Author: John C. Wright
Cover Artist: Scott M. Fischer
Publisher: Tor
Binding: Hardcover
Publication Date: November 2005

Concluding my reading of John C. Wright’s latest offering, I was left with a realization that made in hindsight seemed rather unavoidable, and for those familiar with his prior work seemingly obvious, but admittedly not one that came to mind prior. Wright’s first offering to us came in 2001, The Golden Age, the initial book in a trilogy that bears the same name which was followed by The Phoenix Exultant, and brought to conclusion with The Golden Transcendence in 2003. A fantastic Space Opera that should and decorously is included in the number of recent efforts in the that particular sub-genre that both attempted and succeeded in revitalizing the notion and element of quality to a sub-genre that had recently become synonymous with popular and with few exceptions, rather awful franchise media-adaptations (fill in the blank, Star____). Indeed, it is my thought Wright should be included with the likes of other esteemed authors like Charles Stross, Ken Macleod, Iain Banks, and Alastair Reynolds among others in this regard. Wright followed the trilogy up immediately with a duology collectively called ‘War of the Dreaming’, a Fantasy work that qualified Wright as a versatile author, as comfortable bending human myth as examining the future human equation. ‘The War of Dreaming’ sequence, The Last Guardian of Everness, and Mists of Everness although released after, conceptually predated ‘The Golden Age’ trilogy. Thus, along with confirming the aforementioned realization above — that Wright’s combination of quality and consistent releases make him one of the more noteworthy SF/F writers since 2000 — his latest Orphans of Chaos, provides readers with a first look into Wright’s creative progress; and if initial impressions can be taken as a sign meriting any veracity, it’s the most promising beginning to a Wright scribed project yet.

On an estate situated on the English countryside, and more specifically through dialogue we can ascertain in Wales (perhaps the Gower Peninsula), sits a prison. In this prison a small faculty administers and governs the lives of five students giving them what may equal the best education our world has to offer. The prisoners suffer from no lack of nourishment, wear well-tailored attire, and their continued health is the subject of close scrutiny – perhaps even the gravest of concern — by all staff members. Paid for completely by trusts, these five orphans live in relative comfort, free of externally influenced worries and concerns that plague and perhaps lead others astray; an environment and condition desired and actively implemented by the school. The influence they can hinder, but cannot stop, is the innate desire of freedom, and perhaps even more so, adolescent curiosity, and the desire to apply the very knowledge afforded them by their captors.

Of the orphans, two are female, and five male, they resemble teenagers, but their actual age is a topic of mystery even among themselves. They are friends, in fact that is perhaps the one of two elements of their lives originating from a concept close to choice. The other is their names, which they chose for themselves: Amelia, Vanity, Victor, Colin, and Quentin. Victor, who seems to have an acknowledged, yet still quiet respect of everyone else, that one would equate with someone being perceived as the eldest of siblings. Mischievous, and opinionated Colin, whose eyes at time are as potent and takes on a quality reminiscent of the captors themselves. Beautiful and desirable Vanity, described aptly as solipsistic. Quentin, withdrawn, interestingly described: “He never claimed to be a warlock, and therefore we all thought he was”. We are gifted these observations from the vantage point offered by the remaining female, Amelia, whose perspective Wright chooses to narrate the story. Amelia is tall, athletic, and not uncomely herself.

On the surface, they are ordinary –- although obviously gifted – children. They glean a greater origin, however, through various craftily hidden clues they discover, unmistakably left in their own hand, but which none of them remember creating, much less hiding. These are their “Tales”, which serve as anchors to eaches personal reality, in the midst of another reality that they inhabit. Whether stories of space stations, a giant prophesizing the return of another Golden Age while dwarves work tirelessly in chipping it away from its frozen prison, a princess in a fairyland familiar with odysseys, a god’s cloak suspended on the North Star, a throne in a red-marble, floating palace from which one can view the world through a glass floor stretching for a hundred miles, these stories not only attach each Orphans to what they believe is their true selves; their existence becomes the coalescing mortar between the children themselves. On a night in which a meeting of import was taking place at the estate among the visiting Board of Governors of the school, Amelia and Quentin sneak out and witness this meeting that is more aptly described as a convergence of legendary and mythical power. Gods and Goddesses and their retainers present, as both allied, and non-allied Olympians representing numerous factions hold council to decide the fate of five children. Whether to retain the status quo, to kill them, or to place into custody to one of each faction of the pantheon to take one for themselves as assurances from each other to maintain the balance of power between themselves, in a time where the throne of heaven is vacant. Looming over all of them, and in truth the threat that promotes any cordial dealing between the Olympians is the mutual threat of what was described as the Rangnarok. They fear the wrath of Chaos; peace is maintained, Armageddon delayed, as long as they hold the hostages – scions of houses of Chaos:

