6.2 /10 1 Votes6.2
Language English ISBN 978-1-84631-179-6 Originally published 2009 | 3.1/5 Goodreads Publication date 2009 OCLC 461263735 Country United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Pages 263 pp (first edition, hardcover) Genres Novel, Science Fiction, Speculative fiction Similar Works by John Wyndham, Science Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Plan for Chaos is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham first published in 2009. Wyndham was working on it about the same time as The Day of the Triffids, but it was rejected by publishers on both sides of the Atlantic and never published in his lifetime. Wyndham himself abandoned it, telling Frederik Pohl in 1951: "I've messed about with the thing so much that I've lost all perspective".
Contents
It was eventually re-discovered after the John Wyndham Archive was acquired by the University of Liverpool in the UK and was published on the fortieth anniversary of the author's death, under the planned US title Plan for Chaos; the planned UK title had been Fury of Creation.
Plot
The novel begins as a hard-boiled detective thriller in what is presumably New York City, about thirty years or so after the end of the Second World War - a future date at the time of writing. Once the chase is on, the story moves into SF themes, and shifts to a hi-tech hideout deep in the jungle, where Nazis are cloning an Aryan master race. While the clones zip around in flying saucers, the Nazi high command prepares for world domination by tricking the USA and Russia into starting a nuclear war.
Reception
Science fiction author M. John Harrison was unimpressed by the book, declaring it "almost unreadable". Jake Kerridge from The Daily Telegraph, however, stated that Wyndham utilised some of his later themes in the novel resulting in an entertaining read. Leo Mellor from The Independent conceded that it was not "an extraordinary lost masterpiece", but was nevertheless "fascinating."