the Author
May
5
77 Comments

Oracle release day!

Posted in Books, DAW, Essalieyan, Jody Lee.

It’s May the 5th.

May 5th this year is release day (some­times called ‘book birthday’ on the internet) for Oracle.

I know that a few of you have already found the book in the wild; when I went into the book­store on Saturday, I found it :D.

This year, for the first time, the ebook for people who are not living in North America is also avail­able. Or will be, within the next few hours (it has gone live on Kobo, which usually takes longer, but not yet live on Amazon or iTunes).

In fact, all of The House War books that currently exist are now avail­able as ebooks for people who live outside of North America. They are not avail­able on Smash­words, because Smash­words requires World Rights for the books uploaded through them, and I don’t have World Rights; I have been very grateful that DAW has published those books in North America.

Oracle-iBooks

77 Responses to Oracle release day!

  1. kim warren says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:04 pm

    Congrat­u­la­tions!!! Cannot wait to read it!!

  2. Zia says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:07 pm

    Loving it so far! Thank you for yet another incred­ible read! I hope all is well with you.

  3. AT says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:16 pm

    Hooray! Have it down­loaded on my kindle and trying to decide between jumping in right now or saving it as a real treat. Very excited

  4. Hisham Alhubaishi says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:24 pm

    Thank you for another amazing book (I am sure)! However, the ebook doesn’t seem to be avail­able in Jordan (on either amazon, iTunes or kobo).

  5. michelle says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:25 pm

    Well… because I am married I could not file taxes until husband had finished entering all of *his* infor­ma­tion — so, on book day, I am now finally filing the taxes which are other­wise complete. (In fair­ness to him, he had a hideous dead­line of his own, which involves the provin­cial elec­tion, and which will be over at 3:30 or 4:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Or tonight, depending on how you look at that hour).

    I am also having the usual mild anxiety that comes with the release of every book — but I think that’s pretty normal for anyone who is a) an author, and b) breathing.

  6. michelle says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:32 pm

    I … am not certain how the links for Jordan work on kobo​.com, because Kobo — unlike Amazon or iTunes — makes it almost impos­sible for me to find the actual links to the book from the publishing dash­board. No, seriously.

    I know it’s avail­able from Kobo because, before I posted, I had already sold one. Well, and because the dash­board says it’s avail­able >.. I usually get the Kobo​.com link by asking my Australian alpha reader to go to Kobo and email me the link to the book. 

  7. Zia says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:32 pm

    Oh dear. Taxes are never without headaches, but hope­fully you’ll get a moment at the very least to your­self today then when the taxes are filed. 

    Again I am truly enjoying Oracle so I hope that eases some of the anxiety, and breathing is always a good thing so please keep doing that.

  8. wmacneill says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:32 pm

    Michelle, I do have a ques­tion concerning the purchase of your novels. I tend to read both printed and ebook versions of your works and I wonder why there doesn’t seem to be the option to purchase both the printed and ebook versions. Well, I mean you actu­ally can purchase them together but I was wondering why the book/ebook wasn’t offered as a bundle with some sort of discount. In the past I have noticed email from your readers that they tend to pre-order your novels but then also purchase the the ebook version when it becomes avail­able. Normally this seems to occur in the time span that the printed book is in transit.

  9. Kris Morgan says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:34 pm

    So happy this day has arrived and congrat­u­la­tions on yet another published work! Amazon was being hideous last night and I couldn’t pre-order so I had to wait until this morning. It honestly felt like when I was a kid and my birthday took FOREVER and then it was ten fore­vers the day before.

  10. Hisham Alhubaishi says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:35 pm

    Yes, I can see the ebook on kobo (and amazon), but kobo states “Oracle is not avail­able in Jordan.” and amazon says “This title is not avail­able for customers from your loca­tion in: Middle East”

  11. Rita McGuire says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:35 pm

    Wow, thanks so much for your hard work, I don’t know how you do it all but am so grateful you do. Please don’t stress over the release of your books as they are all wonderful, they are at the top of my list of favs.

  12. michelle says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:38 pm

    Can you post the link you’re looking at? It’s compli­cated because there are two versions of ORACLE: the DAW version, which in theory is North Amer­ican only, and the Every­where Else version, which is not, but which is not quite live yet. If you are looking at the DAW version of ORACLE, you’ll get that message, because it’s not avail­able outside of North America. (In theory).

