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Illaria #2
Oracle of Illaria
What was the point of having magic, of having power, if you couldn't use it to save the one you love?
If the usurper necromancer king hadn’t taken my family from me, I would have learned what it meant to be a princess from birth. Instead, I have to figure it out on my own with only a rag-tag group of resistance fighters and my friends to guide me. I thought it would be enough, that we’d figure it out. But we're running out of time, and now everyone I love is in the king's crosshairs.
After a betrayal I never saw coming, Ashton’s life hangs in the balance. Now, I have to decide how far I’m willing to go and what I’m willing to risk to bring him back.
If the usurper necromancer king hadn’t taken my family from me, I would have learned what it meant to be a princess from birth. Instead, I have to figure it out on my own with only a rag-tag group of resistance fighters and my friends to guide me. I thought it would be enough, that we’d figure it out. But we're running out of time, and now everyone I love is in the king's crosshairs.
After a betrayal I never saw coming, Ashton’s life hangs in the balance. Now, I have to decide how far I’m willing to go and what I’m willing to risk to bring him back.
254 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 30, 2017
25 people are currently reading
179 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 21, 2017
Title: Oracle of Illaria (Heir of Illaria #2)
Author: Dyan Chick
Publisher: Illaria Publishing LLC, 2017 (May 30)
Genre: YA Fantasy
**I received a copy of this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review**
This review can be found on my Blog, TeacherofYA’s Tumblr, or my Goodreads page
My Review:
As you all know, I’ve been gushing about the Illaria series for awhile…I did a review for the first book, a cover reveal for the second book with a giveaway, and now I’m lucky enough to write a review for the second book and reveal the amazing cover for the third book.
And a giveaway is coming from Dyan for ALL THREE BOOKS! YAY!! You’ll be able to own all of Illaria up until this point! (There might be other books coming, so I can’t say the series, lol 😉) <—-I didn’t say it…
Anyway, let’s start where we always start, eh? The cover….the gorgeous cover.
If you aren’t sold now, I don’t know what else I can do to convince you. 🤷♀️
Now, if you haven’t read book one. Heir of Illaria, don’t fret! I won’t post spoilers bc technically, since you haven’t read it, you’ll have no idea what I’m talking about!! 😂🤣 Just kidding.
Or am I?
Ok, so let’s just get into the meat of the books so whoever is reading this will understand what the heck I’m talking about!
This is mainly a “bridge” book: a book that bridges the first and third books together. Etta and her brother Max, originally on the same side, have parted. Max feels he is the rightful heir and Etta knows she is. Unfortunately, the divide has forced her brother to embrace the dark side, or technically the dark king, as he thinks he can somehow control the king and get his throne back.
Etta is on the other side of the divide, left with the band of people who know she is the rightful heir. While training and preparing for Max to return to challenge her, her strongest Ally and love, Ashton, is lured into a trap…a trap that is full of dark magic. A trap that separates his soul from his body, leaving him to drift in the Astral Plane until he disappears…
But Etta won’t sit back and let that happen. She is willing to do whatever it takes to save Ashton…
But will she risk her kingdom in the process?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
I know I’m passionate about this series, but you have to understand: this series is AWESOME.
Now I’m not going to do my basic rundown because:
1. I rarely recommend a second book in a series for the classroom. Unless it’s a standalone that can be read separately, they just don’t work. And:
2. You know how I’m going to rate this book. It’s obvious. Dyan couldn’t write a less than ★★★★★ book if she tried. (Well, maybe if she tried)
So to make it simple, I give Oracle of Illaria….
Two thumbs up. And a whole lotta stars. ★★★★★
Now, here’s the good news…
Heir of Illaria IS FREE TODAY. FREE! And Oracle of Illaria will be on sale all this weekend. AND we will be running a giveaway for all three books so far once Battle of Illaria is ready! How can you NOT give this series a try?? Huh??
