Walls can be crucial to one’s defenses, but sometimes, walls, like rules, are meant to be broken. Such is the case in the game of Mah jong, and also in Jane Lindskold’s stunning Breaking the Wall series of books. Five Odd Honors is the third novel in the series, which began with Thirteen Orphans and was followed by Nine Gates. Throughout the series, Lindskold displays an impressive knowledge of the Chinese zodiac, mythology, and mah jong and incorporates them integrally into her plot. Though the series could be described as being urban novels set in the present, the first book demonstrates that the past and other cultures’ ideas of reality sometimes have a way of intruding upon one’s own concepts of reality. Five Odd Honors, like the first two books–and Charles De Lint and Jim Butcher at their best–invite you into their realities with welcoming arms, and you feel honored to enter their embrace.
There is a large cast of characters in Five Odd Honors, which is both a blessing and a curse. The “Orphans,” or “Exiles” from the Lands Born of Smoke and Sacrifice, make up some of them, and then there are assorted ghosts and various characters from Chinese myths, as well as apprentices in training (children of the Exiles, in general), such as Brenda. Her father is the incarnation of the Rat, while Pearl Bright (who made her fortune as a child actress in the era of Shirley Temple) is the Tiger (though there are others), and the other characters each represent animals or beasts, such as Dragons, Oxen, and Monkeys, from the Chinese zodiac and mah jong.
Brenda’s father, Gaheris Morris, wants his daughter to continue her education and to be firmly anchored, and not to get involved in opening up the Nine Gates and traveling through from the Land of the Burning (our world) to the Lands Born of Smoke and Mirrors. As the current Rat, it’s up to him to join with the other Exiles and work together so that they can eventually return to their homeland, and he doesn’t want to place Brenda into any more danger than she’s already been in. But Rat powers have awakened in her, and she’s proven herself worthy of being one of the Orphans by her actions in the first two novels of the series. And–especially after she participates with the other Orphans in helping five ghosts become resurrected, and she sees the dangerous encounter of Pearl Bright in Tiger form with her father–Brenda has a difficult time returning to her studies and books.
I really liked reading Five Odd Honors and think it’s a fantastic addition to the Breaking the Wall series. Because of its large cast of characters, and that a good deal of the novel precedes from events from the first two books, it’s probably a good idea to read them first, but it’s not necessary to still enjoy reading this one. Some reviews I read of Five Odd Honors didn’t like that certain characters die that they really came to like. That didn’t bother me so much, though, because through the progression of a series of novels, some characters pretty much inevitably have to die off to help keep the storyline interesting.
Another criticism I’ve seen is that, while there’s action in the novel, much of it takes place “off the page” and then is thought about, or talked about, and discussed as to how to be dealt with. This point is true, and the plot is more character driven than moved forward by action. I love reading action-packed books, but the approach the author takes for Five Odd Honors has the benefit of letting us, as readers, into the thought processes and insights of Brenda Morris, her father, and the Orphans. It’s a perhaps more cerebral approach, but I think it works very well here.
Five Odd Honors is an excellent urban fantasy novel combining successfully elements from Chinese myths, the zodiac, and mah jong. It’s a treat to read, and I’d recommend it highly to anyone who is already a fan of the series, or who enjoys reading novels that incorporate the beliefs and myths of other cultures with those of the West.
