Numbers 2: The Chaos by Rachel Ward

On the Back of the Book

Like his mum before him, Adam sees numbers - death dates in people's eye. It's hard enough living with this terrible gift but life is about to get tougher.

Adam sees that everyone around him has the same date: 1st January 2027.

Something huge is going to happen.

Something bad. But what is it? And what can he do about it?

My Thoughts

Numbers 2: The Chaos is one of those books where you reach the end and your brain is so exhausted by the awesomeness of the book that it's just a jellied mess in your head and it can't even remember how to spell your name let alone write a coherent review. (Just for the record my name's spelt like this: Charmaine. =P) I am blown away by the book, it has everything that I want from a book: strong leads, a hint of romance, a proper plot and the ability to leave me craving more. The plot had a great pace which sweeps you along with it.

The two main characters are different in this book. First up we have Adam, who is the son of Spider and Jem from book one. Like his parents he's got a lot of anger inside him and a hatred of the world and everything in it. As it tells you on in the blurb he inherited the ability to see numbers off his mum, but as far as I'm concerned he also inherited hr big heart. He refuses to give up on those he loves, even when they want him to. The other main character is Sarah. She's a pregnant teen with more than one dark secret. I can't tell you those because you should know how I am about spoilers. Anyway I personally related with Sarah more than Adam, we have things in common. Well technically it's one thing but it's not something you get much in YA. Both of the lead characters are painstakingly realistic with their mannerisms and attitudes. Characterization is definitely one of the many areas where Rachel Ward excels.

In a nutshell I adored this book. The characters, the plot, the writing, it's all sublime. I kept finding myself being dragged back in even though I'd already read the book, it just wouldn't leave me be. That for me is the sign of a good book. Another thing, I also had this book play like a movie in my head, I have to admit that it's nice to read a book where you're shown things and not told them.

My Rating

4.5 stars - I can't quite bring myself to give this five stars. I think it might be because it took a while for the plot to kick in. To be fair though,  a 4.5 is nothing to be ashamed of, well not on this blog anyway. Unfortunately this high quality has a down side, I'm now nervous when it comes to reading book 3, I don't want to be disappointed.

A Final Note

There is quite a lot of the F-word in this book and if you're new to my blog you won't know this, but it means I don't recommend it to under 14s. I don't like the idea of young teens picking up bad language from books.

Also Tara over at Basically Books =) has reviewed Numbers 2: The Chaos. You can find it here.

• Book summary from the back of the book
• Image from Google