John C. Wright

John C. Wright builds speculative fiction from large conceptual frameworks, philosophical argument, and mythic reference. Orphans of Chaos opens the Chronicles of Chaos trilogy at a secluded English boarding school with only five students. Amelia and her companions know little about their origins, yet each possesses abilities that do not fit an ordinary human explanation. Their effort to learn who they are turns education, supervision, and apparent protection into parts of a larger mystery. Tor Books issued Orphans of Chaos in 2005, and Wright’s own bibliography records it as a Nebula-nominated work followed by Fugitives of Chaos and Titans of Chaos. Earlier series such as the Golden Oecumene books likewise combined speculative systems with characters testing the rules that govern their worlds. In Orphans of Chaos, the boarding-school structure gives an intimate shape to that interest. Every lesson may conceal information, and discovering a personal identity also means uncovering the rival cosmologies that school authorities have tried to keep apart.