I loved Infinity Alchemist, and though the emotions evoked by Chaos King are more complicated, I found it excellent and just as powerful. This world of New Anglia that Callender has created is a feat, with its beautiful alchemy and spirituality, normed gender fluidity, history and social hierarchy and politics. In this book especially, Callender illustrates how religious discourses can be manipulated to fuel hate and justify oppression/violence. And even with the often unflinching ugliness of the above, these books have a lovely conception of the interconnectedness of human beings and the universe that created them. Ash’s conviction of the fundamental inherent worth of every person and his desire not to take life is something we don’t see as often in this kind of dystopian fantasy, even in YA.

-mild spoilers-

In Chaos King, Callender takes Ash’s polyamorous relationship, started in the intensity of their quest and the ensuing trauma, and muddles it with real conflict and diverging beliefs/paths. It’s heartbreaking and painful but beautifully rendered. Book 2 really highlights how Ash’s different upbringing and social power make his relationship to the government/institutions of this world different from Ramsay and Callum. Callender shows the blinders of privilege, the way Ramsay and Callum are almost participating in gaslighting themselves. Ramsay’s notion that she has to prove herself, Callum’s idea that he can reform the system from the inside, in a twisted way these well-intentioned beliefs make it easier for them to be used. Callum in particular is like a frog in boiling water.

Ash’s character development continues to be so nuanced. I love his combination of impulsivity and self-reflection, wisdom and immaturity, hard won cynicism but prevailing love. The one thing I wanted more of from this book was a bit more page time for the transformation of Ash’s relationship to the chaos magic, from that of an addict to that of a mystic.

The ending was incredible and devastating. Overall I thought this was a masterful book 2, though I won’t be able to fully say how I feel about it until I know if this is the end or if there is a book 3.

Overall I liked this sequel better than Book 1 , because the established lore allowed for more focus on action and relationship dynamics
I enjoyed the intertwined dual romantic and political plotlines
Established polyamorous triad
Ash: 19yo trans man
Callum: cis man, military commander
Ramsay: gender fluid, academic
If you want a healthy portrayal of polyamory with communication and processing emotions, this isn’t it lol (MCs are young and messy)
Shows how governments generate blind hatred and violence toward specific groups of people as a means of broader social control
Treatment of alchemists mirrors transphobia currently IRL
Contemplates philosophical questions about freedom, love, class, and violence
THAT ENDING!!! My HEART! GAH!!
Content warning: violence, murder, injury, multiple character deaths

Right before I started reading this, I realized this is the second book of a series. With that, I'm thinking shame on me for starting this without the previous story because of my internal fear of being lost within a story if I start anywhere other than the beginning. Fast forward to me while reading, along with post reading, I must say that I was not lost at any point. For me it felt as if this story was the beginning part because the characters and storyline were so well fleshed out. I teared up while reading, I gasped, and I cheered. I definitely feared for Ash at points, but I respect Ash's character so much for the decisions made.

I am curious if there would be a third story. However, seeing as the covers of both books have a connection (the first cover features an upright triangle while this story's cover features an upside-down triangle). The last cover could very well be two triangles within each other and on point features the star and the world.

Chaos King, the electrifying sequel to Infinity Alchemist, surpassed all expectations! While it took a few chapters to fully recall the events of the first book (a personal lapse, not a flaw in the writing!), I was quickly swept away. The plot unfolded with breathtaking excitement, the intricate political intrigue keeping me enthralled from beginning to end. I was particularly impressed by the authentic and heartwarming LGBTQ+ representation. The positive portrayal of polyamory, especially for a younger audience, was a delightful surprise. Furthermore, the inclusion of a well-developed trans characters whose identity is not thier sole defining trait is a significant win, demonstrating thoughtful and inclusive storytelling. The narrative's satisfying conclusion, while cleverly leaving room for potential future installments, left me utterly captivated. In short, Chaos King is a phenomenal read—a resounding 10/10—and I eagerly anticipate its publication!

I absolutely loved Chaos King! Callender delivers a worthy follow up to Infinity Alchemist that picks up right where the first book left off, and then heads in surprising and mesmerizing directions. With consistently thorough character development and detailed world building, Chaos King explores themes of tolerance, religion, freedom of expression, class, trauma, oppression and identity in nuanced and insightful ways. Ash, Callum and Ramsey’s love is tested, oscillating from tender to tense. The ending was surprising but satisfying, though perhaps bittersweet. I will definitely recommend this to my students and my friends!