  13. Hisham Alhubaishi says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:43 pm

    I see two versions of the ebook on kobo, the first for $21.29 and the second for $6.70. The links are:
    https://​store​.kobo​books​.com/​e​n​-​U​S​/​e​b​o​o​k​/​o​r​a​c​l​e​-16
    https://​store​.kobo​books​.com/​e​n​-​U​S​/​e​b​o​o​k​/​o​r​a​c​l​e​-17

  14. michelle says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:43 pm

    I think Angry Robot has being doing a pilot program wherein you can purchase the book, and get the ebook as well — but the bundling of that is done by Angry Robot, i.e. the publisher.

    I know Amazon has an “audio­book” deal if you buy the book — but that’s handled by amazon/audible/publisher.

    Which is to say: I don’t actu­ally have any idea of how that would even work on the giant retail end.

    I think it’s a great idea, fwiw. I like the Angry Robot model (buy one, get access to the other).

  15. michelle says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:53 pm

    I do it by being late on every­thing T_T.

  16. Mike D says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:53 pm

    Thanks for that.

    I looked further than the hc on Amazon​.co​.uk and saw the ebook (Amazon haven’t (yet) got it linked to the hc).

  17. Mike D says:
    May 5, 2015 at 12:58 pm

    The Outside NA link is

    http://​www​.amazon​.com/​O​r​a​c​l​e​-​H​o​u​s​e​-​W​a​r​-​B​o​o​k​-​6​-​e​b​o​o​k​/​d​p​/​B​0​0​X​6​5​6​U​VE/

    Little Egret in Walton-on-Thames

  18. Hisham Alhubaishi says:
    May 5, 2015 at 1:01 pm

    Can you give me a hint when the ‘Every­where Else’ version should go live? I promise to try and wait patiently :)

  19. michelle says:
    May 5, 2015 at 1:02 pm

    Thank you :). Could you, ummm, go to the Kobo store and see if you can find the book there — same cover as the link you just posted? >.>

  20. Mike D says:
    May 5, 2015 at 1:04 pm

    The DAW ebook is 

    http://​www​.amazon​.com/​O​r​a​c​l​e​-​H​o​u​s​e​-​W​a​r​-​B​o​o​k​-​S​i​x​-​e​b​o​o​k​/​d​p​/​B​0​0​O​2​B​S​3​MK/

    Change amazon​.com to Amazon​.ca for Cana­dians buying in $CAN

  21. Mike D says:
    May 5, 2015 at 1:14 pm

    https://​store​.kobo​books​.com/​e​n​-​U​S​/​e​b​o​o​k​/​o​r​a​c​l​e​-17
    https://​store​.kobo​books​.com/​e​n​-​G​B​/​e​b​o​o​k​/​o​r​a​c​l​e​-17

    Rosdan Press, May 2015

    (both right cover and price in pounds)

  22. michelle says:
    May 5, 2015 at 1:16 pm

    Thanks :). Amazon, Kobo and iTunes will take me auto­mat­i­cally to the links that I can purchase from. iTunes and Amazon have “link makers” to other regions. Kobo has … nothing. Which is why I have to ask someone outside of North America to look it up. No matter what I enter, I am always brought to the NA version when in Kobo.

  23. Mike D says:
    May 5, 2015 at 1:18 pm

    “Your comment is awaiting moderation. ”

    Too many posts or too many links ?

    Little Egret in Walton-on-Thames

  24. michelle says:
    May 5, 2015 at 1:25 pm

    Links, I think >.. Which, since I asked for them, is prob­ably irri­tating, and for which I apol­o­gize — Oracle-17 was the link I can’t actu­ally find on my own :D. So I have added it and thank you! 

  25. Gerri Lynn says:
    May 5, 2015 at 2:00 pm

    I woke up at 2 a.m. central and couldn’t go back to sleep. Then I remem­bered Oracle came out today. Fortu­nately, B&N had uploaded the ebook already. I spent all night and into today reading it. Loving Jester’s enhanced pres­ence! Thank you for a wonderful new install­ment of the House War.

