterosexuality and queerness at the time of the Civil War were compelling.

Sylvie is enlisted to spy on an organization the Union suspects of aiding Confederates, but she soon becomes wrapped up in the cause of this ancient cult to disrupt the natural order of warlike men on both sides and falls for one of its members, a revolutionary named Hannah.

The second half of the book left me more annoyed though. It quickly descended into Man vs. Bear misandry and the gender essentialism of if women were the oppressers there'd be no war. The story flowed in a quite choppy manner, jumping between places and times with snippets of script that left it an unfinished, confused feeling. It was a story told in fragments about a compelling life with an unconventional narrative structure that didn't work for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Chaotic, flimsy, and unbelievable. Not my cup of tea and not the best from this author. A good idea, but just not well executed.

The world building and concept were so cool, but this just wasn't it for me unfortunately. I really liked the cover.

Daughters of Chaos was an excellent read. I loved the character study and the writing felt propulsive. I would read more from this author again.

I really did enjoy the premise of this book! But alas, I a decided to DNF at 58%. I wish the plot were a little more tight with a clearer direction. A band of civil-war era women working to change the world by ridding it of the power of men! Heck yes! But, why was there also a book about a woman in Venice, and a (poorly?) translated Greek play featuring gods speaking with modern lingo? And all this contained within letters to other characters? Books within books isn’t my favorite literary trope, especially when it’s done twice, and end up being the majority of the book. There are so many layers that I’ve unfortunately lost my interest for the initial story line and have decided to let this one go. I’d be interested to see what this author does next!

A fantastical visionary story, multilayered and surprising in how disparate-appearing elements come together in this intricately woven novel. The author’s note is very informative about the creation of the story. I love a good author’s note.
I do confess I forgot why I wanted to read this book in the first place—I’m pretty behind in my reviewing. So I started the book but put it down again, confused. Once I re-read the summary, I was all in again.
From Nashville during the Civil War, a secret society of women, a Greek play within a play, and Renaissance Venice, peopled with friends, family, and monsters. Letters from The Hunley, dreams and visions of magical twins, mothers, and daughters….
I’m describing it like a collage, but that’s how I feel about it. From reading other NetGalley reviews, I think you either get it or you don’t. This is an extremely original story, organic, and steeped in women’s history and myth with excellent writing. I also love historical speculative fiction and highly recommend this novel.

I have read books where it's difficult to give a star review, but I think this is the ultimate. It's such a unique book! Jen Fawkes did a lot of research and took a lot of care writing Daughters of Chaos, but...

...yeah. This book has a lot going on. There are so many threads, but few of them get fleshed out to the level they deserve. I really think this is a story that needed a longer book. I liked the parallel between Apocrypha and Sylvie's experience. I wish we learned more about sister Marina.

As a former Nashvillian, I loved the alt-history take on the "public women" and connecting the city to classic Greek theater and ancient Roman mystery cults.

Even if this one didn't hit with me, it's an intriguing debut and I'm interested to read more from Fawkes.

DNFing at 40%, the line by line writing is good and the premise is interesting but as the plot expands my eyebrows are running out of space to rise more. They lost me when including a translation of an Ancient Greek play that had lines like “that’s not my problem” and discussing having “hard-ons”. I’ve seen some rave reviews so perhaps this just isn’t for me, but I hope it finds its audience.

I don’t know if anyone else has had this experience, but do you ever find ‘answers’ or insight into personal struggles while you’re reading fiction – from novels that <i>appear</i> to have nothing at all to do with your situation?

Because, let me tell you – a story set during the Civil War in a Tennessee brothel, heaped with Greek mythology and magic and many-headed monsters – doesn’t sound at all like my personal plight against a foreign mining company, except for the ‘monster’ part (yes, this is something that has permeated my life and will continue throughout my lifetime.)

And yet… This book was <i>just</i> what I needed. It is filled with kick-ass, warrior women. It’s a book about the human race’s history of pillage and war and its constancy of being on the edge of disaster, but also mankind’s desire to tame and control the world. From the book: <i> “Man has been trying to order, organize, and categorize the universe for centuries; let us see what happens when we embrace disorder, when we make peace with disorientation, when we dwell – at least in part – in Chaos.”

