Genre:
Fantasy
Description:
Carrie’s
story is unique, she can not only read your mind she can see and read
your soul. She had been damned by the actions of others thousands of
years ago and the only reason Carrie wasn’t burning in Hell was
that her ka, or life force, was unable to separate from her body. Her
soul had been sold to Lucifer, and he is quite proud of his prize.
After a several millennia Carrie finally finds a soul pure enough to
fight for. Sebastian is not seeking redemption; he sold his soul for
the greater good and is willing to pay the price. Carrie takes it
upon herself to find a way to renegotiate his contract with the demon
Keziel. To do this she must travel into the depths of hell and parley
with the demons that control its pathways. As the cost of her journey
rises, Carrie must determine how much she is willing to sacrifice to
save one good soul.
Author:
“Elizabeth
Corrigan has degrees in English and psychology and has spent several
years working as a data analyst in various branches of the healthcare
industry. She lives in Maryland with two cats and a purple Smart
Car.”
Appraisal:
Elizabeth
Corrigan did an excellent job developing her characters and she has
taken minor liberties with some myths to make a more entertaining
story, however she has tried to keep historical accuracy. I believe
she succeeded. Carrie’s story is unique and I could appreciate how
she lived her life. She has two longtime friends who check in with
her, the first of these is the demon Bedlam. He truly is chaos in the
most fun way and he is not a bad guy. Here is the way she describes
their first meeting:
I
detected neither the sanctimoniousness of the angels nor the
malicious cruelty of the demons. Instead, I felt a spiral of rotating
emotions that left me dizzy enough that I had to put my hand against
a stone pillar for a moment to steady myself… The man’s current
emotional state similarly seemed to lack any center, though it cycled
around guilt, confusion, anger, and a firm desire to be distracted
from those three emotions…
Bedlam
says:
“Okay,
so here’s my problem. You know how sometimes you start doing
something, and it seems like a good idea at the time, but then
suddenly there are dead bodies everywhere, and you’re not quite
sure how that happened?” …
I
would love to be able to share the story here, but Bedlam rambles,
then continues with:
“Now,
let me say right here that it was all supposed to be a joke. I really
didn’t expect them to take it quite so literally. These were people
who held on to their religion through generations of persecution and
slavery. And a gold cow? Their religious texts say that God made them
in His own image, so I thought they’d be pretty quick to dismiss
that one.” “Not so much?” I asked. He shook his head.
Through
all the years Bedlam has been a true friend to Carrie and has done
everything in his power to protect her. Her other true friend is the
earth-bound angel Gabriel who has stolen her heart, but he seems to
love her no more than the rest of mankind. The story is fast moving
and highly entertaining with a lot of thought provoking material. It
was a fun roller coaster ride while it lasted. It would be very
interesting to see how this journey affects the rest of Carrie’s
existence.
FYI:
Added
for Reprise Review:
Oracle of Philadelphia
was a nominee in the Fantasy category for B&P 2014 Readers'
Choice Awards. Original review ran April 10, 2013
Format/Typo
Issues:
My
review is based on an advance reader copy of this book, so I’m
unable to judge this area.
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate
word count: 65-70,000
words
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