The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. First volume of a trilogy that promises to be a sort of intellectual, semi-erotic Flash Gordon.Ī tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.

So there's an ethical climax with three women (well, a unicorn, a robot, and a lady) fighting over the hero-who must choose among them. Once again Stile's prowess at games stands him in good stead as he gains magical powers and comes to the attention of a sexy unicorn Neysa-and scintillatingly regal Lady Blue, whose husband is Stile's alter-image and whom he must kill.

and then-on the lam from some unknown menace who has lasered poor Stile's knees during a horserace-he runs through a shimmering curtain and is transported materially into a fairyland of musical unicorns and magic castles and werewolves. A weird blending of robot-serviced cities with charmed, Malory-touched pastoral sorcery: Stile, the best jockey on the planet Proton and a master gamesplayer at the Games, finds himself challenged to a set of mild gladiatorial encounters by glorious android Sheen (she nearly bests him).

Split Infinity by Piers Anthony