  26. Cherie says:
    May 5, 2015 at 2:30 pm

    Just bought it and cursing to myself that I am at work and cannot read until I get home. :(

  27. jarheadclan says:
    May 5, 2015 at 2:39 pm

    Thank you, Michelle, for Oracle. Cannot express how happy I am to read the next set of doings of the most inter­esting set of char­ac­ters in SF :)

  28. AndiLynn says:
    May 5, 2015 at 3:20 pm

    When I opened my Kindle for PC soft­ware this morning, my pre-order of Oracle was right there. What a great, and unex­pected, present to myself ;)

  29. ANon says:
    May 5, 2015 at 4:15 pm

    Michelle — unbe­liev­able — thank you for directing me to Kobo on the other thread. Not only have I bought the book ‑but the price! Its less than half the Kindle price.

  30. Anon says:
    May 5, 2015 at 4:19 pm

    Or rather its less than half the Nook price of $12.99.

  31. michelle says:
    May 5, 2015 at 5:28 pm

    Okay, I’m not sure why you can’t buy the book — the second link (with the cover that’s part of the main post) should be in the “avail­able anywhere” cate­gory — but it’s possible that Michelle-as-author knows nothing about exports or agree­ments for Jordan T_T.

  32. lensaddiction says:
    May 5, 2015 at 5:52 pm

    Thanks to the comments here I have the link to purchase in New Zealand. However I’m going to be a grownup and wait til AFTER I have finished my major assign­ment due end this month before I get is, cos I will need to do a reread of all the House books to fully appre­ciate Oracle, thanks Michelle for the treat at the end of my study!

  33. Angel says:
    May 5, 2015 at 8:02 pm

    Hi, Michelle.
    YAY! I was so glad when I got my email saying my preorder was in! I can’t wait to read it!

    I have a slightly off-topic ques­tion: Are the Sun Sword books ever going to be offered on Audible?
    Thanks!

  34. Alan says:
    May 5, 2015 at 9:58 pm

    You have written the most inter­est­ingly human SFF world I have ever read, and it proudly sits on my book­shelf ahead of the expected and unex­pected giants of the literature.

    My only complaint is that there is not ‑enough-. I finished Oracle in a day, I could not put it down, and when I reached the end, I was filled with so many questions.

    Thank you. Today was a lovely day to spend immersed in a novel.

  35. Nikki says:
    May 5, 2015 at 10:45 pm

    It down­loaded around 11:15 last night. Sadly, I had to stop reading at 1 because I had an appoint­ment in the morning. I went back to it and have finished. It was excel­lent with insight to known char­ac­ters and new char­ac­ters. There were some inter­esting threads and surprises. I look forward to the next book! For now, I plan to read again.

  36. michelle says:
    May 5, 2015 at 11:14 pm

    I have done my taxes, paid what is owed, and managed to finally get the UK Oracle up and running. I am now working on getting the Sigurne section — which was cut from ORACLE — ready, and I hope to post it in the next week. So… a little more is coming :)

  37. Zia says:
    May 5, 2015 at 11:16 pm

    Oh that is too awesome! Thank you! I also finished Oracle today after work (and after I picked up the hard cover from the book­store) and I absolutely loved it!

  38. Sharon Corbet says:
    May 6, 2015 at 12:26 am

    That was prob­ably me (buying it, I mean). I started reading it on the way home from work last night, and the way to work this morning, and really wish I didn’t have to work today :-)

  39. Aelynn says:
    May 6, 2015 at 2:23 am

    I was over­joyed the book was finally up on amazon​.co​.uk until I read: Usually dispatched within 2 to 5 weeks. *sigh*
    In any case, I’m glad to hear that 1- you’re alive 2- you’re well (ish) 3- your taxes are out of the way. Keep strong!

  40. michelle says:
    May 6, 2015 at 2:33 am

    =/. Since there is no UK publisher for ORACLE, the book has to arrive from the US. Sorry =(

  41. Tchula says:
    May 6, 2015 at 7:39 am

    I’m so happy I got to do my “Michelle’s new book is here!” happy dance yesterday. Am 1/3 of the way through it and hope to finish before I have to go to work tomorrow. Loving it so far. Congrats!

