The Oracle,
by D.J. Niko
The Sarah Weston
Chronicles, Book 3
Published By:
Medallion Press, October 19, 2015
Pages: 423 PDF
Genre: Historical
Source: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours,
Medallion Press
In Delphi, the mountain city deemed by the Greek gods
to be the center of the Earth, a cult of neo-pagans re-create with painstaking
authenticity ancient rituals to glorify the god Apollo and deliver oracles to
seekers from around the world.
When antiquities are stolen from a museum in nearby
Thebes, British archaeologist Sarah Weston and her American partner, Daniel
Madigan, are drawn into a plot that goes beyond harmless role-playing:
someone’s using the Delphian oracle as a smoke screen for an information
exchange, with devastating consequences for the Western world.
Pitted against each other by the cult’s mastermind,
Sarah and Daniel race against time and their own personal demons to uncover
clues left behind by the ancients. Their mission: to find the original navel
stone marked with a lost Pythagorean formula detailing the natural events that
led to the collapse of the Minoan Empire.
But will they find it in time to stop the ultimate
terrorist act?
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The Oracle
is a fast-paced, well written novel about the nitty gritty and often treacherous
world of antiquities black marketing, in relation to the ancient Oracle of Delphi.
D.J. Niko runs two
timelines; that of Aristea, the last Oracle (or priestess) of Delphi, back in
393 CE, and Sarah Weston in modern day working on an important artifact related
to the Oracle. I like Aristea’s story running along intermittently with the
present as it gives us a window into the world where the sacred objects that garner
so much interest now come from, and to see past and present action occurring
in the same Greece location.
In modern day, the continuous
action sequences of Sarah’s and Daniel’s pursuit and investigations on the
obelisk stake make me a feel like I’m in a James Bond film as we also travel to
different locales to uncover the mystery. There’s good flow and sense of urgency throughout and we
are treated to military and Russian villains, and even Syrian IS. The oracular
artifact is of great interest to these and other groups as it can give them
enormous power.
I like Sarah as a
strong female protagonist; she’s smart, and brave. As the story focuses more on
the race to find out the truth about the artifact and why a mysterious group is after it,
there’s not really enough room to develop a romance between Sarah and Daniel
though there’s a thin subtext about it throughout. However, they do have a special and very solid connection.
The Oracle is based in the fabulous cultural heritage of Delphi and the author has obviously done a lot of
research so there’s a certain amount of info relay. Niko writes some wonderful
descriptions, but sometimes I felt the story a bit dry. I also found the type
script technically is just large enough that you have to continuously keep
scrolling the pages fast which kept my finger always on my mouse (or maybe I
was anxious to see what’s happening next!). I really liked the secondary
characters that add a lot to the story.
I definitely recommend The Oracle as a great read
for those who love action-oriented novels with a flavour of ancient history, and linked directly into important issues of our times. 4.5 Stars!The Oracle is D.J. Niko's third book in the Sarah Weston Chronicles, archaeological thrillers. You will find her on the web at these links:
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