The Oracle by K.B. Hoyle

 Title : The Oracle

Author : K.B. Hoyle

Series : The Gateway Chronicles #2

Genres : Fantasy

Publisher :  The Writer's Coffee Shop

Date Published : June 14 2012

A year ago Darcy Pennington had no real friends. A year ago she’d thought that magic only existed in fairy tales. A year ago she would have laughed at the idea of other worlds.

Then everything changed when she’d visited Cedar Cove Family Camp and stumbled into a magical gateway to a world called Alitheia.

It is the summer before freshman year and Darcy and her five friends have come back to Cedar Cove Family Camp and Alitheia. This return is bittersweet because her elusive purpose in the magical realm continues to evade her. Egged on by Tellius, the boy prince she is prophesied to marry, Darcy rebels and impulsively “petitions” an entity called the Oracle and requests it give her information as to her purpose. In order to receive her answer she must travel to the Oracle, and so she embarks on a journey along with her friends and Yahto Veli, the nark. Too late she realizes her selfish entreaty has thrown the entire outcome of the prophecy itself into question and endangered everyone. Uncertainties mount between Darcy and her companions as they fight their way through enemy territory to locate the Oracle, and an unwelcome visitor from Cedar Cove adds a layer of mystery that none of them are prepared for. 

But the perils of the quest are nothing when compared to what lies in wait for her in the lair of the Oracle. There is a cost associated with every question asked– a cost that may be far greater than Darcy is willing to pay. And someone may choose to make the ultimate sacrifice to free her from it.

My Review

So this is the second book in K.B. Hoyle’s series The Gateway Chronicles, and since I read the first one in April I have been waiting for this to read! In the first book, I had a little trouble adjusting to the ages of the main characters; because they were only like 13 years old… and well I haven’t been 13 in HAH well 13 years! But once I started reading the first one I absolutely loved it. So when I got an email to see if I would be interested in reading The Oracle I didn’t even hesitate! I had to see what my young friends were up to!

I am still not really a fan of Perry… he is still way too arrogant (are boys really that into themselves when they are only 14?) and I was kind of happy actually that Sam wasn’t in this book as much because her fascination with Perry is just too much to handle sometimes. But Darcy! Wow I love her! In the first book, she was a little too whiny and still very immature. But in The Oracle… even though she once again basically caused all the problems by invoking the Oracle, it was so awesome to see her train and learn her powers way more then she was able to in the first book.

I was kind of hoping that Darcy would get over her little crush on Perry, because I think as the series progresses Perry and Sam will end up together… and I was also hoping that her and Tellius might have some kind of little spark. Then I was reintroduced to Tokala! Oh boy! Now I only vaguely remember him from The Six but in this book he totally stole my heart… I don’t know if the books have said how old he is (I am totally going to have to find out), but I am hoping not too old because I think Tokala and Darcy would be PERFECT together! Ahh but Yehto Veli! Oh man I absolutely love that little Nark, he will be one of my main focus points when I read the next book because I need to know more about him and what happened!

So essentially I loved this book, it was a great follow up from The Six, and although at the beginning it was a little slow I was able to fly through the book once I found a few hours. The only problem I had with the book is that I was of course left with a CLIFFHANGER! And I have a major love/hate thing for cliffhangers! I love them because it gets me super excited for the next book… but I hate them because I hate having to actually WAIT for the next book! *sigh* but I think I will survive because the next book is due out in August and since I am going on a little road trip to LA (all the way from Toronto) in the first 2 weeks of July it won’t seem like I am actually waiting for the book to long (does my logic make sense to anyone other than myself?)

If you have read the first book in this series, then you HAVE to read The Oracle, and if you haven’t read The Six yet, read it… like yesterday! Because you will want to read these books trust me! Being back in the pages of Alithiea with the kids and seeing how they are all growing and how they are such great friends now is super amazing. But I am not going to lie, the end was a little sad and there were a few points when I seriously considered getting my Kleenex out.

Oh and I was talking to K.B. Hoyle almost right after finishing The Oracle… and I found out there will be 6 books total in this series! YAYY! And by the last book Darcy and the rest of her friends will be 18 going on 19!

Thanks once again Ms. Hoyle for writing such a fantastic book with characters that you can’t help but want to know more about!