Publisher's Weekly Review
Five unusual students at an isolated English boarding school Amelia, Vanity, Colin, Quentin and Victor fought to uncover their true secret identities in Orphans of Chaos (2005), only to have their memories stolen (again) by their teachers, who are really their jailers. In this exciting sequel, Amelia remembers enough to convince her friends of their shared trouble, and together the five students set out to escape the school, regain their memories, rediscover their individual powers and remain free. Wright keeps the tension high as the students struggle to outwit the teachers and their minions, but never lets us forget his characters are teenagers, prone to all the usual teen troubles as well as the problems posed by their secret "higher" identities. With its focus on Golden Age genre tropes and quirky teenage romance, this fantasy adventure reads a bit like J.K. Rowling meets Roger Zelazny, and should be of particular interest to youthful fans looking for something less predictable than the usual YA fare. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Part two of Wright's mythology-based trilogy (Orphans of Chaos, 2005) wherein five children of extraordinary lineage, each perhaps from a different universe, have been snatched from their families and raised in strict confinement in an archetypical British boarding school. Each of the five possesses superpowers, each of those powers deriving from a different paradigm. Narrator Amelia is a multidimensional being who "sees" emotional forces; Vanity creates passageways where none existed before; Colin's psychic powers come from the world of dreams; Victor may be the ultimate scientist; Quentin is a warlock. The school's staff has been chosen carefully to keep the children in check. Grendel Glum, for instance (yes, the Grendel of Beowulf fame) lusts after Amelia and, because his power nullifies hers, schemes to bear her away to his gloomy palace at the bottom of the sea and rape her. At the end of the previous volume, the children were recaptured after an escape attempt, their memories wiped, their powers stripped away--all except for Amelia, who must somehow enlighten the others despite knowing that their every word and deed is known to Headmaster Boggin. In a safe at the school resides a set of objects that might help them release their powers--a necklace, a book, a potion, an orb, a card--if they can find a way to break in. Even if they succeed, they must escape again, this time permanently, or be killed. And they must still discover why they've been treated thus, and determine whether they are pawns or queens in a dreadful struggle between the forces of Cosmos and Chaos. Further mind-boggling complications, this time leavened with humor, weighing in somewhere between splendid and abstruse: Stay tuned for the conclusion, Titans. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Five teenage orphans attending a British boarding school discover that they are not human, do not age, and come from five different paradigms-high tech, extra-dimensional, magical, psychic, and super-human. Though each paradigm should cancel out the others, the students work together to discover a way to free themselves from their school/prison and discover the reason behind their scholastic captivity. Continuing the story begun in Orphans of Chaos, Wright weaves an intricate tale of devious plots and counterplots spiced by his characters' quirky humor. A strong addition to most fantasy collections, this crossgenre fantasy/sf adventure should also appeal to mature YAs. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.