It’s also the story of a woman during the Civil War, orphaned at first by a mother, then a lost father – who comes to realize just how much power she has. The novel includes the translation of an ancient play that links women - and their strength - from time immemorial; it’s about a secret society of these women and how they band together to effect change. It parallels and includes Greek mythology (which I honestly wondered if I’d enjoy).

But, oh DID I! There were so many drink-worthy lines of prose and so many quotable passages that I cannot include them all. The first two, however, I felt related to my own life, as I take on board position with a local group fighting for our beloved San Pedro watershed against foreign mining interests:

<i>No one knows the future,” said Evangeline, “or even the past. We have only the present, and we must strive to discover what lessons this moment can teach us.”

“Once you’ve made up your mind to take control of your own shape – your own story – you’ll know exactly what to do.” </i>

Then there are the other pearls of wisdom scattered throughout:

<i> “Can’t you see, he said, “that strength and power aren’t the same thing? Power requires other people. Strength, one has when one is alone.”

Other will see us as they see us, Apollo. Trying to control one’s image is a waste of time and energy.

Change is inevitable; patience must be cultivated, but it enables one to adapt, to adjust- to survive.”

”Woman is the universe. We are the cosmos. We are the landscape. We’re the forest, the bear, the mountain, the beehive, the sea. And it is our ability to change, to adapt, to wear a series of faces that gives us our strength, that enables us - in spite of how we’re fettered by society- not only to survive but to prevail.”</i>

Again, isn’t that what good books do: speak to us? No matter their topic, they connect to their readers. They inspire. A single line reaches out and offers guidance or insight. Beyond that serendipitous way books whisper in our ears, this is just a wildly intelligent novel. It’s superbly written, has fantastic thematic and metaphorical parallels and is written in a way that, if you are not familiar with Greek mythology and are sorely deficient in those stories (like me), you can <i>still</i> follow along without issue.

This is an “I am woman, hear me roar” kind of book. When I finished, I wanted to grab up every woman I know and hug her – because it made me think about the different ways females are freakishly strong: the single mom who does it all, the woman who learns to <i>truly</i> forgive a cheating husband, the one who breaks through the glass ceiling, the one who survives the loss of a child, the one who looks meek but has sustained trauma no human should ever experience, and yet… she goes on.

Those you enjoy historical fiction, literary fiction, Greek mythology, and lovely writing will find a winner in this book.

I embarked on the journey of reading "The Daughters of Chaos" by Jen Fawkes with high hopes, lured by a captivating premise. However, what unfolded was a disappointing disarray that fell woefully short of its bombastic promises.

The novel's central idea, a clandestine sisterhood wielding their influence to reshape the world, is indeed a compelling one. However, the execution leaves much to be desired. The plot, rather than unfolding with the intensity and intrigue such a premise warrants, meanders aimlessly. The supposed high stakes and revolutionary undertones are undermined by a lack of coherent structure and compelling development.

Furthermore, Fawkes' attempt to weave profound themes into the narrative comes across as heavy-handed and superficial. The exploration of history and family, warfare and power, is reduced to a series of disjointed reflections that fail to coalesce into a meaningful commentary. What should have been a thought-provoking interrogation of these concepts instead reads like a series of underdeveloped ideas hastily strung together.

One for the Marija Gimbutas fans (I was shocked that her work was not cited in the acknowledgements). Gimbutas is inextricably linked to the mother goddess theory, which this book aligns really well with. It's light on actual fantasy and heavy on symbolism, starting slowly but eventually getting more exciting. I don't really love mother goddess and alternate history vibes, so this was not the book for me.