3.5/5 stars; NOTE: This is the second book in a series. The Infinity Alchemist comes first. If you choose not to read The Infinity Alchemist before this, I feel like you will be extremely confused. So beware before reading any reviews!

The good:
- I enjoyed being able to see more of the alchemist world since we did not see too much of that in book one, Kacen is an extremely creative writer and it's brilliant.
- EXTREMELY twisty, which kept me on my toes and also almost made me cry.
- I feel like the pace of the story was done well overall.

The loss of 1.5 stars:
- Typically I enjoy politics in books, but this was extremely heavy on a new political system that was not explored in book one at all and I felt quite lost at points when it comes to the politics.
- The ending left me so confused. I'm really not sure if anything else is going to happen or what, but it was not so satisfying of an ending.

Overall, if you liked the Infinity Alchemist for aspects outside of the romance, you'll like Chaos King.

A thrilling and fascinating sequel to Kaen Callender's Infinity Alchemist that really lived up to the thrall of the first novel and built on the story in new and uniue ways!

Chaos King, while beautifully written and filled with fantastic characters, left me a bit adrift with its open ending and unresolved relationships. Perhaps more is coming?

It is so refreshing to read a book with diverse queer characters. The three main characters are in a polyamorous relationship, which is rare to see in YA. This book picks up from the last book and goes more in depth into the fantastic world building of this universe. All together, I enjoyed this book more than the last one, and the ending leaves room for a possible sequel.

TLDR: I love this series. I like this book slightly less than the first book and that is just because I got so excited about the Poly relationship in book one and that is not the focus in this book. This one is a lot more about the growing instability that has come after Hain is killed. This is an amazing book about power and what people will do for it and with it. It also has some of the best queer rep I have ever seen.

Plot: This book broke my goddamn heart in a way that books I love less cannot. Ash is a part of me now. The struggle between the two people he loves most in the world and literally the rest of the world had me on the edge of my seat throughout this book. I cried, I gasped, and I was shook by the end. I had no idea where the plot was going a lot of the time I was just being torn in to pieces along with Ash while his world was being torn apart around him. I cannot articulate how much I loved this book. The only reason this is not a five star like the first book is I'm not as much a fan of the type of ending that this book has (going to try to leave this vague). BUT both of these books will live rent free in my head forever I love them so much and I think the ending makes perfect sense with how high the stakes are in this series. Also, I don't think I have ever read a YA series that held nothing back like this one does. Highly recommend. OH and I have to talk about how kickass the magic system is in this! The alchemy, the source, the chaos! OMG it is so beyond cool and consistent and I love it! Powerful but it makes sense and it still has it's limitations, this book is so good!

Characters: I love everyone in this book. Ash is a very complicated character with his problems and hes going through so much in this series, but that didn't make me love him any less. I also think hes a beautiful representation of non-binary transgender person. He is comfortable with some parts of himself but not other and I just love how much different gender and sexuality representation is in these books, its so beautifully handled all while there is a war a foot. Marlowe is also just an amazing women throughout this series, also a very complicated character with a loaded background who has been through a lot but fights for what she believes in anyway and I love her in this. (I talk about the other 2 main characters, Ramsey and Callum in my review of Infinity Alchemist which you can find on my Goodreads or Storygraph, link below)

Worldbuilding: Great urban magic setting. The houses that are all over what we know of as New England in the US and being connected through magic portals is so cool. I also love having the capital with some of the more powerful houses being in one city that has such an obvious split of the Houses and the other people. There is so much tension built with geography and the buildings in this series its really beautiful. Even having the religious House, Lune being so far from the others so they can do thins with no oversight until it's to late. Also it is very outside of time because of magic the technology is still a little old, with trains, and no phones, and a lot of teleporting around to see people in person. It's just neat.

Review by Nic @polycraftory on Instagram, Tumblr, and Tiktok, where I do book reviews and crafts with my polycule. If you are curious about my thoughts on more books, you can find me @businesswife on Storygraph. You can also find content warnings on my Storygraph review of this book. You can also find my reviews @polycraftory on Goodreads.

