The Chaos King

The Chaos King
by Laura Ruby
Recommended Ages: 12+

In this sequel to The Wall and the Wing, Georgie has a bit of trouble adjusting to the change from being an unwanted orphan to the richest girl in the universe. She has her rare ability to turn invisible, but the boy she cares about has let his fame as a Wing – someone who can fly – go to his head. Though Bug doesn't really enjoy all the perks of being the airborne equivalent of a star athlete, he goes along with everything his agent says because he has to. But he doesn't understand why things aren't working out with Georgie. Meanwhile, she has to face the other girls at an elite school where, it should be no surprise, a girl who went from unwanted orphan to richest girl in the universe isn't kindly looked on. The loneliness of these two kids, and the bad feelings that come between them, are enough to stir the reader's sympathy, even before they get embroiled in a mystery involving a social clique of bored vampires, giant extinct creatures coming inexplicably to life, stone lions that stalk the basement of the public library, secret passages, double agents, an avant-garde art show that goes completely mad, and a seemingly all-powerful villain who has evil designs upon reality as we know it. Or rather, as Georgie and Bug know it, in their somewhat magical alternate world.

Georgie finds a girl who she thinks understands what she's going through, but she ends up disappointed. A homeless man with an army of cats finds himself on the run from a deadly enemy. Plots and counterplots, violent attacks and hostage situations, monstrous rampages and heroic saves, and embarrassing moments captured by news cameras (or worse, missed by them) change the fortunes of the two hero kids, test their ability to rely on each other, and begin to reveal deeper feelings in a story that seems to beg for another installment – though, more than a decade later, none has materialized.

Laura Ruby has also written the two "York" books (The Shadow Cipher and The Clockwork Ghost), plus several other books including Lily's Ghosts, I'm Not Julia Roberts, The Boy Who Could Fly, Bone Gap and, due to be released later this year, Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All.