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Mar 16, 2010

Wealhtheow rated it:

Amelia, Vanity, Colin, Quintus and Victor are the only students at a strict English boarding school. Slowly, they discover that they have secret powers and abilities--and that their teachers are much more than they seem. The adventures, and the tangled Greek mythologies that provide the backdrop, are a great deal of fun and quite exciting. Unfortunately, the author is a little too excited by the prospect of tying up Amelia and putting her at the mercy of lecherous old men. Her heaving bosom More...

5 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Danielle rated it:

I was pretty excited and anticipatory of a new, favorite author when I first started this book. But then I hit the first time the main female character had her initial taste of bondage, and got all 'excited'. Uh... Maybe there was a reason, and it had something to do with the plot. I kept going.

I realized after a few chapters that it did have something to do with the plot; or rather, the sci-fi plotline was a thin excuse for this porn-hound of an author to revel in his rape fantasie More...

5 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jun 12, 2008

Trin rated it:

In which a cool opening about a quintet of orphans with amnesia being held captive by their teachers in the English countryside is ruined by the author’s deeply skeevy sexual politics. I knew I was in trouble the first time the—supposedly kickass and named for Amelia Earhart—female protagonist said in her narration (I’m paraphrasing but only slightly), “What woman doesn’t secretly want to kiss a man who’s pinned her down and won’t let her go?” UM, I DON’T AND I BET THE MAJORITY OF YOUR RAPIDLY F More...

12 comments like (5 people liked it)

Apr 17, 2008

Loni rated it:

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1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Apr 02, 2008

Ryon rated it:

Currently, I'm not liking this very much. The idea is creative, the implementation lackluster.

About 33% into the book, it has taken a turn for the fucking bizarre, and not in a good way. I'm also irritated at the pseudo-profound, pretentious, pathos-ridden speech the children have in this book. I am always irritated when child characters speak with a wisdom beyond their years, like Haley Joel Osmond in "Pay it Foward". From the mouths of babes comes total drek.

5 More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2008

Alicia rated it:

I got this book as a gift, and I am grateful! It makes me wish I had more than a passing knowledge of Greek mythos, though it's not necessary to understanding the book. It is the best combination of fantasy and sci-fi I've seen in a very long time. It reminds me very much of the Incarnations of Immortality series, in the deft combination of modern science with ancient culture. There's math and physics and gods and goddesses and the mystery of not knowing who's side you're suppose to be on. More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 07, 2008

Eric rated it:

This book sets up the series and so spends alot of time explaining itself and creating backstory. I can't say that this is a particulary good or bad thing just that in a book this complex that covers as many ideas flying fast and furious it is apparently necessary. I really became bogged down at times because of some of the more convoluted logic that flows from some of the characters but I do have to say that all of the characters are very well written and feel alive. Unless you are either wi More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 28, 2009

Phoebe rated it:

John C. Wright's Orphans of Chaos has a terrific premise. The novel opens in an English boarding school, home to five incredibly bright students who have been raised there since birth. Mysteriously, they have been unable to reckon how much time has passed within the school's walls, their own ages, or where the boundaries of their home lie.

The early chapters are told through a series of slightly surreal-feeling vignettes. In a non-linear fashion, we are introduced to Amelia and her " More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 20, 2012

Britta rated it:

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0 comments like

Sep 08, 2010

Nichole rated it:

This book is about 5 children being raised in a bording school who find out that four of them are the children of Titans and one is the princess of a fairy realm and that they are actually being held as hostages of a war between the Greek Pantheon and the Titans after the death of Zeus.

The book starts out well enough but unless you are good at quantum physics and theoretical Mathematics the conversations of the children regarding the study and application of these topics is more of a More...

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Jul 11, 2009

Andrew rated it:

Having just finished this book with the next two volumes sitting on the shelf, I'm not quite sure what to think.

Wright has no end of imagination, and every new character is spelled out in loving detail, expanding a fantasy cosmology that covers everything from the true origins of Jesus Christ to multidimensional hyperspatial beings. While that sounds promising, the actual book itself doesn't really go anywhere, with the main character at the end of the book ending up pretty much exa More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jun 12, 2009

Bruce rated it:

5 stars? Well, maybe that's too much. But after giving four stars to Well of Stars and Ghost Brigades, this is clearly a 5. Really, what we need is a 10 point system, or perhaps one that allows decimals.

And perhaps 5 stars is unjustified because this is not really a complete book. Like Wright's Golden Age trilogy and the Everness duology, this is really one giant book spread over three titles.

So.... what is cool about this book? First, it's nice to read something whe More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 06, 2010

Resmiranda rated it:

I won't lie, I liked this book. It was engaging and intellectual without being too terribly pompous. Though normally I run screaming from any book that involves the Greek gods, the various explanations for the universe and how the gods and orphans operated in it were exciting and full of potential, and any book that has a four-dimensional narrator is going to get a lot of passes from me. That said, there were parts that were highly convoluted and not well explained, and though the narrator was a More...

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Sep 15, 2009

Neil rated it:

This one had been on my list for quite a while. The anticipation was better than the book.

The premise is good. Five young people are the only students at a British boarding school. Except they have powers. And they may not be human. And they're probably not as young as they seem. And they're really captives not students. And their captors seem to be Gods and characters out of mythology.

The trouble is that Wright seems more interested in exploring the question of why older More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 18, 2009

Kate rated it:

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0 comments like

Jun 10, 2008

Kathy rated it:

Much like Sophie's world, Orphans of Chaos discusses the various ways of interpreting and understanding the world but from a science fiction genre. Also, there is religion tied in with references to the Greek gods and current religions as well (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc). The plot is much better than other books I've read with philosophy tied in. A very interesting and enthralling read.

