Breaking the Wall

Series · 3 books · 2008-2010

By Jane Lindskold

Books in series

Thirteen Orphans

2008

As evocative and moving as Charles de Lints Newford books, with the youthful protagonists and exciting action of Mercedes Lackeys fantasies, Thirteen Orphans makes our world today as excitingly strange and unfamiliar as any fantasy realm . . .and grants readers a glimpse of a fantasy world founded by ancient Chinese lore and magic. As far as college freshman Brenda Morris knows, there is only one Earth and magic exists only in fairy tales. Brenda is wrong. A father-daughter weekend turns into a nightmare when Brendas father is magically attacked before her eyes. Brenda soon learns that her ancestors once lived in world of smoke and shadows, of magic and secrets. When that worlds Emperor was overthrown, the Thirteen Orphans fled to our earth and hid their magic system in the game of mah-jong. Each Orphan represents an animal from the Chinese Zodiac. Brendas father is the Rat. And her polished, former child-star aunt, Pearl—that eminent lady is the Tiger. Only a handful of Orphans remain to stand against their enemies. The Tiger, the Rooster, the Dog, the Rabbit . . . and Brenda Morris. Not quite the Rat, but not quite human either.

Nine Gates

2009

As evocative and moving as Charles de Lint’s Newford books, with the three-dimensional protagonists and enthralling action of Mercedes Lackey’s fantasies, Nine Gates makes our world today as excitingly strange and unfamiliar as any fantasy realm . . .and transports readers to a wondrous magical world drawn from Chinese lore and legend. Brenda Morris has barely had time to become accustomed to the idea that she has some of the powers of the Rat, a member of the Chinese Zodiac; that her elderly, former child-star “aunt,” Pearl, is the Dragon; and that the young African-American former soldier she trains beside is the Dog. Brenda has learned that our world is not the only world and that her not-quite-Chinese ancestors came from a magical place, the Lands of Smoke and Sacrifice, created thousands of years ago by the destruction of China’s books and scholars during the time of the first Emperor. Now, generations later, the Lands are once again at war, and the magics of the Thirteen Orphans are desperately needed. A mission to capture those powers went disastrously wrong and now the Lands’ Dragon, Tiger, Snake, and Monkey are trapped on Earth unless the Orphans can build the Nine Gates. To do that, they must first save the Four Guardians of the Land Between, who are under magical attack. Complicating things is the fact that Brenda has fallen hard for the handsome man who is the Tiger, much to the distress of the sensual young woman who is the Snake.

Five Odd Honors

2010

The Thirteen Orphans and their allies have opened the ninth gate into the Lands Born from Smoke and Sacrifice . . . and discover that the Lands have been altered almost beyond recognition, transformed by magic into an apparently uninhabited world where land shifts beneath one’s feet and fire burns blue. Investigating, the Orphans learn that the Center of the world is sealed behind nearly-impassable barriers composed of each of the five elements of Chinese myth. Combining ancient and modern magics, a scouting party penetrates the barriers, only to be captured and given over to tortures designed to separate the Orphans from their magical abilities. On Earth, Pearl Bright, the Tiger, is attacked—is this treachery by our world’s magical traditions or has one of the Orphans betrayed her? Brenda Morris learns of the Orphans’ dangers when it is nearly too late—but along with the sidhe, who are drawn to her Irish heritage, Brenda risks her life to help rescue those trapped in the Lands. A story of betrayal and redemption, of bravery in the face of terror, and of loyalty and hatred that reach beyond the grave, Five Odd Honors continues Jane Lindskold’s stunning Breaking the Wall series.

Author

Jane Lindskold

Author · 28 books

Jane Lindskold is the author of more than twenty published novels, including the eight volume Firekeeper Saga (beginning with Through Wolf’s Eyes), Child of a Rainless Year (a contemporary fantasy set in Las Vegas, New Mexico), and The Buried Pyramid (an archeological adventure fantasy set in 1880's Egypt). Lindskold is also the author of the “Breaking the Wall” series, which begins with Thirteen Orphans, then continues in Nine Gates and Five Odd Honors. Her most recent series begins with Artemis Awakening, released in May of 2014. Lindskold has also had published over sixty short stories and numerous works of non-fiction, including a critical biography of Roger Zelazny, and articles on Yeats and Synge. She has collaborated with several other SF/F writers, including Roger Zelazny, for whom, at his request, she posthumously finished his novels Donnerjack and Lord Demon. She has also collaborated with David Weber, writing several novellas and two YA novels set in his popular ”Honorverse.” She wrote the short story “Servant of Death” with Fred Saberhagen. Charles de Lint, reviewing Changer, praised "Lindskold's ability to tell a fast-paced, contemporary story that still carries the weight and style of old mythological story cycles."[1] Terri Windling called Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls "a complex, utterly original work of speculative fiction." DeLint has also stated that “Jane Lindskold is one of those hidden treasures of American letters; a true gem of a writer who simply gets better with each book.” Lindskold was born in 1962 at the Columbia Hospital for Women, the first of four siblings and grew up in Washington, D.C. and Chesapeake Bay. Lindskold's father was head of the Land and Natural Resources Division, Western Division of the United States Justice Department and her mother was also an attorney. She studied at Fordham, where she received a Ph. D. in English, concentrating on Medieval, Renaissance, and Modern British Literature; she successfully defended her Ph.D. on her 26th birthday. Lindskold lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with her husband, archaeologist Jim Moore.