  42. Estara Swanberg says:
    May 6, 2015 at 8:45 am

    Happy bookday! So I read this a day late, but at least that should mean the down­load is defi­nitely up, yay. Jewel & Co., here I come. :D

  43. Estara Swanberg says:
    May 6, 2015 at 8:54 am

    Addendum: I love your covers for the UK editions, although I am a huge Jody Lee fangirl :D

  44. Hisham Alhubaishi says:
    May 6, 2015 at 9:34 am

    I contacted Kobo customer support, and this was their reply:

    “Thank you for your interest. Unfor­tu­nately the book “Oracle” by Michelle West is not currently avail­able on the Kobo website in Jordan. We will pass on your book request to the Kobo Content Acqui­si­tions team.”

    I am puzzled why they would still need to acquire it. You own the ‘rest of the world’ (outside NA) rights to the ebook and you have made it available.

  45. Mike D says:
    May 6, 2015 at 10:38 am

    Ooooh !

    A protocol ques­tion, will you be requesting typos for the mmpb in a few months ? 

    Or don’t DAW allow that?

    If wanted I will collect them as I find them.

  46. Mike D says:
    May 6, 2015 at 10:41 am

    In UK the Amazon ebook is at a lower price.

    I was told that Kobo allows room for their discount coupons.

    Little Egret in Walton-on-Thames

  47. Darbie says:
    May 6, 2015 at 11:33 am

    Got the book 1210 tues early am am so excited hate to ask when is next one coming out can’t wait thanks for writing awesome books

  48. Mike D says:
    May 6, 2015 at 4:41 pm

    Amazon​.co​.uk often say that on the publi­ca­tion day but change when the ship­ment arrives, often within the week.

    http://​www​.bookde​pos​i​tory​.com/​O​r​a​c​l​e​-​M​i​c​h​e​l​l​e​-​W​e​s​t​/​9​7​8​0​7​5​6​4​1​0​094

    say dispatch “within 2 busi­ness days” same price postage anywhere in the world included.

    I have been very satis­fied with their service

    Little Egret in Walton-on-Thames

  49. Mike D says:
    May 6, 2015 at 4:53 pm

    I raised the ques­tion on Mobil­eread’s Kobo Forum and got a geek answer

    “To see the full details including price of geore­stricted books you need either to change your address in your Kobo account and search for the book while logged in, or alter­na­tively use a VPN which will let you see the book without logging in. ”

    They also noted that

    https://​store​.kobo​books​.com/​e​n​-​U​S​/​e​b​o​o​k​/​o​r​a​c​l​e​-17

    was missing the synopsis

  50. Beanz says:
    May 6, 2015 at 5:55 pm

    I took two days off from work so I wouldn’t have to wait till the weekend to read Oracle.
    The read was every­thing I could wish for and more and the only down­side is, that it is now over and I have to wait to see how Jewel actu­ally adapts to her new chance at control. Of course I still have the reread in a more leisurely fashion to look forward to as well.

    So many story­lines going on, so many roads still to travel with the various char­ac­ters who are so much more than the thin filler type back­ground noise kind of char­ac­ters one often has to content with.
    Am I terribly greedy admit­ting I am already in deep yearning for the next installment?
    Thanks for being such a consis­tently terrific writer and providing such truly well written, thoughtful and wildly enter­taining stories!

  51. Beanz says:
    May 6, 2015 at 6:15 pm

    By the by, here is the link to the ebook on the German Kobo site
    https://​store​.kobo​books​.com/​d​e​-​D​E​/​e​b​o​o​k​/​o​r​a​c​l​e​-17
    It’s crazy cheap at € 5,87 as opposed to the current German Amazon price at € 12,99 or the even higher € 19,85 from yesterday
    (still totally worth it!).

  52. Mike D says:
    May 6, 2015 at 6:44 pm

    http://​www​.amazon​.de/​O​r​a​c​l​e​-​H​o​u​s​e​-​W​a​r​-​B​o​o​k​-​6​-​e​b​o​o​k​/​d​p​/​B​0​0​X​6​5​6​U​VE/

    says EUR 6.24

  53. Michelle Sagara says:
    May 7, 2015 at 2:06 pm

    Thank you :). I have the usual ‘new book’ anxiety. I am always happy to have it out in the world — but I am always holding my breath. No book works for every reader, and I under­stand that on a visceral level, having worked in a book­store for all of my adult life. But … no one wants to be a disap­point­ment to readers for whom the work has worked in the past…

  54. Michelle Sagara says:
    May 7, 2015 at 2:23 pm

    Yes that would be great — but, email them to me? (michelle@​michellesagara.​com).

