My first thoughts after finishing The Oracle Year: wow. That was a ride. Agreed, the book can be somewhat slow burn at first, but when it gets going, it just keeps on going. I couldn’t pull my face away from the page for the last third of the book!

The Oracle Year starts when Will, a struggling New York musician, publishes a set of predictions anonymously on the internet after hearing them in a dream. At first, nobody pays attention, but then they start coming true. Soon, the Oracle is the only thing anyone ever talks about. And for Will and his best friend it might even prove to be lucrative. But how long can they keep a lid on it? And how do they know that the predictions aren’t serving some deeper, darker end? What if it’s all much, much bigger than they thought?

A Flawless And Very Intriguing Plot + Brilliant Pace

The first thing that comes to mind about The Oracle Year is that it just has such a well laid out plot. You don’t come across that many books that have just the right pace, when it comes to setting the tone, getting the gears in motion, and then rolling off. And especially when it comes to wrapping up! Despite all odds (and I won’t say why “despite”), the ending is so incredibly satisfying. And it’s not because of the conclusion – I’d say it’s more due to the fact that your hormone levels are settling down after a very active and knuckle clenching action section. It’s like that feeling you get after you get out of a fast carnival ride and you’re filled with the feeling of being alive and also glad you’re on firm ground again. That’s the thing about The Oracle Year, and that’s what I mean when I say “well laid out plot”. Things happen at the right place. The author knows perfectly well which ropes to pull to make the reader follow the story so deeply, they’ll forget to take breaths between paragraphs. (Certainly what happened to me.)

A pencil illustration of a girl flapping her arms, standing next to a book, with question marks and exclamation points above her head. The caption says, “me, pacing around while reading the final chapters of The Oracle Year

Real, True-to-life Characters

Another thing I really loved about The Oracle Year were the true to life characters. They were all so real – both the positive and the negative ones. I would dare to say the baddies were even my favorites! l’m not one of those people who likes dark characters much, usually, so I was very surprised when I was almost filled with awe for the Coach – a truly formidable woman. You could call her a spy or an influencer, but lets just say, you’d never want to meet anyone like that. EVER. And yet, she’s such an amazing character – she will put any government prick in his place, and she has a finger in every jam jar. While she’s a true terror and I can’t really “like-like” her, I’m in awe of this character, and especially glad the author wrote her as a woman, because it truly breaks the stereotype of a powerful political stakeholder.

A pencil illustration of me, holding up a sign that says “strong female characters!!!”

Ultimately, there’s not a lot that’s new that I can say about such a well-known book – especially without spoiling things. But I can definitely recommend The Oracle Year. It’s an adventure, it’s written incredibly well, and you just won’t be bored reading it. More than that, the idea behind it is pretty original. I’m sure I haven’t read anything like it. You can’t quite put it with scifi, adventure or anything definite – at best, I’d say speculative fiction. But I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy it!

But Beware Of The Triggers

Triggers include: violence, pregnant women in danger, mob violence, guns, war, mention of cancer.

What’s the last book that kept surprising you with twists and kept you guessing all the time?

Evelina AvalinahsBooks

I’m Evelina and I try to blog about books that matter, with a bit of fun there too! Disability and equality will be topics you see a lot, but there’s also a lot of scifi, fantasy and… GIFs. I’m also the proud founder of #ARCsAnonymous.