Orphans Besieged

After a violent attack makes all too clear that the Lands Born from Smoke and Sacrifice are willing to invade, the indigenous magical traditions of Earth turn against the Thirteen Orphans.  Pearl Bright, the Tiger, realizes the fight must be taken into the Lands—but she can’t do this alone, and her allies are increasingly untrustworthy.

Shaken from her close encounter with death by violence, Brenda Morris is uncertain about her place among the Orphans, an uncertainty not helped by being forced to accept that that Flying Claw, once known as “Foster,” the man she thought she loved, is, by training and tradition, a skilled killer.

Yet, despite numerous complexities, if the Orphans hope to meet their enemies from a position of strength, they must open the Nine Gates: a feat that will begin with the revelation of dark secrets and extend to demanding the cooperation not only of barely cooperating living allies, but also of the resentful dead.

Bonus material includes the newly expanded essay “Disappointment Evaded.”

“The system of magic is complex, the direction the series is taking is mysterious, and the correspondence to Chinese myth and mah-jong are thought-provoking.” Booklist on Nine Gates

“Contrasting themes of love and duty, loyalty and ambition, family and otherness lend a sense of universality to this urban fantasy.” Library Journal on Nine Gates