Customer Reviews

Orphans of Chaos

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I found this book to be intriguing. I did not necessarily love the characters, if fact I dislike most of their personalities, but I still feeled concerred for them. I still wanted to know what was going to happen to them. The very uniqueness of the story makes it slightly difficult to read, but more enjoyable to get through. What do I mean by that? Well if you don't have at least a cursory knowledge of greek myths and their pantheon of gods and godesses your going to have problems and get lost. You'll probably still enjoy the story, but you can start figuring out where things are going if you know a little background. Also, all of the characters have quite a few names that you must keep straight to figure out who is doing what to whom. I feel the complexity is a plus to the story, but if you don't want to have to think about character relationships you probably wont like this book. There is also a great deal of physics involved in this book . . . I assume accurate physics, but I really wouldn't know. I found it fun to try to work theses section out, but if you didn't want to you could easily skim over them. If you actually know a lot about physics they would probably be really fun sections to read. So, you see this is a complicated book, I liked that and I think it leads to a lot of interest and fun. However, if you don't want to think while you read I wouldn't try this book. Take a chance on something different and read this book.

The preceding customer review and the Booklist review summarize the plot very well, so I won't repeat what they've said. I'll just comment on what excellent adventure and mystery the novel offers. Who are these children? Why are they being held prisoner in a boarding school? WHAT are they?

Highly imaginative and suspenseful, this novel is what a fantasy should be (and very few are): an intriguing situation, a dangerous threat, and wonders of the impossible that are made real. I enjoyed every minute of it and am waiting for the conclusion with great anticipation.

Wright continues to amaze. This book is not really anything like any of his previous ones, except that it's wonderfully written.

Somewhere in rural England, there's an orphage. The orphanage houses only five children-Victor, Amelia, Vanity, Colin, and Quentin. They're significantly outnumbered by the staff, and despite receiving an excellent education, they're kept in almost prison-like conditions of discipline and restriction of movements. They've never made even an unsupervised visit to the nearby village.

Oh, and they all have unusual powers-different and apparently incompatible powers. Quentin's a warlock, Victor can change the molecular arrangement of matter, Amelia can see in four dimensions. If the physical laws of the universe are such that Quentin's powers can work, how can Victor's also work under the same set of laws?

There's also some mystery about their exact ages, and the larger mystery of where they come from. And now that they're approximately in their late teens, or perhaps early teens, or, just possibly, early twenties, curiosity and determination are overcoming deference to the adults they increasing regard as jailers. When Amelia and Quentin manage to eavesdrop on a midnight meeting of the Governors and Visitors of the school, all bets are off and they're in active rebellion against their captors.

But they still know only tiny pieces of what's going on.

This is truly excellent, although I need to mention that it's the first half, or possibly the first third, of the novel, not the whole thing. This volume doesn't end; it stops at a crucial point. Part Two will apparently be entitled Fugitives of Chaos. (That's less of a spoiler for this book than it might seem.) Nevertheless, Wright has delivered before, and I do highly recommend this one.

Orphans of Chaos was described to me as Harry Potter for adults. Students have magical powers, but as a slant, the teachers are actually their enemies. I don't think this comparison does an accurate job of portraying the mood of the book, but it comes close.

Orphans of Chaos - the first of a trilogy of fantasy books by John Charles Wright - takes place in an ambiguously old-fashioned boarding school in the UK, where five teenage students with no memory of their past start to realize their school is a jail, and their teachers are captors. The children stop taking their daily medicines, which awakens their dormant magical powers: each from a different and equally powerful paradigm. They slowly learn that they are hostages in a classic power play. All involved, including their teachers, are gods or servants of heaven. Narrated by one of the children - Amelia Windrose - they embark on a series of adventures to regain their memories, their powers, and escape their fate as political pawns.

The book is written in a somewhat florid style. I enjoyed the pace, which alternates between dialog and adventure. The language and plot elements are evocative of a pseudo-Victorian setting, though we later learn that the book takes place around modern day. All of the adventures and magic are entertaining. Though there may be an overload on the number of minor characters involved, all of the people (gods?) have intriguing backgrounds.

There are a few places where the book falls short. There's not a great continuity on which of the five children are involved in adventures or conversations. The children that are part of the action seem to be selected arbitrarily. Some of the descriptions of magic start out as plausible and easy to follow, and morph into the ridiculous by the end of the paragraph - I think this is done on purpose for comic effect, but I didn't find it very amusing, just annoying. In some places, we're given exposition in a very dense and unlikely format.

But perhaps most of all, I felt the light sexuality too overt and a little disturbing. This may be a credit for some of my readers, but I'm violently opposed to any glorifications of pedophiles in books. We never learn the girls' ages, but we know for sure that they're not women, even if they have the necessary features. And yet, the girls are constantly seducing or are seduced by their teachers. I can handle overtones, but the scenarios - especially towards the end of the book - were constant and served little or no purpose for the story.

I think I will read the rest of the trilogy, just to see how the adventure proceeds. And there's hope for the "bad guys" yet. I can't put a book down until I know for sure whether or not the characters are dynamic. There's a definite attachment for Amelia built up, and though the rest of the children sort of disappear towards the end of the book, I'd like to be reunited with them. The occasional flaws and annoyances are minor enough, and the concept entertaining enough that I'll continue reading. I recommend this book to any fans of young adult fantasy who aren't put off by wordy, moderately-paced stories.

