What do you think?
Orion
The day my landlord caught me covered in smashed cake, smelling of lilacs and fire, and hiding in the bushes to avoid paying the rent would've been a new personal low.
At the age of twenty-eight, Orion was a down-on-his-luck sorcerer trying to win over his true love, Mercury Strange, while posing as a stage magician to make ends meet. Unfortunately his tricks were terrible. Slight of hand was not his strong suit. With the rent due and his landlord stalking him, Orion thought things couldn't get worse. He thought wrong.
What began as an inexplicable and untraceable mental assault one night as Orion slept turned into the biggest challenge he, and the entire earthly magic community, had faced in centuries. Weirds from other magical planes crash high school reunions, sinister magnets wreak havoc on mere mortals, and Mercury inexplicably goes missing. As the attacks on Orion escalate in frequency and severity, he must adapt to become part detective and part sorcerer to protect himself, his loved ones, and, just possibly, Earth.
At the age of twenty-eight, Orion was a down-on-his-luck sorcerer trying to win over his true love, Mercury Strange, while posing as a stage magician to make ends meet. Unfortunately his tricks were terrible. Slight of hand was not his strong suit. With the rent due and his landlord stalking him, Orion thought things couldn't get worse. He thought wrong.
What began as an inexplicable and untraceable mental assault one night as Orion slept turned into the biggest challenge he, and the entire earthly magic community, had faced in centuries. Weirds from other magical planes crash high school reunions, sinister magnets wreak havoc on mere mortals, and Mercury inexplicably goes missing. As the attacks on Orion escalate in frequency and severity, he must adapt to become part detective and part sorcerer to protect himself, his loved ones, and, just possibly, Earth.
296 pages, Paperback
First published May 29, 2012
About the author
Chelsea Rebman
1 book7 followersChelsea Rebman lives in Sterling, Kansas, with her husband, John. They reside in a little house full of mismatched furniture, unalphabetized books, and sundry oddities. Sometimes they like to sit on the back steps and listen to the neighbors blast early Queen hits from across the alley. They suspect the abandoned house next door to be full of weirds or cannibals, or both.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 29, 2012
In the realm of fantasy and science fiction, there's an epidemic of writers with little ambition and even less talent, people who are seemingly content to copy the work of their idols and regurgitate it as their own. Like any facsimile, though, the reproduction is rarely pristine, giving only the basic content without drawing on any personal inspiration, simply giving us a story that we've heard before and hoping we'll buy it again. While not without its own shortcomings, Chelsea Rebman's Orion breathes some new life into its genre with a charming protagonist and a great sense of humor.
The novel centers on its eponymous title character and narrator, Orion Ransom, a somewhat awkward but ultimately good-hearted sorcerer whose bespectacled appearance bears a passing resemblance to a certain other literary wizard. Any fear that this story would be little more than fan fiction was quickly dispelled, however, with Orion coming off as a snarky, self-aware, twenty-something slacker that wouldn't feel out of place in a Joss Whedon television series. For a sorcerer, he's quite down to earth and witty, and though he clearly would like to become a powerful magic user, the story is constructed around a romance between him and a manic pixie dream girl named Mercury. While she (and most of the other supporting characters for that matter) don't seem as well drawn as Orion, their relationship and its development is cute and essentially natural, and her upbeat personality serves as a nice foil to his occasional self-deprecation.
In addition to this distinctly ordinary hero, the novel also sets itself apart from its peers with its contemporary Kansas setting. I would have liked to have seen this setting exploited even more thoroughly, but nevertheless, amusing references to pop culture and the information age abound. Lovers of magic need not worry, though, as Orion also features plenty of fantastic elements, including a court of fellow sorcerers that convenes in a crystal ball and not one but two magical lands, simply called the World Above and the World Below. Most of the action of the novel takes place on Earth, but the descriptions of these parallel worlds and their inhabitants, the grotesque, humanoid Weirds, are perhaps the segments in which Rebman most shows her potential as a prose writer with evocative language that brings the little that we do see of the World Above and the World Below fully to life.
Where Orion falters is in the construction of its plot. Even though fantasy necessarily must break with reality, there were several instances where I found myself unable to suspend my disbelief at some of the coincidences in this story, and these contrivances were nearly always revealed when the plot most needed them to connect A to B. Rebman's prose stresses the importance of hope, perhaps treating it as a sort of magic in and of itself, but it's still hard for me to see some of the more convenient plot points as being anything but the result of deus ex machinae. There was also the occasional fantasy cliché with a big battle between the hero and a mindless, evil doppelganger being the chiefest culprit.
Neither of these flaws are deal-breakers, though, and Orion should be an entertaining read for fantasy fans of all ages, especially those that are weary of the worn out, ye old fantasy tropes like knights, halflings, and dragons. This is Rebman's debut novel, and as accomplished as it is, she will undoubtedly improve as an author with more experience, and I look forward to any future works she will publish, be they continuations of Orion's story or something else entirely.
