Oracle - Sunken Earth

by C W Trisef

[bookishzelda]

I really enjoyed Oracle: Sunken Earth. I thought C.W. Trisef’s writing is smooth and intelligent. I couldn’t believe the mix of fact and fiction. There would be some crazy invention and then an explanation on how it worked! I had no idea if the logic behind it actually made sense but I would still nod my head and think oh that’s why that works. I thought it was clever and well thought out. I also liked the inclusion of the Bermuda Triangle in the book. Once again a perfect mix of fact and fiction, of course with the Bermuda Triangle I think anything goes. I felt the book had a good pace and that there was plenty of action to keep me interested and not too much to overdo it.
I like how the book starts. We witness a scene of events playing out and then are flashed forward 10 months. This is when we are officially introduced to Ret Cooper. Ret has lost his memories previous to when he washed up on shore in Jaret Coopers rib (his namesake). He is an awkward boy, with pale skin, eyes that freak people out and strange scars on his hand. I found him to be an enjoyable character and I liked seeing the book from mostly his perspective. The thing I found to be most interesting about him is his lack of interest in his lost memories. It's not that he wouldn’t want to know where he came from but he’s not obsessed with it like you would probably see in other books. He seems to be guided more by his gut than anything else.
Ana, Ret’s adoptive sister, is feisty and funny and I like the bond that her and Ret have. They seem like true brother and sister even though they have only been that way for the past 10 months. I like the interactions between the two of them.
Paige is Ana’s best friend and spends a lot of time being googly over Ret. I don’t think her personality has completely surfaced yet but there are seven books to this series and I have a feeling we will get more of handle on her in later books. I liked that her love story with Ret is hinted at but not the instant kind.
Paige’s father, Ben Coy, is one of those characters that you love and hate. Sometimes he seems utterly annoying, sometimes he is hysterical and other times you can tell there is something below the surface with him. I liked the development of his character throughout the book and of course all of his crazy logical inventions.
There are definitely other characters that make the book and in a gutsy move we don’t get to see all of them forever. I like when books take a risk like that.
There is always a cast of villains and I found the ones in this book to be almost more background characters. They are introduced and interesting but they are not the main focus of the story. I think this book is more about establishing who Ret is, what his mission is and who the villains are. We do find out who the mastermind villain is that is pulling the strings and what for the most part his attentions are. I did like the awkwardness of Quirk and Stone, there lack of being subtle was pretty funny.

It was a good read and I plan to continue the series. I like the cover and the simplicity of it, my two year old son pointed out the triangle to me over and over again.