DAY OF THE SCARAB

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+)