‘The Dark rule dreams and Nightmares of Old Night; Cimmeria their land, Morpheus their king; the fallen rage in darkest Dis, weeping for lost Elysium, and the lost virtue, which, forsake, lost them all and everything. The Lost fall through the Abyss, silent and serene as rain, Typhon is their eldest, but the Lost will suffer no ones reign; the Telchine are their serfs on Earth, Ialysus their golden isle, rich with treasures wonderful and fine. The Unknown live beyond all things, in a Fortress Incomprehensible of unaccountable sides and unimaginable design, and prelapsarian, still laws recall that Uranus knew before his fall”

Wright succeeds on many levels with Orphans of Chaos. He taps into the well of admiration of mythology and myth, a prerequisite to the bulk of fantasy readers; dropping clues both vague and familiar, while not limiting himself to the history we all studied in school but extended the history of the Olympians to what amounts in some cases to the next generation of the pantheon. I found several enjoyable instances during my reading of simply trying to connect myth with character, history to character, and myth to history. What peaks interest is that Wright doesn’t settle for and limit the sources of myths he draws from. Indeed, one of the most enjoyable sequences was listening to a Siren detail the occurrence where she discovered the existence of the Christian god while attempting to entrap a priest in Carthage. There is also an effective balance struck with the narrative through Amelia. In the presence of all these fantastic occurrences in the children lives; from coming to grips with unknown power derived from Chaos, to being the chess pieces between gods and beings even older, Wright doesn’t ignore they are teenagers. The children bicker with each other, they tease each other, and we see the first glimpses of lifelong friends entering an age of sexual interest. What occurs is a coming of age story of beings that possibly count the passage of time with a clock that’s hours are marked by Ages themselves, not numerically. Orphans of Chaos also serves as a Fantasy that some Science Fiction fans can appreciate as well. This is a statement that is met with trepidation among exclusive fans of both sub-genres, but should not be. Joined with examples of myth and instances of the fantastic, Wright applies science in a manner that melds the two together, making both myth and science the ingredients of truth in his reality. The God of War:

“A Wide Web belt cinched his waist. A Japanese Katana, bright with a swinging tassel, rode on hip. At the other, a leather holster held a heavy pistol There was something in the way he walked — stiff, yet relaxed, calm yet somehow tense – that told of miles upon miles of marching to the music of drum and fife. “He passed in front of a lamppost that stood in the carriage circle before the East wing of the Manor House. The light made a slight rainbow effect as it slid around his body.”

“He is distorting a local time — space metric. Light is bending toward his as it would toward a black sun. He must be affecting the probability world–lines intersecting this moment in time”

Although the Zelazny comparison will probably be referenced many times over regarding Orphans of Chaos in coming months (which is certainly no cause of shame!), and certainly on some levels it’s an apt observation, however, the union of myths transposed and integrated into familiar times, and the Science/Fantasy is something we might expect to see out of Poul Anderson in his vastly under appreciated prime. Some readers, who are quickly tiring of publishers splitting books will have yet another example to gripe about; this one a particularly painful example, as this, the first half of a sequence to be continued next year with ‘Fugitives of Chaos’, is on my short list of favorite SF/F releases of 2005 – making the sequel one of the 2006 releases I am awaiting with greatest anticipation. Speaking as a fan Wright’s prior two forays into both Science Fiction and Fantasy, I found what equates to a best of both worlds in his latest effort. Wright reins it in a bit with this effort, but examples of his penetrating and extravagantly erudite prose that lavishes his Golden Age trilogy (which is also a source of some detractions) are timely, and effective. A treat, and a progression, from his past works that can be appreciated by fans of both prior efforts, and even more telling, I think for fans who only appreciated one or the other. A passage in the work describes quite aptly the process of Wright’s choices of projects this far in my opinion:

“You See I have always felt closed-in and trapped by our estate. No matter how handsome and fine the grounds, it was still a cage to me. My dreams were for far unguessed horizons, hidden springs of unknown rivers, unclimbed mountains shrouded in clouds. The edges of maps interested me more than the middles”

Some will feel drowned out in instances where history and back-story are explained and in turn, this is where others will find the most delight in the novel. For myself, I am one of the latter. I think the instances are above mere info dumps that some may identify them with. Wright finds ways to give us the essential history applicable to Orphans of Chaos that spans history itself, in I think respectable manner, although in some limited instances contrivance to facilitate the necessity may indeed be a valid observation. This is a work that will be judged ultimately by its sequel, a sequel that has been given no small task in fulfilling what is in my mind Wright’s most promising work yet, and my single favorite work by the author. Hard-line Science Fiction buffs may not be comforted, nor fans of what falsely passes as pure fantasy, but those who can relate with the last quoted paragraph I think have found a must read. My final grade for John C. Wright’s tale of the coming of age of chaos in the dominion of Homeric Lords, whose powers are as deeply rooted in metaphysical philosophy as it is pure advanced modern science; where the power of the word is not only exhibited by Wright’s application but also in-story, as there is unspoken power given in spoken oaths; where all, including Gods, demigods, witches, magicians, seers, vampires, sirens, golems, and other creatures of legend abound, cornered by a tenuous balance of fear between the allowed continuance of the lives of five children, and the fear of the reality altering Armageddon that would occur if they are harmed, and removed from their custody.

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Topics: John C. Wright, Orphans of Chaos, The Chaos Chronicles, Tor