This was an enjoyable book to read--really interesting concept. It was difficult for me to understand however, and I wish I was more up on my mythology--I found the cast of characters a bit bewildering and overwhelming because I wasn't familiar with the Greek gods' backstories, and I got lost with all the stuff about "dimensions", hyperspace, etc. I just had to let myself get lost in the words and get a general "picture" of what he was talking about. But the book was very well written and moving, and the students were compelling (Though I wish we'd gotten to know the other students besides Amelia a bit more.) I am looking forward to the sequel, and plan to do a little quick reading of Greek mythology before I approach the series again.

While I admit I had some trouble understanding some of the concepts introduced in this book (sometimes the philosophic/technical monologues of each of the characters, as well as their confusing name changes become rather hard to follow), once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. John C Wright is an extraordinary writer, it's been a long time since I've enjoyed a series this much. I really cared for each of the main characters (despite their flaws), and my appreciation for them and their radically different personalities and quirks only grew in the following books, which are even better than the first one... I strongly suggest giving these series a chance, it only gets better and better.

The first book of this trilogy introduces us to 5 special teens, who are held prisoners in a severe British institution/orphanage for reasons that aren't entirely clear to them at first, but that they slowly begin to understand as the special powers each of them posess start to appear, and they find out clues of what their true identities are. Having at least a basic knowledge of Roman and Greek mythology helps a great deal in getting the most enjoyment out of the series, but it's not absolutely required either. Wonderful series overall, my only complaint was that I was sad to see it end!

This was my first John Wright book, but it won't be my last. It stands out for the way Wright infuses a strangeness into everything--the characters, the setting, and the way magic/science works in it. The seeming normality at the beginning makes discovering the lurking strangeness even more wonderful.

When I read the reviews before reading the book, I worried that there might be too much quasi-philosophical discussion about the different paradigms (magic/science/dimensional topography/etc.) each character represents, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the dialogue moved right along, and the discussions help the plot rather than obscure it.

On the other hand, the plot doesn't actually move very far, nor is there too much action/suspense. Read it if you want curiousity and wonder, but not if you mainly want plot and action.

A very interesting read. My only problems with it is that there are times when it gets too technical and very boring, and that the author seems to have a domination/submission/bondage fetish which is shown through by the main female character. It just got a little disturbing at times.

I was very disappointed with this book. In the beginning, I was caught by how it describes the lives of the 5 students from the viewpoint of one of them.

But soon it degenerates into sexual fantasy and bondage. I'm really tired of how so many supernatural books do this, and it's just not necessary! Laurell Hamilton is the worst offender, but Mr Wright didnt need to follow suit. The characters have so many powers, and the worlds beyond Earth have so much potential.

Most people will disagree, but this is a personal review, not a "me too" popularity contest for votes.

Now that the release of book two in the Chaos series is due out in a mere matter of weeks, I'd like to post a review to encourage y'all to buy this one and pre-order the second, FUGITIVES OF CHAOS, so that you can then spend a year yanking your hair out wondering what happens next and what wonders will unfold.

Let's just say that Homer got reincarnated as a hot chick who met up with a younger Roger Zelazny (say, round the freaky seventies) and their love child is John C. Wright. Oh, and John Norman sent them a naughty and metallic baby shower gift, which was made up for by C. S. Lewis' sense of humor during the christening.

SOME SPOILERS (not too much) AHEAD. BE WARNED:

That's the environment, I speculate, that nurtured this exciting "Boarding School Kids with Super Powers" story. Only this school ain't no Hogwarts. And these kids are much smarter and sexier than Harry and Hermione and Ron. This headmaster makes girls swoon, which I doubt Dumbledore ever managed. And these kids don't want to be at school. They want to escape.

But if they do, all hell (and heaven and Olympus and Elysium and Tartarus and multi-dimensions) will break loose. Havoc, folks, havoc.

If you like Greek mythology, smart writing, gorgeous prose, engrossing dialogue, science, and math (I pretty much blanked out at those equational bits, though my husband, the engineer, asked I read them aloud to him)all bound up with exciting plot turns and a delicious sense of humor, and are grown up enough to handle a bit of bawdiness (which, please, what teenager didn't heave of bosom or become enamored of said bosoms, depending on sex or sexual orientation), then get this.

Others have pretty much set down the story, but here ya go:

Five kids who have forgotten where they came from and what their real names are, and who got to choose their own names (a source of some humor and characterizational insight ensues from this), start to push against the bounds of their imprisonment. Boundaries, actually. (And keep in mind, that these boundaries ain't simple ones like fences and landmarks. Magic plays a part. Perception and powers, too.) They've reached a point in their maturation where their abilities are manifesting. Teenage curiosity is no small thing, and rebellion is natural when one's life is so regimented.

The gifted five begin to learn bits and pieces, and then more, and then a lot more, about the nature of their captivity and of their captors. This is where knowing your Greek mythology pays off in spades (the slow reveal). But take heart, eventually, Amelia (the narrator) tells you outright what's up (from her POV and discoveries) and you'll be caught up nicely.

The scenes where the kids use their gifts are exhilirating. Especially Quentin and Amelia. Most notably, Amelia, whose ability strengthens and expands and is marvelous to read.

I don't want to give away plot points. I don't want to dilute the absolute pleasure you will have turning the pages of the exciting tale. But do know that you will be breathless by the last paragraph and want to bribe someone for the next installment.

It's a pity both 2 and 3 don't come out before Christmas. Just as waiting for Potter 7 is an ordeal of sorts, waiting for Chaos 2 has been tough. and waiting for Chaos three will surely be nearly unbearable.

John C. Wright is a terrible, awful man for ending on a cliffhanger. Shame on him for hooking me so utterly and leaving me flapping and hyperventilating in mid-air. But then, what does one expect from such creative parentage as Mom Homer and Papa Zelazny. (We try not to speak of Uncle "Gor". He scares the other kids.)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

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