The novel centers on its eponymous title character and narrator, Orion Ransom, a somewhat awkward but ultimately good-hearted sorcerer whose bespectacled appearance bears a passing resemblance to a certain other literary wizard. Any fear that this story would be little more than fan fiction was quickly dispelled, however, with Orion coming off as a snarky, self-aware, twenty-something slacker that wouldn't feel out of place in a Joss Whedon television series. For a sorcerer, he's quite down to earth and witty, and though he clearly would like to become a powerful magic user, the story is constructed around a romance between him and a manic pixie dream girl named Mercury. While she (and most of the other supporting characters for that matter) don't seem as well drawn as Orion, their relationship and its development is cute and essentially natural, and her upbeat personality serves as a nice foil to his occasional self-deprecation.
In addition to this distinctly ordinary hero, the novel also sets itself apart from its peers with its contemporary Kansas setting. I would have liked to have seen this setting exploited even more thoroughly, but nevertheless, amusing references to pop culture and the information age abound. Lovers of magic need not worry, though, as Orion also features plenty of fantastic elements, including a court of fellow sorcerers that convenes in a crystal ball and not one but two magical lands, simply called the World Above and the World Below. Most of the action of the novel takes place on Earth, but the descriptions of these parallel worlds and their inhabitants, the grotesque, humanoid Weirds, are perhaps the segments in which Rebman most shows her potential as a prose writer with evocative language that brings the little that we do see of the World Above and the World Below fully to life.
Where Orion falters is in the construction of its plot. Even though fantasy necessarily must break with reality, there were several instances where I found myself unable to suspend my disbelief at some of the coincidences in this story, and these contrivances were nearly always revealed when the plot most needed them to connect A to B. Rebman's prose stresses the importance of hope, perhaps treating it as a sort of magic in and of itself, but it's still hard for me to see some of the more convenient plot points as being anything but the result of deus ex machinae. There was also the occasional fantasy cliché with a big battle between the hero and a mindless, evil doppelganger being the chiefest culprit.
Neither of these flaws are deal-breakers, though, and Orion should be an entertaining read for fantasy fans of all ages, especially those that are weary of the worn out, ye old fantasy tropes like knights, halflings, and dragons. This is Rebman's debut novel, and as accomplished as it is, she will undoubtedly improve as an author with more experience, and I look forward to any future works she will publish, be they continuations of Orion's story or something else entirely.
July 25, 2012
Chelsea Rebman's novel, Orion, is surely the start of a great writing career. She has created characters that are interesting and well-rounded in a story that is compelling, humorous, touching and profound. Exciting and fast-moving; once you start, you won't want to put it down.
Touching on themes of purpose, duty, love, and hope, Rebman took the simple tale of a down-on-his-luck sorcerer, and created something that I predict will be classic and enduring.
While the rest of the publishing world drowns in a sea of vampires, I'm glad someone recognized the beauty of a magical tale with values that touch our souls.
Congratulations, Ms. Rebman, and I hope you are busy writing the next one!
Touching on themes of purpose, duty, love, and hope, Rebman took the simple tale of a down-on-his-luck sorcerer, and created something that I predict will be classic and enduring.
While the rest of the publishing world drowns in a sea of vampires, I'm glad someone recognized the beauty of a magical tale with values that touch our souls.
Congratulations, Ms. Rebman, and I hope you are busy writing the next one!
February 11, 2013
What happens when you have a down on his luck sorcerer, a pretty girl, and evil forces at work? Something pretty magical! Orion is an engaging read filled with fun, fantasy, and a little quirkiness. A refreshing take on what it means to be a sorcerer in the magical Midwest. You will fall in love with Orion as he deals with the hardships of being a sorcerer hard on his luck, and you will feel for him as he realizes that someone from another magical plane wishes to do him bodily harm. For those who loved Howl from Howl's Moving Castle, you will find something to love in Orion
April 23, 2013
Received as First Reads Giveaway.
This is an original! It is also entertaining and engaging. I do believe there could be sorcerers in Kansas. The narrative style is casual, conversational story telling. The characters are sympathetic and believable. Boy manifests as sorcerer. Boy is now a man. Man now needs to save the world. But the hows and whys and wherefores are not the same old story. Fun read!
This is an original! It is also entertaining and engaging. I do believe there could be sorcerers in Kansas. The narrative style is casual, conversational story telling. The characters are sympathetic and believable. Boy manifests as sorcerer. Boy is now a man. Man now needs to save the world. But the hows and whys and wherefores are not the same old story. Fun read!
April 21, 2013
Orion is a book about a sorcerer in a world (this one) that magic is disappearing from. I don't want to say anymore because I don't want to ruin anything but I really liked this book. Orion is a funny and believable character and the whole story kept me entertained from start to finish. The ending was very good, not corny or very predictable. I recommend this book.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews