Sidekick Short Review: Climate of Chaos (2025) by Cassandra Newbould

cover image of Climate of Chaos by Cassandra Newbould, published by Peachtree Teen, 2025.

The Basics

Page Length: 384

Audiobook Length: ~14 hours

Grade Reading Level: 9+

Target Audience Age: 14+

Goodreads Score: 3.83 out of 5

Buy it HERE

Setting: A dystopian Seattle and the surrounding areas

Genre: Dystopian Fiction

Topics: Storms, Viruses, Unethical medical practice, Equality, Survival, Resistance

Plot: Fox La Rosa has always dreamed of being a merc—or a “meecenary,” as her settlement calls them. She lives in the Beyondlands, the dangerous areas around Seattle left unprotected by the Aegis Corporation’s domes. These domes shield city residents from the deadly storms and extreme weather that have made Cascadia a ruinous place—but outside, survival is a daily gamble.

After their parents died in a Widowmaker storm, Fox and her younger sister, Rabbit, were taken in by their aunt and joined her mercenary settlement, Still Alive. The group fights to restore equal access to healthcare and medicine for people living beyond Aegis’s “protective” domes. Out here, even a minor infection can be fatal. Medical care is scarce, and medicine is bought with hours—hours of labor in the cities that can cost a lifetime of servitude.

When Fox and Rabbit’s mission to steal antibiotics goes wrong, they make a shocking discovery: Rabbit is immune to the virus that kills so many. The city authorities seize her, enrolling her in the so-called “Giver Program,” a project claiming to find a cure for all. Determined to rescue her sister, Fox joins the Storm Runners—a ruthless, elite military group inside the domes. The trials are deadly, and many never make it through initiation.

But as Fox and her team dig deeper, they uncover dark secrets about the government and the Aegis Corporation. The domes are not the safe havens everyone believes them to be.

Suddenly, Fox’s mission is no longer just about saving Rabbit. It’s about stopping a threat that could destroy all of Cascadia. Time is running out, and failure is not an option.

Themes: Class Hierarchy, Disability, Healthcare as currency and inequal access to it, Family Loyalty, consequences of climate change/ecological collapse

You might like this book if you like:

• Protecting the planet

• Storm chasing or extreme weather

• Practicing survival skills

• Books like All Better Now, Parable of the Sower, We Set the Dark on Fire, The Marrow Thieves, It Doesn't Have to Be This Way

• Shows like The Last of Us, Paradise, The Society, Utopia Falls, The 100

• Movies/Books like The Giver, Maze Runner, The Hunger Games, Divergent, The 5th Wave, Ready Player One

  
  

Other books written by this author: Things I'll Never Say, Every Body Shines: Sixteen Stories about Living Fabulously Fat

Content

• Language: Mature language occurs sporadically

• Sex/Romance: Most of the main characters have romances/relationships. Sex is alluded to, but there is never any description. Some kissing.

• Violence/Scariness: This book has quite a bit of violence. Oppressive military forces kill citizens. People die in storms, and people are subjects of unethical medical testing/experimentation. Some characters fight and kill each other. People die of a dangerous virus that causes them to bleed from their eyes.

• Drinking/Smoking/Drugs: Characters steal life-saving drugs from a hospital. When one character gets injured, she's advised to keep taking powerful drugs to hide her pain.

  
  

Book Talk Read Aloud Section

*What is a book talk? (Watch a how to video here. Read my blog post here)

If you have the physical book, read pages 1-3

If you don't, read the same pages in the Kindle reading sample here.