The Oracle of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire

 “A story,” said Rain, “is like a room. You enter it through a door like ‘Once upon a time’ or ‘Once there was a little girl’…”

Rain, Cossy, and Iskinaary have escaped prison with the help of Flying Monkeys and are fleeing the city that’s come under naval attack. Lucickles has gone into hiding with his family at his mother-in-law’s farm, where they are besieged by refugees, eventually including the green-skinned teenager that ruined the world as he knew it.

I love that this story (both books so far) wants to ask existential questions. The difference of life and death is a curiosity to be studied, more so by Cossy than Rain. They are both transfixed be the question of ‘who am I?’ as Rain tries to discover her lost memories and Cossy tries to discover herself with the loss of the brides and the only home she’s ever known. There’s also the subject of destiny… If you believe in that sort of thing, which Rain does not but some of the characters around her do. They believe it is her destiny to remove the Fist of Mara from Maracoor, but she rebels against the idea, only agreeing to help them move it closer to the border because she is headed in that direction anyway.

I liked the idea that the main characters are being coerced into an adventure they don’t want to go on. A lot of fantasy depicts the heroes as being willing participants in their own story, but here nobody is happy about the trip they will undertake.

The story was well constructed despite its second place in a trilogy. It had a clear beginning, middle, and end. I feel like it moved faster than the first book since the majority of the first book the characters are trapped on an island and in this one the characters are constantly on the move. The end offered closure for this story even as it entices you to the next. The characters were very consistent between both books showing GM had a clear idea of who he wanted them to be.

Even though it’s not over yet, I feel like if you liked The Wicked Years series, you’ll like this trilogy. So far, it’s been a lot of fun.