The Oracle Year

A Novel

By: Charles Soule

Narrated by: Charlie Thurston

Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

From best-selling comic-book franchise writer Charles Soule comes a clever and witty first novel of a 20-something New Yorker who wakes up one morning with the power to predict the future - perfect for fans of Joe Hill and Brad Meltzer or books like This Book Is Full of Spiders and Welcome to Night Vale.

Knowledge is power. So when an unassuming Manhattan bassist named Will Dando awakens from a dream one morning with 108 predictions about the future in his head, he rapidly finds himself the most powerful man in the world. Protecting his anonymity by calling himself the Oracle, he sets up a heavily guarded website with the help of his friend Hamza to selectively announce his revelations. In no time global corporations are offering him millions for exclusive access, eager to profit from his prophecies.

He's also making a lot of high-powered enemies, from the president of the United States and a nationally prominent televangelist to a warlord with a nuclear missile and an assassin grandmother. Legions of cyber spies are unleashed to hack the Site - as it's come to be called - and the best man hunters money can buy are deployed not only to unmask the Oracle but to take him out of the game entirely. With only a handful of people he can trust - including a beautiful journalist - it's all Will can do to simply survive, elude exposure, and protect those he loves long enough to use his knowledge to save the world.

Delivering fast-paced adventure on a global scale as well as sharp-witted satire on our concepts of power and faith, Marvel writer Charles Soule's audacious debut novel takes listeners on a rollicking ride where it's impossible to predict what will happen next.

©2018 Charles Soule (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Narrator Charlie Thurston carefully leads the listener down the story's path with subtle intonations suggesting that our hero is never quite sure he is doing the right thing.... From the author of Marvel comic series such as Daredevil and She-Hulk, this is outstanding work that challenges the listener's idea of right and wrong." (AudioFile)

Minor Departure from Reality; Impressive Speculations

What could arise from a dream containing 108 points of “future history?” A whole lot, it turns out, in this readable but not overly simple novel with an appropriate division of cogitation and action. The storyline is sufficiently compelling to maintain the reader’s interest from beginning to end. One wonders about the author’s interest in a sequel.

A different kind of crystal ball

Filled with wit, charm, intrigue, mystery and sass this audiobook will leave you satisfied. I think there is something for everyone but this reads like a “guy” book with a totally different type of “superhero”. I was hooked from the start and kept wanting to find out more about the Oracle and how this would play out. Fair warning there are several instances where politics and religion play a crutial role in this story but the author does a good job of coupling those with other mainstream issues too. I mean, c’mon if anyone reading this could tell me that they wouldn’t put their predictions on the internet to make money, then you are a better person than I. In several other reviews it has been noted that the characters are flat, however, I think the author gives the characters some good depth and you get to see how they change from the start to the end of the book. For this type of story the characters were given enough depth for you to care about how things turned out for them. I am a sucker for black ops and secret off-the-book missions storylines so I enjoyed that part of the story. One thing I felt as if the story dragged at some of the middle points but picked back up near the end. Stick through the middle part because to see how everything comes together at the end is definitely worth it. The narration was done quite well. This was my first performance by Thurston and he brought a lot to the book. His character voices were on point and easy to differentiate between characters. He even does a convincing aging woman’s voice too. Predictions…good, mystery…good, sass…good so what is not to like. Give this one a try I think you will come to enjoy it.

It's starting to get tedious

Well, let's first start with the voice actor. He does a fine job on the male voices. Though he speaks a little slowly. When he speaks as a woman it sounds comically bad. So that makes it a little difficult to digest the story but I suppose it works. I'm 6 hours and with 6 hours to go and I'm not sure if it's worth my time to finish the book. The pacing is slowing down a lot and it's just getting really tedious and boring. It starts off strong but as some other reviews said begins to dwindle I guess I will try a couple more hours of this book at the most and see if it's worth continuing.

Surprisingly good

The first chapter is shit (and maybe the ending a little cliche), but the rest of the book is much better than I expected, to be honest.

Amazing story!!!

I've been a big fan of Charles comics for a while now and he did not disappoint changing over to a novel.

Highly enjoyable

The Oracle Year focuses on a seemingly average man that wakes up with predictions about the future in his head and how the choices he makes with them ripple into the world. A little slow to start, but the story builds up speed and kept me wanting to know what happens next after the first few chapters. I enjoyed that Charles Soule touches on a lot of hot topics in modern society with sharp wit and multiple points of view without feeling preachy (not counting Branson for obvious reasons). I feel like I always lose focus in a story if the author obviously sides heavily in one direction even if it’s something I agree with which I did not feel while listening. This was a well written satire. My least favorite thing about it was the narration of the Coach, but I highly enjoyed The Oracle Year as a whole.

Ending just ignores the entire rest of the story

Ending ignores the entire rest of the story. They explain everything like there’s something the protag needs to fight or fix and then he does exactly what he was fighting against and the story acts like that’s what he was suppose to.

Oracle is on point

Gripping story that is smartly written and expertly paced. Excellent narration as well. Highly recommended.

entertaining

best book ever charles is such a great writer and the person who read it was amazing

The story was very creative.

I found the book captivating, i don’t normally finish audiobooks but this one I listened to so quickly! It’s like listening to a movie.