Review: Liked it despite myself.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 25, 2013
I'm pleased to be the first reviewer of The Last Oracle by Ben Hale. Let me say that I'm a big fan of Ben Hale's books.  They have all been tremendously entertaining, and Ben himself has responded to my reviews and is very nice and approachable. So, I'm inclined to like his stuff, and I was keeping an eye on his Facebook page to see when this book was going to be uploaded for purchase. That being said, I usually stay away from these types of magic-in-the-modern-age books, and had it been a book from an unknown author, I probably would have passed this by. So, those are my prejudices going in.So, this book is set far after the events of the Second Draeken War, which was ended by Taryn and his sister Siarra.  This book was hinted at by Hale in his last (chronologically) book, The List Unseen. I had assumed that this book was coming, and that it would be far flung into the future, as it is. However, I was surprised to find that the world of Lumineia had become our Earth. It's now the present age, and we find that the races have mixed and the mages driven into hiding. We also learn that there hasn't been an oracle for quite some time, though it's unclear why that is.The first thing that struck me about this book was that it is VERY Harry Potter-esque. I wont go over all of the parallels, but they are extensive. I know that Harry Potter was not the first fantasy story to have a teenager be ripped from their normal life by the discovery of powers and prophesy, but it is certainly the best known, and unfortunately this book almost begs to be compared to it. The similarities go well beyond being a coming of age/coming into power story.I was worried that this would become a tick for me that I wouldn't be able to get past, but I found myself focusing less on comparing and contrasting it to Harry Potter as I got further into the story. One of the things I've always enjoyed about Hale's writing is that his characters are very easy to relate to and I find myself emotionally invested in them. I was gratified to see a character that serves as a strong connection between this book and the Second Draeken War which helped ground the story in its roots and helped me get past the fact that this book is so far removed from the last trilogy. The action, as usual, was very well written. Another thing I love about Hale is that he has no problem writing powerful characters being powerful.  One fight in particular when someone really lets loose was really exciting to read.Also, the magic system is really fleshed out in this book.  I think Ben got started on this in The List Unseen but really expanded our understanding of the magic in these books and how it works. Also, the mage world was well built, though, at times, it was difficult to really picture everything that he was describing. I found the fire practice floor to be pretty cool though.I would recommend reading The List Unseen before this book as it contains some tidbits that will help make the motivations of a few characters a little clearer, one fire wielding mage in particular. And, while acknowledging my reservations, I would recommend this book. It was a fun read and I wish it had been longer, and the ending is quite the cliffhanger, which really whets the appetite for book 2.