Synopsis
From bestselling comic-book franchise writer Charles Soule comes a clever and witty first novel of a twentysomething 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 Web site 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 manhunters 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 readers on a rollicking ride where it’s impossible to predict what will happen next.
First Paragraph
Anything can happen, Will Dando thought. IN the next five seconds, in the next five years. Anything at all. He Tipped his beer up, finishing the last few swallows. He set about the task of getting the bartender’s attention, which looked like it could be an ordeal. The bar hadn’t been crowded when he arrived three or so hours earlier, but it had filed up once the game started – Jets/Raiders.
The Oracle Year: A Novel by Charles Soule
Doesn’t seem like we have learned much from the first paragraph other than setting a scene for what we think is going to be our main character, Will Dando. Bars are funny things to write about, they can either be sad pitiful places where depression is almost a tangible thing. Or, they can be written as a place of debauchery. I think in this case though, it just a normal bar with people watching a game drinking a beer after work. It isn’t written as anything but a transition point for Will. I don’t know, we will have to see where the story goes. I do like how Soule writes though. So far it is very setting oriented, which I appreciate.
I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts when you finish. When I looked at the description, two things that jumped out at me were “Joe Hill” (who I like the vast majority of the time) and “Welcome to Night Vale” which I had to force myself to finish. So that’s definitely left me curious.
It is going very well so far, granted I am not to far into it. But I like the style a lot and I can see the Joe hill description. Same sort of language and style.