  55. Michelle Sagara says:
    May 7, 2015 at 2:35 pm

    Jenn Reese of Tiger Bright Studios did the covers — and I do like them :).

  56. hanneke28 says:
    May 7, 2015 at 4:39 pm

    Lovely!
    I just checked Kobo, and it’s for sale there in both editions; the DAW at hard­cover price and the every­where-else at paper­back price.
    Every­where-else is gener­ally a non-exclu­sive part of every publish­er’s rights, so we can choose if we want to pay the hard­cover price for the US cover or not.
    You prob­ably already realise this means that for the rest of the world (that is both not USA and not UK and Australia/New Zealand) you are competing with the DAW e‑book for sales.

    Which would give you more income?
    It’s EUR 19,71 for DAW and EUR 5,97 for yours, here in Holland (the small differ­ences between Dave’s price in Germany and mine in Holland are prob­ably due to local differ­ences in VAT or some­thing like that).
    The DAW price looks like a lot more, but if you get a much smaller percentage the other one might net you more.

    I’m waiting till Friday evening to buy it, as I can’t start reading till the weekend and it’s much too tempting once I have it on my ereader. I still need to sleep tonight and work tomorrow.

  57. Michelle Sagara says:
    May 7, 2015 at 5:38 pm

    Well, it’s compli­cated. Here’s my take on it. I should not be competing with DAW anywhere. Kobo wouldn’t even publish HOUSE NAME (my version) because the rights I was claiming clashed with the rights DAW had claimed. I *assume* that this was not the case with any of the five books they did allow through.

    Kobo won’t allow any overlap (or this is what I was told by Kobo when they said no to House Name). I don’t know how iTunes handles it. 

    But: the idea that I am competing with DAW is kind of … heart­breaking, to me. 

    The reason I self-published these books is because UK/AU readers who had moved to ebooks couldn’t get them, and let me know. Prior to this, Amazon​.co​.uk imported the books (as did some of the specialty stores), and while this type of impor­ta­tion doesn’t *gain* new readers, it meant that contin­uing readers could get the books.

    I don’t actu­ally expect to make a lot of money from them, because again: I don’t have a large UK reading base. 

    But DAW has published all of these books to date, and they’ve been incred­ibly supportive & I would be happy if that were finan­cially rewarded.

    That said — and meant — I really hate to tell people how or when to buy my books. Or even to buy them if they can’t afford it; I ask, in that case, that they go to the library (or borrow the ebook from the library).

  58. Zia says:
    May 7, 2015 at 5:55 pm

    Unfor­tu­nately for me the nearest library is about 1.5 hours away. So I budget for books (about 5 a year). That being said does anyone know off hand what Oracle would cost shipped in the USA? I bought a kindle copy and because the book­store (we’ll call it local, but it’s 40ish minutes away) finally had a West book ‑on- release day (first time ever) I purchased a hard cover edition as well in hopes that the fact they made money encour­ages them to continue to order West novels to that store (and before you think I am insane I did this dance with the Chron­i­cles of Elantra novels for 4 years and they now carry them every year and increase the number every year because they’re selling out).

    However I’m trying to move at some point and hard covers just aren’t really my thing so if I can swing it finan­cially and someone doesn’t mind waiting…I’d be happy to send my copy to someone who wants it. Again it depends on how much it costs but if I ‑can- afford it I would really like to send that book to someone. Espe­cially if they couldn’t normally pick up the hard cover copy and really want it. So if anyone knows the ship­ping cost for some­thing of Oracle’s size/weight off hand would you let me know? Other­wise I’ll call around and see if I can figure it out that way.

  59. Sharon Corbet says:
    May 7, 2015 at 11:33 pm

    As far as I under­stand it, the publishing terri­to­ries only apply to English-speaking coun­tries — so that if a publisher has US/NA rights, it doesn’t actu­ally mean that they can only sell in the US/NA, but more that they can’t sell in the UK/Ireland/Australia/New Zeland etc. The oppo­site applies to a publisher with UK/Commonwealth rights. But outside these areas, either or both publisher can sell the book. 