Author: Dyan Chick
Publisher: Illaria Publishing LLC, 2017 (May 30)
Genre: YA Fantasy
**I received a copy of this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review**
This review can be found on my Blog, TeacherofYA’s Tumblr, or my Goodreads page
My Review:
As you all know, I’ve been gushing about the Illaria series for awhile…I did a review for the first book, a cover reveal for the second book with a giveaway, and now I’m lucky enough to write a review for the second book and reveal the amazing cover for the third book.
And a giveaway is coming from Dyan for ALL THREE BOOKS! YAY!! You’ll be able to own all of Illaria up until this point! (There might be other books coming, so I can’t say the series, lol 😉) <—-I didn’t say it…
Anyway, let’s start where we always start, eh? The cover….the gorgeous cover.
If you aren’t sold now, I don’t know what else I can do to convince you. 🤷♀️
Now, if you haven’t read book one. Heir of Illaria, don’t fret! I won’t post spoilers bc technically, since you haven’t read it, you’ll have no idea what I’m talking about!! 😂🤣 Just kidding.
Or am I?
Ok, so let’s just get into the meat of the books so whoever is reading this will understand what the heck I’m talking about!
This is mainly a “bridge” book: a book that bridges the first and third books together. Etta and her brother Max, originally on the same side, have parted. Max feels he is the rightful heir and Etta knows she is. Unfortunately, the divide has forced her brother to embrace the dark side, or technically the dark king, as he thinks he can somehow control the king and get his throne back.
Etta is on the other side of the divide, left with the band of people who know she is the rightful heir. While training and preparing for Max to return to challenge her, her strongest Ally and love, Ashton, is lured into a trap…a trap that is full of dark magic. A trap that separates his soul from his body, leaving him to drift in the Astral Plane until he disappears…
But Etta won’t sit back and let that happen. She is willing to do whatever it takes to save Ashton…
But will she risk her kingdom in the process?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
I know I’m passionate about this series, but you have to understand: this series is AWESOME.
Now I’m not going to do my basic rundown because:
1. I rarely recommend a second book in a series for the classroom. Unless it’s a standalone that can be read separately, they just don’t work. And:
2. You know how I’m going to rate this book. It’s obvious. Dyan couldn’t write a less than ★★★★★ book if she tried. (Well, maybe if she tried)
So to make it simple, I give Oracle of Illaria….
Two thumbs up. And a whole lotta stars. ★★★★★
Now, here’s the good news…
Heir of Illaria IS FREE TODAY. FREE! And Oracle of Illaria will be on sale all this weekend. AND we will be running a giveaway for all three books so far once Battle of Illaria is ready! How can you NOT give this series a try?? Huh??
March 24, 2018
Etta is not just the rightful queen in hiding but also a highly powerful sorcerer in training of one of the rarest type. She finds her brother has betrayed her and now Ashton is fighting for his life. Etta has to find a way to be a just ruler and save the people she loves, even if it means sacrificing something dear to her.
I found this book to be a great follow up to Heir of Illaria. What's character is still developing and her relationships with Celeste and Ashton are growing stronger. This book shows a more in-depth view of her finding herself and growing in her magic while saving innocents. I can't wait to continue this series with Battle of Illaria!
I found this book to be a great follow up to Heir of Illaria. What's character is still developing and her relationships with Celeste and Ashton are growing stronger. This book shows a more in-depth view of her finding herself and growing in her magic while saving innocents. I can't wait to continue this series with Battle of Illaria!
May 30, 2017
I received this book as an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I was thrilled to be able to enter the world of Illaria again to see how Etta and her friends were faring in their war against the king. The theme of not knowing whom to trust endured through this second book of the series and gave an air of tension to every encounter with a new character.
Etta continues to learn to control her magic and starts to gain support throughout the kingdom, which is exciting. She is also faced with impossible choices and must learn to start making the hard choices to care for the people of her kingdom.