Ever since fighting against his father, Ash has been woken up by nightmares every night. In his dreams, he’s haunted by strange dark orbs and always wakes up by the screams of his dead mother. Convinced she’s trying to tell him that the world’s still in danger, Ash is determined to figure out what that danger is before it’s too late.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Teen for an advanced copy of Chaos King by Kacen Callender to review! When I read Infinity Alchemist, I definitely thought it was a standalone, so I was surprised to find that we got to return to this world. Callender adds another level of darkness and complexity to Ash’s world, making this book grittier than the first one.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this book was the relationship between Ramsay, Callum, and Ash. You don’t see polyamorous relationships often in YA, and the three of them are trying to make it work. Despite them not all agreeing on what route to take after the events of the first book.

We also get to see more of this world that Callender created, which has such an interesting magic system. By the end of the book, it does feel like there is more to the story, so I’m hoping that maybe there is one more book coming. There is some resolution in this, but I’m left wanting just a little more.

All in all, if you’re looking for a dark academia focused fantasy, definitely pick this series up!

I didn’t love the first book in this series, but many of its problems also may have came down to all the elements a first book must tackle. Given more familiarity with the characters in this second go-around, I was interested to see where the story would go from there!

I will say, I did like this one better than the first. For one thing, I think the pacing was more balanced here. This makes sense, as it didn’t have to do nearly has much heavy lifting with regards to introducing the basic structures of this society and magic system. That being the case, the story had more free rein to dive straight into the main plot and several intense action sequences. This same benefit extended to the characters. While I still don’t love multiple love interests, the longer I’ve spent with all three of these people, the more I came to care about their various travails.

However, I still found myself struggling with the swapping pronouns for one of the characters. Inclusivity is important, but there are practical realities of reading a story via the written word that does create barriers to how this sort of character is presented. As it stands, swapping pronouns often throughout the story left me struggling to piece together who was saying/doing what. And this markedly detracted from my ability to stay connected to the plot, as I had to constantly come out of the story to piece together sentences and scour previous bits for context clues. Like I said in my original review, I’m not sure what the solution is here, but I think in light of the very real limitations of the written word, simply sticking with “they” as a pronoun would have greatly improved the writing in this book.

I did enjoy the themes explored here. This society has very real boundaries placed on its people, and we see the struggles our characters go through. Beyond that, we have the exploration of themes regarding religion and magic, and the lengths people are pushed to in their devotion to their beliefs. Revolution stories are always a good time in fantasy!

That said, the book has an odd ending. I thought this was a duology when I picked this one up, but the end definitely leaves the door open for more, with several questions left unanswered. Ultimately, I think if you enjoyed the first book, this one will definitely hold up as a good sequel. Even for those who didn’t love the first book, this was definitely an improvement!

Rating 7: While it’s an improvement on the previous book, I still struggled with the readability at times, and the ending had me scratching me head a bit.

Link will go live on The Library Ladies on April 4

I liked Infinity Alchemist, but Chaos King left me feeling more drained than anything. It’s a strong sequel in terms of writing and worldbuilding, but the open ending and unresolved relationships made it feel unsatisfying. I think I would’ve preferred Infinity Alchemist as a standalone rather than ending on this note.

That said, the book does a great job continuing the story. Alchemist rights are in jeopardy, Ash is haunted by nightmares of black orbs and his mother’s screams, and there’s talk of revolution—it’s heavy, and the pacing keeps things moving. This one has more action than the first, which helps balance out some of the darker themes.

Kacen Callender writes beautifully, and the characters are just as compelling as before. But while I appreciated the story, it left me feeling more sad than satisfied. It’s a solid book, but not quite the sequel I was hoping for.

Personally not my thing as far as writing style, but if you can get through that, it actually ends quite beautifully.

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book to review.***

This book just ended up making me feel really sad. It's a bit of an open ending, but I wish it had tied up relationships more. I need more therapy after this book. Infinity Alchemist was one of my favorite reads last year, and I think I would've preferred it be a standalone then end this way.

I absolutely loved the Infinity Alchemist and the sequel was no exception. Alchemists rights are on the line, Ash is having nightmares about black orbs and his mother screaming, finding a way to speak with the dead, and a possible revolution of alchemists?!? This book was well paced, and I enjoyed hearing about these characters again! I felt this book was a bit more action packed than the last one and loved it. A great read for any fantasy lover!

This was a strong sequel to the Infinity Alchemist and enjoyed how it continued the story from that book. The overall feel worked with the world and characters that were built and enjoyed how good everything worked. Kacen Callender wrote this perfectly and had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed they feel of this. The characters were everything that I was looking for and enjoyed the concept for this. Can’t wait for more.