Oracle: The House War, Book 6

Author: Michelle West (Sagara)
Book Name: Oracle
Series: The House War
Order: #6 (Triple Series Order #14)
Rating: Excellent/Favorite
Genre: Fantasy

Blurb:  Beneath the streets of Aver­alaan lie the three Princes of the firstborn, doomed to sleep until the end of days. When gods walked the world, they feared the Sleepers. They fear them even now. If the Sleepers wake, the city will not survive — and the Sleepers are waking.

House Terafin has already felt the conse­quences of their stirring.

To save the city — and the House over which she rules — Jewel Markess ATerafin must go to face the Oracle. She leaves a House that is still divided, and a city in which demons, in human guise, have begun to move. At no time in Terafin’s history has it faced the dangers it now faces, and it will face them bereft of its leader.

Jewel has always seen unpre­dictable glimpses of the future — images of death and destruction which she cannot control and cannot always under­stand. To master her birthright, she chooses to walk the path of the Oracle. In her hands, she carries the only hope of the Winter Queen.

But the path she must travel was old when the gods ceased to walk the world. Ancient crea­tures stalk winter skies at the behest of the demons who mean to ensure that she will never reach the Oracle’s side.

Secrets, long hidden from all but the firstborn, will finally be brought to light. Choices will be made, and paths chosen, from which there will be no return.

Review: For probably the first time in this series, we get a much closer look at one of the other members of Jay’s den, Jester.  While he hasn’t taken on a level of importance as some of the others, like Finch or Teller, we see that he does have a roll to play that hints at becoming more important than just a background character.

We have seen it in other books, but in this book, the gathering of additional support for the entire group, not just Jay, becomes more prominent and solidified.  Both in firming up support from past characters as well as introducing some new ones.  The specific enemies are still left unclear as new potentials have appeared.

While we got to see quite a bit of growth for some of the den members, Finch in particular, and learned a bit more about Meralonne and Hectore of Araven’s servant Andrei, there wasn’t as much for some of the other characters that I was either expecting or hoping for in this book.  I really thought we’d see something more from Angel and learn a bit more about his specific role in relation to Jay.  We did get a some, but I kind of thought there would be more.  Avandar fell into the background a bit more in this one as well.  Since I’m fascinated with his character, I always want more from him.

As is often the case with any book from this author, I wasn’t ready to be finished by the time I got to the end, but for a few more than the usual reasons this time.  It didn’t have quite as clean of an ending as her books usually do, and that left me hanging in a way that I wasn’t thrilled with.  I don’t want to give it away, but I honestly expected something totally different, or maybe more dramatic.  None of that really takes away from how amazing the book overall is because I know that all of the loose ends that have been left are leading up to what should be the last book, so it works.

I will say that I couldn’t help but be brought to tears in this one.  It has been a while since a book tore at me that hard, but this one…  yeah, it got to me.  It has me wondering if I should by stock in tissues in time for the final book of the series is released.