I think this book will have an audience, but that audience does not include me. This story is interesting and well-written, but, at the same time, it meanders and lacks any buildup or payoff. It has many interesting ideas, but they often feel uncoordinated and incomplete.
I did enjoy the feminism, sapphic MC, and getting to learn a bit of history
#NetGalley

2/5 Stars

TL;DR - A super interesting premise, and that’s about it. Boring, mostly-nonsensical, with a tissue paper-thin plot and little resolution or explanation. I wanted to like it, but it really let me down in the end.

Big thanks to Abrams, The Overlook Press, and NetGalley for providing the ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review!

***Trigger Warnings for: death of a partner due to illness, mentions of suicidal ideation, mentioned death due to childbirth, death of a parent, mentions of domestic violence, an alcoholic parent, racism, pyromania and arson that includes mentioned deaths by fire, mentions of eugenicist rhetoric and white nationalism, minor self harm, mentioned self-harm with a blade, mentioned child sex trafficking, mentioned statutory rape, mentioned traumatic abortions, mild gore, mentioned stillborn birth, mentioned incest, implied drowning, death of a sibling, and attempted suicide.***

‘Daughters of Chaos’ by Jen Fawkes is a historical fantasy (please note I’m using ‘fantasy’ *very* lightly) that takes place in the American South during the Civil War. It follows the story of Sylvie Swift, from the tragic circumstances of her birth, through her childhood and adolescence, and then through her tumultuous and war-torn early 20s in Nashville, Tennessee. Recounted in a memoir-manifesto penned 15 years after the main events of the book, interspersed with newspaper clippings, encyclopedia excerpts, and Sylvie’s own translation of a lost Greek comedy, we watch as she navigates womanhood and comes into her power. (Allegedly, she doesn’t really do much.)

So, this was aggressively mid at best, and I don’t have a lot to say about it.

The prose is average, but super heavy-handed, both in its discussions on sexism, misogyny, and gender (more on that below), as well as in the parallels drawn between Sylvie and the important women who came before her. The latter is so heavy that it practically gives most of the plot away before the book really even gets going, which was not a fun time. There is very little plot, no real character development or character arcs, and the climax is pretty much non-existent. (Tension? Never met her!) It’s just a bunch of coincidences and non-explanations, and very, very little substance. There’s also a lot of phrases and descriptions repeated over and over, which I never enjoy.

(From my notes: Sylvie says ‘my stars’ 10000x GIRL SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!)

The magical realism/fantasy is *very* light, and not explained at all by the end of the book. There was so much potential, and none of it is harnessed, and yes, I am salty about it. A lot of cool ideas that go exactly nowhere, and are given criminally little page-time for how the blurb promised me “fabulism”.

The main character is bisexual, which I very much appreciate, but even that is underutilized - and definitely not enough to justify the blurb saying this book explores “queer themes”. There is a non-speaking minor character, which I also appreciated, but they’re so minor I can’t even count that as a plus.

And then, related to the heavy-handed issue I mentioned above, there’s this pervasive vibe of gender essentialism that I did *not* enjoy. It’s hard to put into words, but this book just harps on and on about “all women are superior in these ways and that makes them good, all men are inferior in these ways and that makes them bad”, over and over, ad nauseum. It overgeneralizes the alleged differences between genders as a way to “lift up” women, when all it really accomplishes is to espouse the same divisive rhetoric weaponized against women, but with a shoddy coat of misandrist paint slapped over the top. I’m the brand of feminist who doesn’t need to tear down and alienate men to pursue equity and equality, so this really did not speak to me. For such a fascinating premise that’s inherently rife with feminist possibilities, this was an absolute let-down. I was looking for a feminist feast, what I got was a very shallow bowl of gender-essentialist soup. Minus one star for that alone, no thank you.

Final Thoughts:

This really should have been a hit for me, but overall, it’s shallow and underwritten, and I should have DNF’d, but hey, here we are. I will not be purchasing a physical copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Abrams Books for an Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Speculative and historical fiction meet in this story following a little-known piece of American history from the Civil War era. Wonderfully written through the lenses of narrative, letters, newspaper clippings, and Greek translation, the novel tells the story of Sylvie Swift, a woman born into a long lineage of strong female characters, with a link to the distant past. The mix of real historical events with Greek myth and monsters of old made for an engaging, fresh new twist on historical fiction.