The pace was perfect and didn’t have any dry spells for me, keeping me interested until the book was done all too soon. This book is book two in a series still being written, and I cannot wait for the next book!
I was thrilled to be able to enter the world of Illaria again to see how Etta and her friends were faring in their war against the king. The theme of not knowing whom to trust endured through this second book of the series and gave an air of tension to every encounter with a new character.
Etta continues to learn to control her magic and starts to gain support throughout the kingdom, which is exciting. She is also faced with impossible choices and must learn to start making the hard choices to care for the people of her kingdom.
The pace was perfect and didn’t have any dry spells for me, keeping me interested until the book was done all too soon. This book is book two in a series still being written, and I cannot wait for the next book!
September 4, 2017
Ugh. The first book was so good and this one is still good but also annoying. Wow Sydney you get points across well. Anyway I'm in this series for the plot now because Etta is seriously annoying me. Also yes, Wilona decided to go by Etta so now that's how I will be referring to her. She is just so naive. She trusts everyone and is so sure that everything will be sunshine and rainbows and people will love her even though they are literally fighting a war. Yes, death will happen but you can't break down every single time. Yes you will be faced with hard choices but you can't just scream It's not fair every time because guess what? you want to be queen and there's going to be hard choices all the time. So I'm kinda over Etta and Ashton wasn't developed any more during this book either so he's just a love interest. My favorite characters right now are Saffron and Celeste because they are less whiny and stronger and just generally badass. Also I'm still very interested in the magic and the plot but I've given up on liking Etta. She needs taking care of, you know?
November 18, 2019
Book 1 was ok.
Book 2 no so good.
Book 3 don’t even bother.
Author seems to thing logic does not apply for fantasy books.
There are some things that I cannot ignore when I was reading book 3.
1. Why Master Flanders did not warn his king when duke was raising the undead army?
2. If Master Flanders is trained in dark magic why didn’t himself control the duke.
3. How old is Max when battle of dead, because he initiated the ravens. Did he do it when he is less than 10 years old?
4. There is lot of factions hidden and working against the dark king, but I have not yet ready single strategy that was developed and implemented. What where they doing for 15 years?
5. Why veteran magicians are following green queen who know nothing about magic or kingdom.
6. Sorcerers are independent society in this world, yet no once steps up against dark king, why is that?
The list goes on and on I see to much holes than story so I stopped after chapter 16 in book 3
Book 2 no so good.
Book 3 don’t even bother.
Author seems to thing logic does not apply for fantasy books.
There are some things that I cannot ignore when I was reading book 3.
1. Why Master Flanders did not warn his king when duke was raising the undead army?
2. If Master Flanders is trained in dark magic why didn’t himself control the duke.
3. How old is Max when battle of dead, because he initiated the ravens. Did he do it when he is less than 10 years old?
4. There is lot of factions hidden and working against the dark king, but I have not yet ready single strategy that was developed and implemented. What where they doing for 15 years?
5. Why veteran magicians are following green queen who know nothing about magic or kingdom.
6. Sorcerers are independent society in this world, yet no once steps up against dark king, why is that?
The list goes on and on I see to much holes than story so I stopped after chapter 16 in book 3
July 22, 2017
A stunning second book again very near perfection. There was another little wrinkle in this book which involves the actual Oracle (it's near the end)...our Heroine again mucks things up...remembering that she was never told of her gifts she's kind of flying by the seat of her pants, and it shows. There is significant character development and a maturity that runs through this book. YA is the way it's categorized, it's perfect...or nearly so. As I mentioned in the last review, I am much older and I prefer adult books however the best authors seem to write in the YA... I detest character sex scenes personally. It's just too private for me to feel rite reading about things like that. This batch of books does very well to keep the unreal sexual acts behind closed doors if at all... thankfully.
July 7, 2018
Surprising twists and turns!
