Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... Sheridan Public Library | YA Oracle Prophecies | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
How will their struggle end?
Madness reigns in the Two Lands. General Argelin has proclaimed himself king and is systematically destroying all enemies -- humans . . . and gods.
Mirany, the young priestess, is in hiding.
Alexos, the boy who should be ruler, is powerless.
Seth and the Jackal are scrambling to gather a small group of resisters without attracting notice from Argelin -- or from the sinister power he now controls in the sign of the scarab.
Their last hope lies in the Underworld. Mirany can lead their journey into death, but can she bring them back?
Author Notes
Catherine Fisher was born in Newport, Wales in 1957. She graduated from the University of Wales with a degree in English. She is a fantasy writer and poet. Her books include The Conjuror's Game, The Snow-Walker's Son, and Sapphique. She also writes the Book of the Crow series and the Relic Master series. She has won numerous awards including the WAC Young Writers' Prize for Immrama in 1989 and the Mythopoeic Society of America's Children's Fiction Award for Incarceron in 2007. She has worked in education and archaeology and as a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Glamorgan.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7-10-Mirany, one of a select group of priestesses called the Nine, struggles alongside her friends and allies-including a "thief lord" called the Jackal and Alexos, a boy who embodies divinity-to defeat the renegade general Argelin, who has made himself king. The ruthless ruler destroys statues of the god and particularly despises the Rain Queen, goddess of water and of the dead, including Hermia, whom Argelin has unintentionally killed and intends to reclaim from the underworld. Fisher's fantasy world, introduced in the first two books in the series, is a fully realized creation, mingling characteristics of ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and even the later Byzantine Empire when the Vikings had become a threat. The headlong rush of Fisher's writing is perfectly suited to teens raised on blockbuster movies and video games. Full of dialogue and action, the brief scenes force readers to concentrate on what is happening and to whom, allowing the accumulation of detail and circumstance to supply the explanations. Readers who have not first read the earlier titles will find themselves puzzling over background material, though much is cleared up by dialogue as the story progresses. The book is so full of incident and character, and the scenes shift so rapidly, that it can be difficult to keep the various plot threads separate. Likewise, the constant breathless pace may lessen the impact of the climax for some readers. Most, however, are likely to be swept along in this entertaining and evocative adventure, eager to keep turning the pages.-Coop Renner, Hillside Elementary, El Paso, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Author Catherine Fisher sends Mirany, first introduced in The Oracle Betrayed (which PW's starred review called "a sprawling, atmospheric adventure"), into the Underworld in order to bring peace back to Two Lands in her thrilling conclusion to the Oracle Prophecies trilogy, Day of the Scarab. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate, Middle School) Political intrigue and invented myth merge seamlessly in this latest tale from the Two Lands, Fisher's richly textured, ancient Mediterranean/Egyptian world. Speaker-of-the-God Mirany still wants to save her people and her god from the despotic General Argelin, who defied the Rain Queen in The Sphere of Secrets (rev. 3/05) and now hopes to retrieve his murdered lover from the Rain Queen's underworld. At great risk, Seth the scribe goes undercover as Argelin's personal secretary in order to discover and thwart his plans, but he's left behind when Mirany and Alexos, the boy in whom the god resides, go down with Argelin into the Rain Queen's realm. Up on the surface, Seth, the thief lord known as the Jackal, and the remaining priestesses form a last ditch defense against Argelin's marauding mercenaries. Fisher fills her archetypal story with fresh invention, but it is her multifaceted characters with their subtle loyalties to one another that propel the emotional engine of the tale. Vivid, complicated, and thoroughly engrossing, this fast-paced adventure keeps readers avidly turning pages until the majestic conclusion. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
The Oracle Prophecies trilogy plunges to its conclusion amidst madness, intrigue and armed struggle--exactly the wild ride readers have come to expect. Back from the Well of Songs (Sphere of Secrets, 2005), scribe Seth, bard Oblek, thief Jackal and God-on-Earth Alexos reunite with priestess Mirany to effect the end of the insane General Argelin's tyranny. All is chaos: Mercenaries prop up Argelin, who has desecrated all images of the Rain Queen and seeks only to resurrect his dead lover. As in her previous outing, Fisher splits up her group, sending Mirany, Oblek and Alexos into the land of the dead with Argelin, while Seth and the Jackal assemble an army of thieves to defend the holy Island and its remaining priestesses against the mercenaries. The narrative cuts back and forth at breakneck speed, the reader sharing in the characters' anxiety to know what is happening on the other side of the nine Gates that lead to the ultimate End. It's an appropriately disorienting experience, informed by echoes of Greek and Egyptian mythology, but wholly its own. A triumphant finale to a complex and multilayered adventure. (Fiction. 12+) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 6-9. The Oracle Prophecies trilogy offers a compelling story within a strongly realized fantasy world that is reminiscent of ancient Greek and Egyptian civilizations. In the final volume, Fisher weaves the many strands of story into a sizable narrative tapestry. Given the large ensemble cast of characters introduced and developed throughout the series, the plotting is necessarily complex. Although keeping the many characters (some with two names) straight can be a challenge, readers absorbed by the dramatic scenes and intrigued by each new revelation will find the book a rich, resonant conclusion to the series. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2006 Booklist