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Orbit

Orbit

Orbit
FantasyScience Fiction
Pages
554
Published
2017
Language
English

Synopsis

After barely escaping Earth, Joan and Daniel arrive at the Dakkabana space station, where the fallout of what they left behind is only beginning. Daniel, still just thirteen, is forced to take up the Firebird mantle his father once carried and fight the enemies that come with it, while Joan discovers that leaving Earth hasn't freed her from being an outsider — on the planet Duna, her place is at the bottom of a rigid racial hierarchy. Grieving, destabilized, and quickly becoming the station's most wanted fugitives, the two are forced into uneasy alliances with an unlikely handful of misfits as they race to unravel the mystery of Killer 31 and keep Firebird alive. The second and, so far, final book of M. L. Wang's Theonite duology, continuing directly from Planet Adyn.

Prose complexity
3/10

Vibe

AdventurousInspiringMysterious
Chosen OnePortal FantasySecret IdentityComing of Age

Genres

Fantasy Science Fiction Urban Fantasy Young Adult

About the author

M
M. L. Wang

Born in Wisconsin in 1992, M. L. Wang grew up writing friend-group-centered stories long before she turned to fantasy for adults. She earned a bachelor's degree in history in 2015 and settled in Madison, where she divides her time between writing and working at a martial arts school -- a discipline that shapes the grounded, often brutal combat in her books. Wang first built a following through self-publishing. Her debut, the young-adult Theonite series, introduced a world of elementally powered...

Characters

Daniel ThundyilProtagonist

A theonite prince and inter-dimensional traveler; at thirteen he is forced to take up his father's Firebird mantle and fight the enemies that come with it after he and Joan flee to the Dakkabana space station.

Joan MessiProtagonist

An Earth-born teenager able to control air, fire and metal with her mind; having escaped Earth with Daniel, she now finds herself at the bottom of Duna's racial hierarchy and among the space station's most wanted fugitives.

Kente EkwenziSupporting

A hyperactive Firebird fanboy who joins Joan and Daniel's uneasy alliance aboard the Dakkabana space station.

Fikile ZithathwaSupporting

A painter who becomes one of the unlikely allies Joan and Daniel gather aboard the Dakkabana space station.

Izumo MatsudaSupporting

The disappointing son of an otherwise powerful warrior family, who allies with Joan and Daniel.

All characters in Orbit

Frequently asked questions

  • Is the Theonite series finished?

    No. M. L. Wang discontinued the series after two books, Planet Adyn and Orbit. It is her earliest published fantasy and was never completed.

  • How does Theonite connect to The Sword of Kaigen?

    Both are set in the same world. The Sword of Kaigen is subtitled 'A Theonite War Story' and takes place in the wider theonite universe this series first introduced, though it stands completely on its own.

  • What is a theonite?

    In Wang's world, theonites are people born able to manipulate the elements -- air, fire, water and more. The series takes its name from them, and the gift drives both its hidden-powers premise and the later events of The Sword of Kaigen.

  • Where should I start with M. L. Wang’s books?

    Most readers begin with the standalone The Sword of Kaigen rather than the Theonite series. It is set in the same universe but needs no prior reading, and it is the book that made Wang's name.

  • Is Theonite a young-adult series?

    Yes. It follows teenage characters and begins on a contemporary, Earth-like world, reading younger and lighter than Wang's later adult novels such as The Sword of Kaigen and Blood Over Bright Haven.

  • Why is Theonite harder to find than Wang’s other novels?

    It is her earliest self-published work and the series was discontinued, so it has a much smaller print and retail presence than The Sword of Kaigen or the Del Rey-published Blood Over Bright Haven.