A Unity of Chaos

by Elliott Cross

The chosen priestess on a journey through Tartarus.
A dangerous warrior battling the sins of his past.
A master conspirator at war with everyone around him.
A dutiful soldier on a difficult mission.
A mysterious general leading the Army of Justice.

Five lives interwoven in a unity of chaos. Five destines. Five ways to die.
And in the afterlife of Ancient Rome, death is only the beginning.

263 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2013

About the author

My name is Elliott Cross, and I am the author of the fantasy fiction series, Archangel.

I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with my wife and fellow writer, Allyson Giles, and our daughter Juliet. The first book in my Archangel series was published in 2011, the second in 2013, the third in 2015, and the fourth and final book in November 2019.

Visit my website at www.elliottcross.com and contact me anytime at neovitapublications@gmail.com.

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Unity of Chaos is truly a epic tale. Elliott Cross has further developed his Neovita and the characters within and described it in such a way it all comes to life.
I love the way he narrates every chapter from a different characters. This makes it quick moving and keeps it interesting.
The story weaves in time and place through the different characters and places. It is great to jump into the minds of these different characters, very cleverly done.
Also the illustrations, cover and map are fantastic, great job Ihsahnity (Erik Doppenberg).
The book as a whole, story, characters, illustration are a great improvement on his first book.
A fantastic read and I recommend it to all.

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yuck! Blurb on Amazon had an interesting premise, but I can't get beyond the grammatical and word choice mistakes ("hone into view", for example). Writing has little or no character development, and tells us the story rather than showing us. Lots of descriptive words, most of which could be discarded and not really hurt the mood or the meaning of the passage. Viewpoint switches from omniscient to single character and back, all without really telling us much about the characters.

The story itself is pretty much bad fantasy-animation: "good guys" vs "bad guys" with evil liars, self-serving brutes, cold-blooded killers, enigmatic and seductive fallen angels, and sweet-but-probably-a-bit-too-clueless human priestess who finds herself in a pickle and can't decide whether she loves (or just lusts after) the sort-of-hero. His job is merely to survive so he can fight. Or maybe it's fight so he can survive--to fight, of course. He thinks a LOT about his body.

There is a lot of blood, but not much of it affected me as a reader. I was bored from page one but decided to give this writer, who is new to me, a chance. I read the next 75 pages. Still bored. I skipped to the last 75 pages of the book and the same characters are still sticking each other with swords and kicking (the fights are described in loving detail) and punching for good measure. There is a bit of kissing, but no emotions seem to be involved, unless you call lust an emotion. I don't.

I finally gave up about 50 pages before the end. The "date finished" is more of a "date abandoned". Maybe I'll pick it up again in the afterlife.

[Jacco Van wingerden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Unity Of Chaos is a very worthy sequel to The Last Archangel. And just as it was with the first book, I have spent ages (or at least, that's what it feels like) in anticipation, only to find myself having read it in just a few days. The story continues, but somehow Elliott has managed to capture even more suspense in his second novel over the first one, making it a true pageturner.
It had been quite a while since I had read the first book, so I almost experienced reading this book almost as it was on it's own. And as Allyson Giles wrote; the book can be read as a sequel as well as stand-alone. However, in my opinion the book is much more captivating as a sequel to The Last Archangel.
Being a reader who usually isn't much into the fantasy-genre, I was once again surprised how the story caught me and really made me almost be present in the mysterious surroundings the story takes place in. Surroundings, as imaginary as they might be, are recognizeable through the symbolism and the eternal conflict between good and evil. In many ways the plot isn't all that far away from our real and everyday lives. And just as in real life, the story has quite a few surprises and twists that catch you by surprise.
Reading the first book again after this one I notice that Elliott has managed to find a way to introduce the characters more thoroughly without slowing down the pace of the story. Overall it feels like the story and characters have grown up more and both are here to stay, leaving a reader like me eagerly anticipating the third book.

[David Biondi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so much better than the first. I feel like Cross really found his stride in this novel. The big thing was the switch from 1st to 3rd person. In doing this, he allowed us to get to know each of the characters that were only glanced upon in the first novel. The book is a very quick read and has tons of action in it. There's also a few nice twists in it as well. Go check it out!

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one even more than the first book. Really liked the chapters from different viewpoints, and getting a better feel for older characters, and excitement over newer characters. It's a fast read, grabs one's attention and goes with it. Look forward to the author's next book!