    So in this case DAW cannot sell an ebook to someone in the UK or Australia, but there is nothing stop­ping them from selling it to someone in Germany/Netherlands etc. (Even still every so often there’s the dreaded “This ebook is not avail­able in your country” message.)

  60. Beanz says:
    May 8, 2015 at 12:01 am

    How strange, there seem to be two kindle versions (British vs Amer­ican?) out there and I found the more expen­sive one.

    http://​www​.amazon​.de/​O​r​a​c​l​e​-​H​o​u​s​e​-​W​a​r​-​B​o​o​k​-​S​i​x​-​e​b​o​o​k​/​d​p​/​B​0​0​O​2​B​S​3​M​K​/​r​e​f​=​a​s​a​p​_​b​c​?​i​e​=​U​TF8

  61. Estara Swanberg says:
    May 8, 2015 at 2:50 am

    I think she does the ones for Martha Wells re-releases, too. Amazing work ^^

  62. hanneke28 says:
    May 8, 2015 at 3:04 am

    Yes, you’re right. Over here in Holland, if there is both a US and a UK edition of a book, we can almost always see both editions and choose which to buy. This is the way that publishers are used to working, with the non-English rest-of-the-world rights being non-exclusive.
    They buy the rights to publish in their own terri­tory, and the non-exclu­sive chance to sell a few more in non-English-speaking coun­tries is included.
    That means that your own edition is essen­tial, and the only one visible, for people in the UK, Australia, Common­wealth area.
    For the rest of the world, we gener­ally see both. That’s not some­thing to get upset about, it’s busi­ness as usual for the publisher.
    I’m sorry I alarmed you needlessly!

  63. earle davis says:
    May 8, 2015 at 2:45 pm

    Michelle-got both hc and e‑book. loved them. As per everyone can’t wait until the next one but we will. I got the hc with jewel on the winter king and saw that there is another one(like whats at the top of this page)are these the euro and amer­ican covers? I see why you had such a large number on words orig­i­nally and had to cut them down to a more manage­able size. Does this mean that you are farther along on War and we will get it sooner(ha ha), just kidding.

  64. Mike D says:
    May 8, 2015 at 5:07 pm

    Sharon Corbet said :
    As far as I under­stand it, the publishing terri­tories only apply to English-speaking coun­tries — so that if a publisher has US/NA rights, it doesn’t actu­ally mean that they can only sell in the US/NA, but more that they can’t sell in the UK/Ireland/Australia/New Zeland etc. 

    That may be how BigPub does it — Lois McMaster Bujold has multiple ebook versions on sale from Amazon​.de — but unless the contract actu­ally includes “non-exclu­sive” language that isn’t what copy­right law says.

  65. Cylia/triskelmoon says:
    May 9, 2015 at 4:25 am

    I am so happy Oracle is out in the world! Is there any time­line on an audio version? (Confes­sion: my son and I became hooked through the audio versions of the House War books, so while I buy the hard copies, I also can’t wait for the audio.)

  66. Michael says:
    May 9, 2015 at 10:32 pm

    Michelle,

    Great work! I finished Oracle earlier today. I had to push through a migraine for the last hundred pages, but it was worth it. I espe­cially liked the scene in the room at the end. It was precisely what I wanted it to be – and what I’ve been waiting for for so long.

    I was also greatly pleased by the oblique refer­ence to Telekar and Elena – and Isladar in general.

    I am very much looking forward to what comes next.

    Cheers!

  67. Jesse Woods says:
    May 10, 2015 at 8:25 pm

    I do not see how you can finish this wonderful series in one more book or even ten. The story line just keeps getting deeper and better. Thanks for Oracle can’t wait for War .

  68. Mary Allen says:
    May 14, 2015 at 10:00 am

    I just finished Oracle and agree with Jesse — I don’t see how War will be able to tie it all together. I loved the book and just wish you were able to write faster but realize you would prob­ably be sacri­ficing quality for speed. I am still looking for the hunt brothers son to appear. I was pleased to see Isladar as he is such a complex char­acter. Happy, happy, happy that there will be two more cast books.

