The Oracle's Queen

by Lynn Flewelling

Reviewed by Ruby

With Tobin finally the girl he was born to be, she is now Queen Tamir and ruling half of Skala. The other half still follows Korin, her cousin, who calls himself King.  At the end of the last book, Korin ran away to Cirna and found a wife with pure royal blood. There he waited as Tamir amassed her army. He was trying to produce an heir because all of his last attempts have ended in horrible failure. 

Tamir, on the other hand, is still completely in love with Ki, and not used to her female body just yet. There are also invaders to deal with and helping out the survivors of the Ero, Skala's former capital which was lost at the end of the last book. Tamir, still loves Korin like a brother and doesn't want to fight him. She repeatedly asks him to hand over the crown, but all he sees is a liar, and Korin refuses. 

She makes a trip to Afra to visit the Oracle who confirms Tamir's worst fears. She will have to fight Korin and also Brother is still attached to her.  He still demands vengeance for the one who murdered him and won't rest, or let Tamir rest until it is complete.

Korin finally gets his wife with child and marches towards Ero, to reclaim the capital and to kill his traitorous cousin that haunts his dreams once and for all.

There is only one problem I had with this book and it stems from the book before. In the second book, Tobin comes to Ero to join to Companions, a group of knights and their squires who protect the Prince Royal. At the beginning there were nineteen. That's a hell of a lot of people's names to remember. Even though a lot of them are dead in the third book, there's still a lot of them, and I can't remember who is who's squire and who hates whom and so one.

Other than that, the book was great. It doesn't have the same impact as her first series, The Nightrunner Series, but it's still a good read.  My only fear is that there will be a fourth one of this series before there will be a fourth one of The Nightrunner Series. I've been waiting for book four, forever. I can't wait anymore!

Grade: B