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 27, 2011

C.w. rated it:

To a degree it could be called "A Harry Potter type book" but after a few pages you realize this ain't Hogwarts! The premise is five orphans are lodged in a strict English boarding school. It quickly becomes evident the staff is not as they seem nor are the children. Lessons cover all the basics and advanced topics. The only thing the children aren't taught is who they are.

Combine coming of age, Bulfinch's Mythology and a text on theoretical physics for a wild ride with More...

0 comments like

Jan 03, 2012

Jacqui rated it:

I...really don't know what to think of this book. If we could give half-stars, I might have rated this a 2.5 instead...I just don't know. Some parts were interesting, but others were just confusing. Maybe I just don't have enough of the right kind of smarts, but, for example, every time Amelia would start to describe how her powers worked, or what exactly she was doing with her powers, I'd find myself thinking "Oh no, not again", because I just could not understand what she was talking More...

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May 17, 2010

joby rated it:

Just couldn't get through this one. The author babble to plot ratio is just too high. There is nothing wrong with mixing fantasy and science, but the endless descriptions of pseudo-scientific, multidimensional physics made be roll my eyes one to many times. This book needs a good editor to focus the author on a story.

0 comments like

Feb 05, 2010

David rated it:

I have had this sitting on my shelf for a while and decided on a fantasy novel as my next read. What I got was a book that comes across as a combination of the author’s very poor and immature opinion of women and some version of a reality that he envisions.

I did not get far enough to rehash the plot, completing about 60 pages. In what is presented as an interesting concept, 5 orphans in a boarding school discover their have super powers, turned south very fast. The narrator is one More...

0 comments like

Aug 27, 2009

Sarah rated it:

For most of this book, I had trouble deciding whether I liked it or not... but at the same time I wanted to keep reading. I have a background in Classics, which no doubt made the story a lot easier for me to follow than it would be for the average reader. Overall, I enjoyed the story and the premise (though some of the explanations necessary to explain the plot do get a little long-winded). I had actually received the book for free on Kindle and then was disappointed to find out (when I had c More...

0 comments like

Jan 02, 2011

Tominda rated it:

A refreshing contemporary fantasy. While I couldn't exactly wrap my head around all the metaphysical qualities of the Orphans' powers, I enjoyed the author's rich descriptions and his mixing of realistic teenage angst (budding sexuality, strong and innocent desire for a classmate, rebellion, etc) with the discovery and development of immense magical power.

The overall plot can get bogged down with mathematics and very confusing politics (between Greek gods), but overall I am always happ More...

0 comments like

Jan 10, 2010

Julie rated it:

I'm trying to decide if I want to continue with this series. I want to find out what happens so the students/children but I'm not sure I like his writing style. I liked the story but sometimes it gets bogged down with this extraneous stuff, like detailed explanations of scientific or physic type principles. That is one part then it goes off into a tangent about Greek mythology. I think that the Greek mythology is setting up the the next books but the scientific/physic stuff just seems superf More...

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Jun 28, 2009

Kim rated it:

Maybe it was because I read this book entirely during downtime at work and therefore only in spurts over a month, but I really hated this book. It's told from the point of view of a teenage girl, but other than the fact that she says she's a girl, you'd never know it from the way she thinks. She has grown up in an orphanage with four other orphans, but you'd never know these people had known each other all their lives from the way they treat each other. They're all obsessed with sex. The ma More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 04, 2009

Dan rated it:

Notable for its magic system. Apparently there are four world-type things, each with its own separate way of doing magic; the worlds are in a rock-paper-scissors cycle. So, for example, the main character has transdimensional magic; she's guaranteed to beat any technomancer in a fight, but she always loses to the willpower-based-magic dude.

I dunno. Needed less philosophy-exposition and more actual plot.

PS. Dear authors: If I purchase a book you have written, I expect More...

0 comments like

Mar 17, 2009

Shanrina rated it:

This was *almost* a 5-star review. The idea and the plot were fantastic. But the two female main characters (one of which was the narrator) was very unrealistic. There was also an emphasis on bondage/female submission, which I don't have a problem reading about in general but which felt really out of place in a story like this. I also had some issues with the tone--it's supposed to take place sometime around the present day, but everyone talks like it's the 1700s. If you like physics or Greek my More...

0 comments like

Nov 30, 2008

Clarice rated it:

This would get a higher rating if the bits about a young girl who liked being dominated were not included in the story. It does have something to do with the plot but it's so superficially done that I didn't find it exactly necessary and found myself occasionally skimming ahead. Near the end of the plot the girl does seem to come into some of her own power so I'm hopeful that the next book will diverge from the fascination with that aspect of the character.

Anyway, the rest of the boo More...

0 comments like

Jun 30, 2010

Julie rated it:

I read quite a bit of magic / fantasy, but this also straddles science fiction, and gets a bit deep in explaining the theory of how the powers work, which sometimes loses me. It's a great story, though. Be forewarned, it is a trilogy, and the book does not contain a story that resolves, you will want to commit to reading all three books, if you start. There are Greek gods at war, and different planes of reality and sort of alternate universes. Frankly, I got a bit confused at times, but it i More...

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Jan 17, 2011

Quanjun rated it:

Imagine not knowing your parents, or how old you are, or where you came from, or how you came to be in a boarding house with rules you have no idea are normal or not because you don't know of any other boarding houses. Then imagine having chosen your own name sometime in the past. There are only five of you, and too many of them. What are they not telling you?

How can a book fail to be amazing under such settings? Amelia Armstrong Windrose is our narrator in this tale, she can interact More...

0 comments like

Feb 25, 2008

Felicia rated it:

I wanted it to be better than this :( Very offensive stuff against girls.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

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