  69. Hilda says:
    May 29, 2015 at 8:25 pm

    Mary Allen and Jesse: if I remember correctly, there is supposed to be another series after War. This was discussed a year or two ago when readers started saying the same thing. It’s hard to track those comments because the comments sections have changed so much. Try to track this one to its begin­ning and you may find it. I know everyone was very happy, at the time, because there were more books to come. However, those one or two years have gone by, so I’m not sure how Michelle will address this in the future. As the writer, she can think of an overall closing if she feels she can’t write anymore. But she has to bring together not only this excur­sion of Jewel through the Oracle path to an end; deal with the Winter Queen and all these new char­ac­ters; restore or walk back all the char­ac­ters of the Sun sword to a clear end; resolve the matter of the sword, and of the girl who took it with her for master Gilafas; bring all those char­ac­ters from the single books to an accept­able end; have the war; somehow Jewel must become the Matri­arch of her tribe and maybe estab­lish a city in the desert; clarify the future of House Terafin; and there is this bunch of new char­ac­ters with major parts in this last book. This book has advanced very little in terms of overall plot. In every book, Michelle adds new char­ac­ters that must go to an end. Jewel hasn’t even made her way completely into and out of the Oracle in her quest (which is what the book is about). She needs to find her lost friends. She hasn’t even approached the Winter Queen to give her the tree, and Heav­en’s know what is going to happen there with this new char­acter that Jewel is adding to her entourage. We will obvi­ously see more wars in this area before the group’s return, with Isladar there, the new stone lady, the serpent (which I hope becomes an addi­tion to Jewel’s pets) and Caliastra. And Michelle can’t help making each new book more compli­cated and adding char­ac­ters. In the next book we will be lucky if Jewel makes it back to Terafin. In fact just waking up the Sleepers and dealing with them can easily take half of a book. And now we have Vareena and this new and inter­esting Jester; and let’s not forget that myste­rious and inter­esting char­acter “Andrei”. I can easily see at least 5 more years or books before this series comes to an end. Which will make thou­sands of readers stand up and scream: “YES”.

  70. John says:
    June 4, 2015 at 3:33 am

    not to be pushy, but is there any release date set for book 7? Also have by chance read Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond cycle My cats also love your stories.

  71. Pam says:
    June 16, 2015 at 4:12 pm

    I agree with John. what’s the release date for book 7?

  72. kitty says:
    July 22, 2015 at 3:52 pm

    Just finished reading Oracle. I loved, and like many people here I can’t wait for book 7 and, after that, for the next series.

    I’d like to ask a ques­tion. There are two things in the book that I found confusing/conflicting with what we learned in the Sun Sword series. Specifically:
    1. Throughout this series it’s being repeated how the only other seer Jewel had ever met was Evayne. However, in the Sun Sword series, Jewel met 2 other seers — Yollana (who said that she couldn’t pass the Oracle test, but this doesn’t take away her being seer or does it?) and Lena. There is even a mention specif­i­cally there how Lena predicted that Jewel will leave them; Jewel reac­tion to someone else seeing is pointed out as well. Is there some­thing I am missing i.e. Jewel only talks about non-Voyani or just an inconsistency/oversight?

    2. “Sen” descrip­tion in Oracle vs “Sen” use in the final part of the Sen of Sorrows. It seems to be implied in Oracle that a) Sen have special powers — but then Sen Diora in the Sea of Sorrows doesn’t mentioned to have any, specif­i­cally pointed out not to have any b) there cannot be more than one Sen in a City of Man yet in the Tor Arcosa vision that Margret and Diora see, we see several people addressed as Sen — Sen Margret, Sen Diora, and two others. c) Sen don’t rule — wasn’t the person Sen Margret addressed in the Sea of Sorrows a ruler of the city? He did order her what to do, though it’s not entirely clear if he was a ruler.

    These two things really both­ered me when I read it. Can someone help me recon­cile these two books?

  73. Tchula says:
    July 23, 2015 at 8:24 pm

    I’ll take a crack at your ques­tions, Kitty.
    1. Evayne, as I recall, was once (before Jewel became public knowl­edge) referred to as “the only known seer in the Empire” which refers to Essaylien only, not the Dominion. The Voyani travel the Dominion, and it’s both unusual and frowned upon for them to leave the Voyanne, so that’s prob­ably why folks in the Empire don’t know much about them.

    2. a) I think anyone living in the Sanctum was referred to as Sen, although not all of them had the sight or special powers. The sisters of the Sen were meant to be compan­ions only, and most were former slaves I believe. Sen Diora’s family had been killed and she had been ster­il­ized so she could have no family other than Sen Margret, if I’m remem­bering that correctly.
    b) Yes, this state­ment appears to contra­dict Sea of Sorrows, since we know there were several powerful Sen living in the Sanctum of Tor Arkosa: Sen Margret and Sen Atoll are two who come to mind. Also the Sen Adepts (who were not seers, but rather, high-level mages) could enter the Sanctum. I’m not sure if they lived there or else­where though (exam­ples would be Sen Margret’s son, and the Adept who helped her infuse the Spheres with information).
    c) The ruler of Tor Arkosa’s formal title was Tyr Sen ar Tor, but he was not a seer in that sense of the word Sen. I don’t know for certain if he was an Adept, but I think it’s likely he was since to rule a City required Power.

    I hope this helps, Kitty. :-)

  74. raggec says:
    August 19, 2015 at 12:49 pm

    Hmm I have just reread the first five books in the house war series. there is a leap from book three to book four, with new char­ac­ters Adam, cats etc ) intro­duced, and a lot of

  75. raggec says:
    August 19, 2015 at 12:57 pm

    Hello I just reread the first four house war series to get me up to date for the 6th. in the fourth book some char­ac­ters are intro­duced, eg Adam, cats etc, who are not known in book three, but they are referred to as already told about, is ther a house war, 3.5, or is the sun sword novels related to house wars, if so in what order should I read them, and where do the infor­ma­tion in “3.52 fit in?
    I enjoy Your novels very much, and they do not loose anything by re-reading.

    Best regards

    raggec

  76. Tchula says:
    August 19, 2015 at 8:08 pm

    If you have not read The Sun Sword series, go back to The Broken Crown and start there. It’s the 6 book series that precedes (by publi­ca­tion date but not neces­sarily events of) the House War novels. Even before The Sunsword Series, you could go back and read the Hunter Duology, Hunter’s Oath and Hunter’s Death, which chron­i­cles the Hunters of Breo­danir, Stephen and Gilliam and where we first met Evayne.

    It’s confusing, I know, but think of Skir­mish as a direct follow up to the Sunsword series. The first three books of House War are more like a prequel trilogy. ;-)

  77. kitty says:
    September 10, 2015 at 4:45 pm

    Tchula, thank you, I’ve only now checked the thread — I had thought I asked to be noti­fied of new replies, but I must’ve forgotten. I don’t think it really helps. Every­thing you say — and as I’ve read the Sea of Sorrows I read it too. 

    1. I under­stand that the people in Empire don’t know much about Voyani, but the phrase about Evayne’s not being the only seer she’s ever met is repeated several times as Jewel is thinking or and not talking to anybody from the Empire or as part of general narra­tive, not conver­sa­tion. If the line said “in the Empire”, it’ll be fine. But yes, it’s a nit, and we could allow for Jewel to be thinking “in the Empire” even as the narra­tive says “ever”.

    2. What you describe here is exactly what I read in the Sea of Sorrows myself, everyone in the Sanctum is a Sen — seer or not, several others, the Tyr, but it’s still a very different use of the word that in the Oracle. If anything, you outlined the discrep­ancy. My point is still that a) The Sea of Sorrows uses the word Sen to refer to different people or different powers — Seers in the Sanctum, the Tyr, high level mages, Sen Margret’s brother — it really is almost like an honorary title in the Sea of Sorrows b) there are many Sens in Tor Arkosa.

    Both of these completely contra­dict the use of the word in the Oracle. In the Oracle we are lead to believe that Sen are both seers and have special magical powers over elements beyond being seers and that there is only one Sen per city.

    I was basi­cally hoping that it’s not a major re-write of Oracle or incon­sis­tency and that there is some­thing that ties the use of the word Sen in the Oracle and The Sea of Sorrows, or maybe two sepa­rate mean­ings of the word e.g. a “real” Sen as described in the Oracle and an honorary title used for any person of power and women brought up to serve the seers. I hope this is addressed in future books.

    But yes, it might be nits, and I do love Michelle West’s books very much, espe­cially this universe.

Leave a Reply