This book was such a lovely surprise! I've only read a few other urban fantasy novels. Guess what? I think I can say now that I am most certainly an urban fantasy fan! I couldn't put Oracle of Philadelphia down!
Some things I loved about the book:
- The characters and their depth. I want to be friends with Carrie and Bedlam! Mostly Carrie, because I think Bedlam could feel like a bit much after hanging out for awhile, but I think he'd be a ton of fun in small doses. See what I mean about character depth? Just one book into the series and I can tell that Bedlam could possibly be tiring, but I'm still drawn to his magnetic "lets everyone have fun together always" personality. And Carrie: so, so, so caring! She even cares for/looks after Bedlam. For millenia. Carrie feels very "real" to me. She's not perfect. Even though she's lives thousands (millions?) of years, she still makes the occasional mistake. She still thinks with her heart and not with her head sometimes.
- The writing. It was most excellent. Rich. Does that make sense to ya'll? The writing in Oracle was like a fantastic lavender creme brulee. (For comparison, I'd say my own writing on this blog is about on par with Cheez Doodles.) Ms. Corrigan used the word phonemes for pete's sake! I love vocab-building books. I'm totally trying to work "phoneme" into ordinary conversation right now. It's also got this fantastic balance going between hilarity with Bedlam and seriousness in trying to save Sebastian. Just as the book starts to feel really heavy, Bedlam swoops in to top his waffles with chopped jalapenos.
- The humanity of Gabriel, Michael, and Bedlam. I'm a Christian, so I'm sorta familiar with the angels and demons and all that, but not too familiar. I too always imagined angels to be these vaguely human beings with wings who glowed. Much loftier than you or I. In Oracle the angels stop by the diner to say hi and help do some dishes. Mind. Blown.
- The Biblical backstories. I loved these! Every time Ms. Corrigan introduced a new character, she let Carrie reminisce on how they met. Some of these were downright hilarious; some touched the heart. Remember: it's all fiction and it's all for fun, so you're definitely not going to find these narratives in Biblical texts. Did anyone else read Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore? Bedlam and Biff could have been best friends.
- The character list at the beginning of the book. Ms. Corrigan lists all the angels & demons & their main attributes & where they are in social standing. Most helpful. I looked at Raising Chaos (the sequel), and the chart is there too. Excellent.
Some things I didn't particularly care for about the book, but which will not at all impede me continuing to read and enjoy the series:
- The demons' demonosity (just made that word up) is really downplayed a lot. I'm struggling with how to word this; how to say this. I just expected them to be a lot more evil. Like, I actually liked Bedlam for the most part. And that made me feel just a little squeevy inside.
- The bit in the second half of the book where Carrie goes a-questing. I don't want to give anything away in the book because I really do think ya'll should go read it. It's really good. But there's a point where Carrie goes on a quest to help someone and it just gets a little bit predictable/repetitious. Just a tiny bit. I dealt with it by just continuing to read because it's a good book and I was hooked. So you see, not really terribly bad, but still. I could have done with just a little bit less quest.
So that's my take on Oracle of Philadelphia by Elizabeth Corrigan. I devoured the book in just two days (impressive, considering I work full time)!
Marie, thanks for this great review. I love urban fantasy especially angels and demons books. I'm adding Oracle of Philadelphia by my reading list
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