If you've not read Thraxas before, start with the first. If you've read this far, you know what to expect. IMO, this is a lesser book--not a gripping storyline, no new terribly interesting characters, an unsatisfying resolution. Nonetheless it's not a complete disaster--it's a decent read with people I'm used to and like, and I'll be all over Thraxas 11 when and if it happens.

(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)
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Title: Thraxas and the Oracle
Series: Thraxas #10
Author: Martin Scott
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 184
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The armies have come together and they all, under the leadership of Lisutaris, begin the march to Turai to take the fight to the orcs. Thraxas has been made head of Security and his number one job is to find Deeziz the Unseen before she wreaks havoc on the barely holding together armies. Add to that that Lisutaris must consult with an Oracle who has been banned and whose followers have been wiped out by the true church.

Thraxas is going to have a very hard time. Worst of all, there are no taverns and Lisutaris has told him to stop drinking.

The oracle proves right in all her accounts that do come to pass, Thraxas does find Deeziz (who escapes yet again) and the allied armies surprise an orcish one and completely route it. Now they can begin to head to Turai.

My Thoughts:

This was probably the weakest Thraxas story to date. In the middle of an army is not the place to have Thraxas being a gluttonous drunk. It just didn't work for me this time. Thraxas is just hit or miss for me and I can't figure out the why's and wherefore's of the formula regulating that. I guess it's just a mystery! In terms of enjoyment, this was a bunt. I still connected with the ball, but it didn't knock it out of the park for me.

If I were to recommend these books to anyone, I'd say to stop at book 8. Yes, there isn't any resolution at the end of that book, but 2 books later there still isn't any resolution. Also, considering that it has been 3 years since this book was published and there hasn't been another, I'd say Scott has dropped the creative ball and is done as an author. These are not long books. If you are on fire, it doesn't take 3 years to write a sub-200page book. It is only when struggling that that is the case.

Scott needs to write one more book where the armies take back the city of Turai, Thraxas marries Makri, becomes the proconsul of the newly renovated Turai and the whole gang (Lisutaris, Gurd, Tamrose, etc) all hang out at a brand new bar and shirk their duties. The End. Seriously.

★★★☆☆ ( )

As a longstanding fan, I bought this when it came out (Martin Scott sent me an LT heads-up, no less) but have been saving it for the right occasion. That finally came round today, and I wasn't disappointed.

In Thraxas and the Ice Dragon, Scott used the opportunity of a new setting to shake up the cast and their interactions, reinvigorating a series that had been gently drifting towards a rut (simply because it's a genre series with a recurring cast). This time, Thraxas is marching to war, and that means another shakeup. The story shifts its focus away from investigation per se, with less gritty detective work and more intrigue. The political side of the war is a significant theme, and we have some nice worldbuilding in the form of the Oracles, and their unexpected relationship with the Sorcerers.

Once again, the change in scene affects Thraxas himself. He's always been a capable (if erratic) investigator, and his skill with a sword was never in doubt, but now we really get to see Thraxas the soldier for the first time. He casually exhibits considerable military acumen, and far greater discipline than you might ever have expected from him - he even moderates his drinking significantly. Though still confrontational and a bit of an oaf at times, he reigns it in significantly, and avoids the kind of diplomatic uproar he usually seems to relish.

Despite these changes, I found it all believable - a man who's got used to crashing around as an investigator, but instinctively sinks back into a more professional mindset when actual war is at hand. As an investigator, he often ended up with Pyrrhic victories or somehow embarrassed by events. Here, Thraxas proves his mettle time and again, and finally manages to bring about a personal triumph in the face of great difficulty.

Another shift in cast doesn't do any harm either. A couple of old minor characters turn up again, offering a mixture of light relief and character development in their interactions with the main cast. Towards the end, we also see some interesting developments between the main cast, which threatens stormy waters ahead (although it depends whether Thraxas' moral qualms win out over his desire for an easy life). I rather hope so, as I'd be very interested to see how that falls out, and Thraxas has certainly played the crusader before now.

Despite the focus on the war and some specific events, there's a strong central mystery running through the book, and its sheer stubornness helps ratchet up the tension - the fact that Scott cheerfully had Turai overrun by orcs means it's not at all clear which way events will fall out this time either. The explanation, when it comes, I found a satisfying twist; it's build on some solid foreshadowing but I hadn't put the pieces together until Thraxas explains it, even though they were there to see.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and recommend it to anyone who's enjoyed others in the series, readers of fairly light-hearted fantasy, or anyone who needs cheering up.

For form's sake, I'll note that there were a small number of minor typos I spotted. A couple were simple word substitutions (than > that and so on), most were missing line breaks. I don't know whether the latter originated in the book itself, or in the way my Kobo displays them. They didn't cause any problems for me. ( )