It is possible to say that there are few people who want to know the date of their death. They will not be happy to hear from you that they will die in a year, on January 1, 2027. They also will not be glad to learn that all their relatives and friends also will die that day. Thus, what should the person who knows this fact do to prevent the global catastrophe the origin of which is difficult to understand? “01012027. Only six months to live. I get a flash of his death…it’s Brutal, violent, a blow to the head, blood, brains” (Ward 7).
Adam, the main character of Rachel Ward’s Numbers 2: The Chaos, is challenged to know such a disastrous future. In her books, Rachel Ward vividly discusses such current and controversial issues as the threat of terrorism, of natural disasters and global catastrophes.
The corruption of governments, and the teenage problems on the background of the unknown coming tragedy in which the destinies of a lot of people will be involved. All these details make the book a wide and thrilling representation of the possible future which reflects in prose the best features of the modern disaster movies.
The plot of the novel is based on the depiction of the story of Adam, a teenager, who has a strange and dangerous gift or curse which he is inherited from his mother, Jem. Thus, Adam is involved in the world of numbers and can see the date of the person’s death in his or her eyes. It is suffering to have this knowledge and to feel all this pain. Adam and his great-grandmother are forced to go to London because of the threat of floodwaters.
Adam’s usual life is broken. He meets a lot of people in whose eyes he can read this strange date of their death. His classmate Sarah also tries to escape from her fears in this world because of her pregnancy and strange nightmares. The situation is too difficult and rather complex, but it requires its immediate solution because the dangerous date is coming.
Adam and Sarah’s lives are complicated by their difference from other people. They have their visions of global issues and want to find the solution to the problem of 01012027. Their characters are depicted as vividly and true to life. However, in spite of the fact, their behaviors are natural, they are not ordinary people. Thus, the major peculiarity of Ward’s book is the balance between fantasy and realism in describing the characters.
Moreover, the culmination as the end of the novel gives the readers space for thinking the plot over. Besides the author’s talented presentation of the protagonists, Ward addresses one of the most current topics of the modern world which can be described as the problem of the future. Futuristic considerations, predictions, and discussions of the global catastrophes are the peculiar features of modern art.
The book which is written by Rachel Ward is a successful fictional combination of all the aspects (mysteries, fears, tragedies, and the unexpected future) which can draw the attention of the contemporary reader who lives in the atmosphere of predicting the global catastrophes caused by numerous factors as, for instance, global warming. They are offered by the media and became the controversial topics for the wide discussions. Thus, chaos can be considered as a symbol of the situation in the modern universal community.
Works Cited
Ward, Rachel. Numbers 2: The Chaos. USA: The Chicken House, 2011. Print.