The Chinese zodiac, for most, is just a cute little wheel of 12 animals printed on paper placemats in a Chinese restaurant. While waiting for their food to be delivered, some people glance at the circle, quickly finding their animal representation with barely a second thought.
Jane Lindskold, an up-and-coming fantasy novelist, has taken the zodiac to a new level in her most recent novel, “Thirteen Orphans.” Exploring the Chinese myth behind the 12 animals and incorporating the gambling game Mahjong, Lindskold attempts to give her readers a different kind of story. Was she successful in her endeavor? Definitely not.
“Thirteen Orphans” follows young collegiate Brenda Morris as she is inducted into the strange world of the Thirteen Orphans, people with magical abilities who are associated with the twelve animals and their dethroned Emperor. Along with her father (the Rat), a close family friend (the Tiger) and three other “orphans” (the Dog, the Rabbit and the Rooster), they embark on a perilous journey (of course) to find out who is stealing the memories of the other “orphans.” It’s pretty easy to follow and extremely easy to get bored with.
“Thirteen Orphans” is the first novel in Lindskold’s new series “Breaking the Wall” and, like most first novels in series, it has a lot of setting up to do. The trickiest part is to balance between setting up and keeping the plot moving, something that Lindskold failed miserably at. The book’s 368 pages are full of dialogue geared towards explaining concepts and history of the “orphans” to the reader, as well as covering repeatedly the same plan to save the afflicted “orphans.”
The only real development in story came at the very end, but still not gratifying enough to rationalize reading the previous 300 pages. Had the dialogue not been so contrived, it might have given the story more oomph.
Another factor to consider is the actual characters. The main protagonist, Brenda, who is supposed to be a college freshman, is way too easygoing. She has no clue about the “orphans” and when she suddenly receives a crash course in her ancestral heritage, she’s pretty mellow about it.
Hold the phone. An 18-year-old girl has just been told that she is an heiress to a powerful magician (and not the hocus pocus kind), that the game of Mahjong is actually a powerful magical tool and that her ancestors are not from the earthly world and all she does is shrug her shoulders? In no way is that realistic.
Herein lies another fatal flaw with Lindskold’s work: her characters are entirely fictional; they have no realistic qualities or mannerisms. Though the characters were duds (none were likeable enough), Lindskold’s writing was a little above average. Her true writing talent shines through in her other works, most notably in the “Firekeeper” saga.
“Thirteen Orphans” was easy to lose interest in, the characters were unrealistic and the writing was OK. Maybe the best things about the book are the details of playing Mahjong and the extensive research Lindskold did in Chinese mythology and history. If you’re still interested after all of that, give the novel a go; maybe the second book will be better. Otherwise, this is definitely not a book one would recommend.
1 out of 5
