Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained from the publisher in advance of the book's release on October 3, 2023 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.
A Necessary Chaos is a fantasy novella from author Brent Lambert, which features a pair of spies from opposing sides - one from an Empire's most deadly secret services and the other from a revolutionary group which fights for freedom from said Empire - who have fallen for each other...until they each get the order to dispose of the other and their M/M romance gets put to the test by the horrors committed by said Empire. Oh and the world is divided among three Empires which each keep power through the use of magic from horrifying sources - the main empire for example uses magic derived from magic speech that comes from a "Torture Dimension".
The result is a story that features a strong relationship at its core with its protagonists Vade and Althus and is very easy to get engrossed in and which has a pretty satisfying ending. At the same time, it does punt away one of the more interesting ideas in its concept by its midpoint, which prevents it from quite being as interesting as I'd hoped. Still a solid novella - for more, see my thoughts after the jump.
Plot Summary:
From the outside, Vade and Althus may seem like two ordinary businessmen who have fallen for each other - they love each other's bodies, their personalities, and the games they play to get them each in the mood when they encounter each other. But neither is what they seem: Vade is a Whisper from the Amos-Morbine Compact, one of the three powerful empires that rules the word, and Vade's ability with the powerful Two-Voice magic makes him an utterly deadly secret agent; Althus is a member of the revolutionary group the Phantom Dragons, who himself uses his stolen Two-Voice abilities to aid their cause against the Compact. Both of them know the other must be aware of their true identities and tell themselves the relationship is only for espionage purposes....but both know in their hearts they're lying.
So when the order comes from both of their organizations to dispose of the other, the two find themselves from lovers to open enemies...until a truth about Vade's status in the Compact comes out and changes everything....
Thoughts: A Necessary Chaos starts with an interesting premise, even if it's one we've seen before (because it's a good one): two secret agents from opposite sides fall in love and have to kill each other. And the novella tries at first to make it seem like this will be a real incredibly hard conflict: Althus knows that the Compact and the other Empires are monstrous in how they control the world through oppression while Vade believes that the order provided by the compact - an order that rescued him and his sister when they were orphaned - is necessary and that Althus' group's actions in causing destruction and collateral damage are the real unnecessary atrocities. But by the midway point of the book this conflict is tossed aside - the Compact it is revealed (not really a major spoiler) has done experiments on Vade and misused him and Vade turns entirely to the side of the Phantom Dragons...so we don't really have a long struggle between the two's political views and factions here as might've been in another story.
That aside what we do have here in A Necessary Chaos works really well. Vade and Althus' passionate relationship works really well together as does their actions when they learn new information about the dark power hidden inside of Vade and others. The way the two go about handling matters once things are revealed is similarly excellent, and while the ending features one plot point getting revolved a bit too easily (there's a monstrous antagonist who is built up as extremely dangerous and must run from who is then tossed aside in favor of the more personal antagonist who is for some reason stronger) it ends in a way that works perfectly with the ideas of magic in this book and the ideas of the two main characters' romance. In short, while this isn't quite as interesting a novella as I'd hoped for, it's still a very solid and immensely satisfying one and thus recommended.
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