Reading this felt somehow both grounding and dreamlike. Amazing focus on women’s rights throughout the ages tied with an individual woman’s journey towards inner peace and familial mysteries solved.

I can’t believe this is a debut novel! Very much looking forward to whatever Fawkes pens next.

DAUGHTERS OF CHAOS by Jen Fawkes gets all the stars for me. This book is flawlessly written. It’s a combination of Greek mythology and little-known history - Civil War era prostitutes in Tennessee. It comes together via a unique structure: letters to the main character’s daughters plus other documents we don’t usually see in a novel, and it all works well. The structure is an outgrowth of the main character’s passion, translation. Even the letters to the daughters are an act of translation. For me, the delivery of the story was intriguing in and of itself and made perfect sense for this novel. At the end of the book, I was happy to see the author includes a note about her inspiration and how this book came together in this unique way.

This is a wonderful novel with a great feminist message, strong female characters, and unforgettable monsters. I felt like this book was written for me, that I am a daughter of Chaos. Well-done.

Note: I received an advanced review copy of this novel free of charge via NetGalley.

Though this was an interesting story that does quite a good job at world-building, and crafting a story that mixes historical fiction with fantasy about a forgotten time in American history and the female experience.

This was a very strong historical fiction. The combination of Greek mythology and Civil War history was captivating and something I never would have thought to combine. It never felt like the seriousness of the topic at hand was overshadowed or down played. It was a quick read with strong characters that left me searching out other books by the author.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This text was... not my favorite. Chaotic is a good word to describe it. Flimsy and unbelievable plot that made little sense, unlikable characters, and it felt rushed.

Title: The Daughters of Chaos - A Mesmerizing Blend of World-Building and Historical Fiction

Rating: 3.5/5

"The Daughters of Chaos" by Jen Fawkes is a captivating journey into a meticulously crafted world that seamlessly blends elements of historical fiction with a touch of the fantastical. The novel immediately draws readers in with its enchanting cover, promising a narrative as mesmerizing as the imagery it presents.

One of the novel's undeniable strengths lies in its world-building. The author skillfully constructs a vivid and immersive universe, rich in historical detail and sprinkled with elements of fantasy. From the intricacies of societal structures to the nuances of everyday life, the world of "The Daughters of Chaos" feels both authentic and otherworldly. Readers with a penchant for well-developed settings will find themselves easily transported to this imaginative realm.

The novel's unique take on historical fiction adds an intriguing layer to the storytelling. The blending of real historical events with fantastical elements provides a fresh and innovative perspective on the genre. It's evident that the author has done their research, seamlessly incorporating historical accuracy into a narrative that also explores the boundaries of imagination.

The cover of the book serves as a visual invitation, and its beauty plays a significant role in attracting readers. The artistic design not only sets the tone for the novel but also serves as a testament to the care taken in presenting this tale. The allure of the cover is undoubtedly one of the factors that make the book stand out on the shelf.

However, as much as the novel excels in its world-building and innovative approach to historical fiction, it falls short in providing a clear and cohesive plot. By the end of the journey, readers may find themselves grappling with the elusive nature of the narrative. The novel occasionally reads like a historical fiction fever dream, where the lines between reality and fantasy blur, leaving readers searching for a more defined structure.

The lack of a discernible plot point and a conclusive ending might leave some readers yearning for a more satisfying resolution. While the dreamlike quality of the storytelling can be enchanting, it also poses a challenge in terms of providing a clear direction for the narrative. A more structured plot could have provided a more fulfilling reading experience, allowing readers to fully grasp the purpose and resolution of the story.

In conclusion, "The Daughters of Chaos" is a commendable work that successfully marries world-building and historical fiction with an artistic flair. It is a journey worth taking for those who appreciate immersive settings and innovative storytelling. However, for readers who seek a more defined plot and conclusive ending, the novel may feel like a beautiful yet elusive dream, leaving them with a sense of unfulfilled curiosity.