Princess Etta has been tested in so many ways throughout this book. She found success little by little although it would come at a great cost. I was surprised time after time at the twists and turns this story took. Dyan Chick has a way of telling a story that keeps the reader engaged. This second book in this series is no exception. Very well written. I highly recommend reading this series for all lovers of epic fantasy. You definitely won’t want to miss out.
Princess Etta has been tested in so many ways throughout this book. She found success little by little although it would come at a great cost. I was surprised time after time at the twists and turns this story took. Dyan Chick has a way of telling a story that keeps the reader engaged. This second book in this series is no exception. Very well written. I highly recommend reading this series for all lovers of epic fantasy. You definitely won’t want to miss out.
September 10, 2017
Not bad, but not good
Not bad, but not good and tries to justify evil by defining shades of grey to justify immature selfishness. The main character acts like an oldest child who thinks she can outsmart the rules. She needs to grow up and stop putting her desires ahead of her people. Trying to lead without morality has never worked for any leader, ever. Leadership without morality always turns to tyranny.
Not bad, but not good and tries to justify evil by defining shades of grey to justify immature selfishness. The main character acts like an oldest child who thinks she can outsmart the rules. She needs to grow up and stop putting her desires ahead of her people. Trying to lead without morality has never worked for any leader, ever. Leadership without morality always turns to tyranny.
July 2, 2017
Very gripping. When I picked up the book, I felt as if I couldn't put it down. I would say to myself "one more chapter, maybe one more" the book in itself is a beauty and I recommend it to anyone into a good fantasy book!
June 9, 2018
Emotional rollercoaster which stops in the darkness at a relative high. Wilona (Etta) and Celeste are wonderful personalities. To me, there were only glimpses at the rest. I look forward to book three with a hope that the ride takes me to new heights and lights.
February 13, 2020
Enjoyed it a lot more than the first one. I really liked the friendships built and more intricasy to the world.
July 24, 2017
Oracle of Illaria was a great follow up to its prequel. It follows Etta through more and more trials and conflicts that challenge her at deeper levels than ever before. She is able to delve deeper into existing friendship and encounters new allies along her journey. Her magic noticeably improves and so does her maturity.
On the maturity note though, it should be advised that there are a handful of scenes which describe more adult activity, between Max and Nora for example, then might be advisable for younger teen readers. Also, it might be worth mentioning that this needs to be read after Heir to Illaria and not randomly on its own. There is very little referencing back in the storyline and it would be difficult to fully enjoy otherwise. In fact, the time line skipped enough ahead that, when paired with the abrupt addition of Nora, I was actually lost a bit myself for the first few chapters.
All in all, Oracle of Illaria was another entertaining read which left me want to know what new adventures and new friends Etta will encounter next. Keep up the good writing!
In full disclosure, I received an advanced readers copy of this book from the author.
On the maturity note though, it should be advised that there are a handful of scenes which describe more adult activity, between Max and Nora for example, then might be advisable for younger teen readers. Also, it might be worth mentioning that this needs to be read after Heir to Illaria and not randomly on its own. There is very little referencing back in the storyline and it would be difficult to fully enjoy otherwise. In fact, the time line skipped enough ahead that, when paired with the abrupt addition of Nora, I was actually lost a bit myself for the first few chapters.
All in all, Oracle of Illaria was another entertaining read which left me want to know what new adventures and new friends Etta will encounter next. Keep up the good writing!
In full disclosure, I received an advanced readers copy of this book from the author.
Want to read
August 9, 2017Is this a trilogy
June 7, 2018
WHAT IS UP WITH THIS INSTA LOVE?? I have no clue why they're in love!!
I'm struggling! I'm bored but I want to finish the trilogy.
I'm struggling! I'm bored but I want to finish the trilogy.
dnf
August 18, 2018Illaria Series Ratings:
Heir of Illaria: ★ DNF
Oracle of Illaria: Lost Interest in Series
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Heir of Illaria: ★ DNF
Oracle of Illaria: Lost Interest in Series
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews