Chaos (I Died, Fortunately – Book 2)

If you remember about The return you will also remember about Oriana, Marc, Abel and Ama. Well their story continues in the second volume, Chaos, of the “I died, fortunately” series. And the second volume is as captivating as the first one.

The story continues with her life in the Chaos as it was given to her. She becomes a better person than she was in her previous life, she starts helping people and even feeling petty, a feeling she thought she was not capable of having. And yet she was there using her free time and her tip money to help others. Characters present in the first volume, like Viorel and his grandmother, also appear fugitive, but their purpose is less important now.

This volume focuses more on the decisions that Oriana makes and the feelings that she has, the way she develops as a soul savior.  She has moments in which she feels the need to do bad things to evil people, reveling the dark side that she wants to renegate, but  which burns silently waiting for a moment to explode.

Another important character that appears in the story is Gudila, a new savior who is left in the care of Oriana, a socially failed person who killed himself, but who is very wealthy and has no one to leave behind. But he is not happy. And the irony is that Oriana would like his destiny and he would like her destiny, but both of them know that this isn’t possible. Oriana must help him to adapt, but she is not very delighted about the idea, as she sees him like an irresponsible person with a mentality of a five year old and a vanity that passes any limits. So she does not stay around him very often, although she should, which leads to his first mission to be failed.

The fact that Gudila failed his mission, her close relation with Marc and the fury bursts that she has unsatisfy the characters from the other world (I don’t know how did the writer thought about them: saints, angels, other saviors?).

She starts to be more and more confuse and stressed out, especially since Anais, the owner of the bar she works in, lost it in a poker game, from which things escalated badly.

She is on the verge of being extracted from the Chaos when she meets Astrid, her friend from the other life, but she finds that this does not happen and starts to wonder why.

In her fear of being extracted, she confesses to Marc that she is in love with him, but then regrets it. But why wasn’t she extracted?

And the plot starts to become more and more intriguing as she starts making friendships more and more tight with people, and since she assumes a role of a savior also for people who are not in her scope for saving.

Things escalate pretty quickly in a manner that she would have never thought and would have never predicted. Her feelings for Mark start getting stronger and stronger, even if her common sense tells her to stay away as he has lost his moral sense and is not the man who she thought he was.

As I was reading more and more from the book, I started being more confused. Some questions were answered and some others appeared. The plot honestly was even more intriguing then in the first volume. Characters are starting to develop and to reveal more clearly. Each one starts to define what he or she thinks about someone else and relationships between people start to tighten, which makes things even more complicated. Maybe because you are fond of the friendship between Oriana and Mati or of the love between Oriana and (maybe) Mark. You are intrigued by the way relationships evolve and you are sad when something goes wrong. In some way the book is also psychological although I don’t think this was the purpose, because different people typologies are revealed and different reactions are offered in different situations, showing how totally opposite people react to the same events. For example, when Oriana and  Gudila were alone with the devil chasing Marc, she was intrigued, almost frightened, trying hard not to be influenced by it to let him go, whilst Gudila was relaxed just typing the phone like nothing has happened.

In the end, the life of Oriana changes suddenly and I, personally, I expect that nothing that she encountered in this volume will encounter in the following volume, “On the other side”. I am anxious to see how things will evolve, or maybe escalate in the future.

This story has kept me awake literally. The other night I stood awake from 1AM till 7AM in order to finish it because I was too curious (ok, maybe the mosquitoes had something to do with this, but the book was also a reason) and I don’t regret, although I am so sleepy that I could fall asleep on the keyboard while writing this article. But I am happy. Happy to have reached the end of volume two, happy to finally see some affection signs between Marc and Oriana, and if my suspicions are correct, even between Ama and Abel. I mean they quarrel all the time, but they seem to enjoy it. It starts to become more like a ritual to them, and some words they throw sometimes sounds like teasing. But anyway. I’ll see.

So, let’s start “The other side” to see what’s next.

© picnicontheshelf, July 13, 2018