Tears of the Oracle (New Adventures) [Mass Market Paperback]

Justin Richards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1999 | Series: New Adventures

The ancient remains of the Oracles of the Lost have been found on an obscure planetoid called KS-159. It's said the Oracles can answer any question. But the cryptic answers are never helpful and often dangerous. It's driving Bernice Summerfield out of her mind.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 277 pages
• Publisher: Virgin Publishing (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0426205332
• ISBN-13: 978-0426205333
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,493,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Justin Richards has written dozens of novels as well as non-fiction books. He has also written audio scripts, a television and stage play, edited anthologies of short stories, been a technical writer, and founded and edited a media journal.

Justin is the author of The Death Collector, The Chaos Code, The Parliament of Blood and The Invisible Detective series. He is also Creative Consultant to the BBC's best-selling range of Doctor Who books.

His novel 'The Skeleton Clock' is available as a Kindle eBook.

He lives in Warwick with his wife and two children, and a lovely view of the castle.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally have this book!!!, September 12, 2009

By 

Luke Williams (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tears of the Oracle (New Adventures) (Mass Market Paperback)

Been looking for this at a reasonable price for 11 years, though I'd stopped looking for 6, so who knows how long it was available. Finding New Adventures at this point that are un-read and under $20 in my opinion is a deal. A worthy purchase.

5.0 out of 5 stars Benny's back to her old self!, February 15, 2002

By 

David Roy (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tears of the Oracle (New Adventures) (Mass Market Paperback)

Tears of the Oracle is marks a return for Bernice Summerfield. After a few books dealing with the gods and their return to Dellah, and then Benny disappearing for awhile, Tears brings her back to her basics, in a sense: archeology. Benny joins an expedition with Irving Braxatiel, her ex-husband Jason, and a few others, to delve into the secrets of the Oracle of the Lost. Unfortunately, those secrets can drive you mad, and Benny is no exception to that. The mystery then deepens even more.

Justin Richards has written a wonderful book in Tears of the Oracle. The Oracle is almost tragic, in a sense. The characters are all well-defined and play off each other nicely. The prose is typical Richards: very good, but not great, but it definitely suits the book. As typical of Richards, there are plenty of twists and turns and interesting situations. Benny is back to her old self after a few books, and it's wonderful to see. I'd have to say that this is the best of the Benny books, or at least it's my favourite.

There's one bad thing, and it's a piece of fanwank that just goes a bit too far. The book has a passing mention (without naming names, of course) of a certain Time Lord who Benny traveled around with for awhile. There's one section in the book that ties down that Time Lord's relationship with another character just a bit too tightly in my book. I enjoyed some of the in-jokes along these lines in previous books, but this one nailed it down too much in my book. I like my in-jokes vague.

Still, that's a small bit, and I can ignore the fact that it ever happened if I want. It didn't detract from my enjoyment of the novel at all. It's too bad that there weren't more Benny books of this quality before the line died out. This one is a worthwhile addition to it.