Chaos and Resurrection

While I'm still in the business of resurrection and peculiar epiphany, I have decided to bring this stub of a blog to life again.

=====

I've been reading John C Wright's Orphans of Chaos. He has this habit of writing fascinating novels which resonate to me of Peake, Zelazny, and Banks. He is not like Neil Gaiman at all.

Orphans is the first of a new series. It's a novel about five children in a very private school somewhere apparently north of Cornwall and south of Wales. And like all Peakeian institutions, it is staffed by people with suggestive names which turn more mythically resonant with time. Like Zelazny's Amber novels, it appears that the protagonist and her friends are much more than they seem, that they have been locked into the mundane while being something very much other. Like Banks, peculiar perspectives and technologies percolate around the plot, while gingerly avoiding the reassertion of disbelief.

It turns out that this is a world where four paradigms of existence oppose, dominate and are neutralised by one another. Each of the paradigms seems peculiarly fitted to one of the children. But there are five of them, and one is a key of sorts. Before long, the reader is drawn into a world of many gods, none of which are ultimately divine. All of these gods seek mastery over the universe, or are in the service of those who so seek. But they can be balked by philosophy and logic, passion and will - and this is exactly what happens. The teachers of the school are minor powers, and matters come to a head (they do, indeed) when members of the Board come a-visiting one evening.

The girl who calls herself Amelia is the first to find out what exactly the conspiracy behind the school is all about. The children are the descendants of Ouranos, a universal power from a time before time. They are potentially much more powerful than their teachers, and dangerous to the gods. Armed with this knowledge, she attempts to drive events towards some form of resolution, in which she and her friends will be free of the school forever.

But all four of the major contending powers have a stake in keeping them at school. And the masters of the school have their own agenda as well...

=====

Orphans of Chaos isn't Narnia or Harry Potter. It is something a lot darker than either, more profound, and richer in ideas. It is also an excellent read compressed into far fewer pages than your usual fantasy or SF potboiler. I recommend it heartily to anyone who has ever wondered about knowledge, truth, reality or existence - and anyone who enjoys a good yarn.