Chaos Reigning by Jessie Mihalik
Series : Consortium Rebellion #3
Genre : Sci-fi Romance
Publisher : Harper Voyager
Publication Date : May 19th, 2020
Genre : Sci-fi Romance
Publisher : Harper Voyager
Publication Date : May 19th, 2020
Interplanetary intrigue and romance combine in this electrifying finale to the Consortium Rebellion series.
As the youngest member of her High House, Catarina von Hasenberg is used to being underestimated, but her youth and flighty, bubbly personality mask a clever mind and stubborn determination. Her enemies, blind to her true strength, do not suspect that Cat is a spy—which makes her the perfect candidate to go undercover at a rival House’s summer retreat to gather intelligence on their recent treachery.
Cat’s overprotective older sister reluctantly agrees, but on one condition: Cat cannot go alone. Alexander Sterling, a quiet, gorgeous bodyguard, will accompany her, posing as her lover. After Cat tries, and fails, to ditch Alex, she grudgingly agrees, confident in her ability to manage him. After all, she’s never found a person she can’t manipulate.
But Alex proves more difficult—and more desirable—than Cat anticipated. When she’s attacked and nearly killed, she and Alex are forced to work together to figure out how deep the treason goes. With rumors of widespread assaults on Serenity raging, communications down, and the rest of her family trapped off-planet, Catarina must persuade Alex to return to Earth to expose the truth and finish this deadly battle once and for all.
But Cat can’t explain why she’s the perfect person to infiltrate hostile territory without revealing secrets she’d rather keep buried. . . .
As the youngest member of her High House, Catarina von Hasenberg is used to being underestimated, but her youth and flighty, bubbly personality mask a clever mind and stubborn determination. Her enemies, blind to her true strength, do not suspect that Cat is a spy—which makes her the perfect candidate to go undercover at a rival House’s summer retreat to gather intelligence on their recent treachery.
Cat’s overprotective older sister reluctantly agrees, but on one condition: Cat cannot go alone. Alexander Sterling, a quiet, gorgeous bodyguard, will accompany her, posing as her lover. After Cat tries, and fails, to ditch Alex, she grudgingly agrees, confident in her ability to manage him. After all, she’s never found a person she can’t manipulate.
But Alex proves more difficult—and more desirable—than Cat anticipated. When she’s attacked and nearly killed, she and Alex are forced to work together to figure out how deep the treason goes. With rumors of widespread assaults on Serenity raging, communications down, and the rest of her family trapped off-planet, Catarina must persuade Alex to return to Earth to expose the truth and finish this deadly battle once and for all.
But Cat can’t explain why she’s the perfect person to infiltrate hostile territory without revealing secrets she’d rather keep buried. . . .
It almost feels like I've been waiting for this one for such a long time(just kidding, it's only been a few months) and I'm so happy that I got to read the final book in this trilogy early! The Consortium Rebellion trilogy has been a favorite of mine ever since I read Polaris Rising last year! With a beautifully developed interplanetary system, amazing characters and fast-paced action, it has quickly become one of my favorite sci-fi romance series!
In Chaos Reigning we've got Catarina, the youngest Von Hasenburg and her quest to find out more about the enemies who wish to bring the Von Hasenburg House and the Consortium down. Used to being underestimated, she plans on collecting the information that she needs at a summer retreat hosted by a rival House, when her sister Bianca tells her that she needs to take along two bodyguards, with one posing as her current fling.
Though she's intrigued by Alexander Sterling, she's not one to give up on her plans completely. After unsuccessfully trying to leave without him and his sister, she decides to let them accompany her to the retreat. With the war between the Houses ramping up, they need to find out the information quickly and when she's attacked at the party, the situation turns even more dire. It's now a race against time to unearth all the secrets needed to save her family and all the lives depending on them!
The book starts off really great with us getting to see the Cat behind the Society mask! She kinda reminded me of Catalina from the Hidden Legacy series in some ways! Refreshingly young, underestimated but with secrets and powers that she needs to keep under constant control! She's not as jaded as her sisters or as swift at planning out strategies like them, but she's skilled at building relationships, digging out secrets and working hard! It was amazing to see her work stealthily to root out the information that was necessary!
With lots of action and political intrigue, the book flew by fast! The characters had a lot going on for them and I loved seeing Cat's best friend Ying in this one! But on the other hand what fell flat was the romance! There was a good build up at first with lots of potential to take it further, but it just got lost in the chaos. Plus, after meeting Alex and Aoife in Aurora Blazing I was so curious about them, but there's little to no information about them in this one as well.
I love heroine-centric books and that's been my favorite thing about this trilogy with its strong and determined protagonists, but the reason why it didn't work out in the romance section here was the feeling that Alex was more like a supporting character. Aurora Blazing had a slow burn romance with a heavier focus on Bianca, and even though Ian is still an enigma till the very end, it worked out well for me because of the slow development of the relationship and Ian's steady presence throughout the story. Polaris Rising had a well-balanced set up with equal parts action and romance, even though it was a little bit of an insta-attraction scenario. Chaos Reigned had neither and that's where it falls a little short. Frankly, even that wasn't too much of a problem for me as I'm used to reading sci-fi books with minimal to no romance, but it's the potential for more that had me feeling a little disappointed.
It more than made up for the lack of romance, with tons of action and scheming. I also loved watching Cat become more confident in her skills and abilities! She's used to being overlooked and underestimated, but she pulled out all the stops in this one! There are still many loose ends left unresolved but I think it's meant to be that way and it worked out well! All the issues can't be resolved in one day and it also leaves room for possible sequels in the future! I would have loved it if there had been more about Ferdinand(and Evelyn) but I don't think there would have been enough time for all of that lol! I hope we get to see more books focused on the other siblings or even Ying in the future! *fingers crossed*
*I was provided with an ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review*
Jessie Mihalik has a degree in Computer Science and a love of all things geeky. A software engineer by trade, Jessie now writes full time from her home in Texas. When she’s not writing, she can be found playing co-op video games with her husband, trying out new board games, or reading books pulled from her overflowing bookshelves.
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