Chaos Mode

• Publisher:   Ace
• Number Of Pages:   368
• Publication Date:   1995-01-01
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   0441001327
• ISBN-13 / EAN:   9780441001323

Accompanied by a king from another planet, a telepathic horse, and a strange, tentacled alien, Colene is heading home to Earth to reunite with her estranged parents--and to put aside her troubled past once and for all.

This is a very good book as all the books in this series are. However, if the only thing you've seen of Piers Anthony is his Xanth series that is so popular, then you may want to screen this for the kids. All of these books deal with adult issues. You can judge whether someone is mature enough to read it, but all the books in this series follow a girl who is suicidal, the older man she loves and who loves her and their various companions. They deal with issues like suicide, rape, sex, etc... They do it in good way that is relevant and fits into the story. The story is about a girl Coleen, who was raped at a party once. Her father is an adulterer and her mother is a drunk. She puts on a good act and is a very popular girl on the outside, but cuts her self and frequently contemplates suicide, though she's very smart. One day on the way home from school, she comes across a man passed out in a ditch. Her suicidal nature leads her to take him home. After learning a little of each others language, he says that he's from another world/mode and that he wants to take her to be his wife there. She doesn't believe him and he disappears. She believes him and realizes she's made a mistake and he realizes he shouldn't have left. The method he takes is random though and the only way to reliably get back to Coleen is by invoking a virtual mode. The rest of the story is about how Coleen and Darren are trying to find each other and get back to his mode. They continuously encounter problems and solve them with the help of their friends from the other anchor modes. The whole time Coleen is trying to deal with her issues so that she can be with Darren in a health relationship. So there are many different things going on in this series and I have just gone over the general gist so that I don't give anything away. Everything is done in a tasteful manner, but as I said it contains very adult subject matter. Enjoy.

I have enjoyed his books for a while, and I couldn't wait till the next book came out! Too bad it ended after only four volumes. A fun, light read if you enjoy witty fantasy/sci-fi.

This is the third book in the "Virtual Mode" series and although I loved the first two, I really didn't like this one as much. Others might though.

I just finished reading this book last night. I love the Xanth series and I enjoyed the first two books in this series. However, this book is not as good in my mind as the first two. The author spends quite a bit of time repeating what happened in the first two books. It is a series, it would be expected that people would have read them in order and know what was going on. Perhaps there was a long time between the 2nd and 3rd? I didn't check on this so am not sure. There were some very good parts and I did enjoy the interactions between the characters but it did get annoying to keep seeing Colene referred to as a "vessel of dolor". At least use different words once in a while. And it seemed like Colene's parents gave in to her relationship with Darius very easily. I know they were afraid of losing her again and Seqiro helped mentally, but she is only 14 and he is much older. All in all, it was good but seemed rushed. I would still recommend the series and am eagerly waiting to see what happens in DoOon Mode.

Anthony spends too much time in this book setting up scenery and action and although the characters interact, I don't get the sense that they care too much either way. Colene's science teacher introduction was good, but I can't understand why AFTER she was [forced to make love] she got a crush and started flirting with the teacher. And it was INCREDIBLY convenient that the one thing she remembers in biology has to do with Burgess. An ok read, but didn't make me jump out of my seat.

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