The Oracle's Queen

Tamir Triad, Book 3

By: Lynn Flewelling

Narrated by: Victor Bevine, Lynn Flewelling

Under the rule of a usurper king, the realm of Skala has suffered famine, plague, and invasion. But now the time for the rightful heir has come, a return to the tradition of warrior queens. And the Lightbearer's prophecy is to be upheld at last: so long as a daughter of the royal line defends and rules, Skala will never be subjugated.

Now a mystical fire has burned away the male body known as Prince Tobin, revealing Princess Tamír, a girl on the verge of womanhood - and a queen ready to claim her birthright after a life in disguise under the protection of wizards and witches. But will her people, her army - and the friends she was forced to deceive - accept her? Worse, will the crown's rival heir, friend to Tobin, turn foe to Tamír, igniting civil war in a fierce battle for Skala?

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction written and recorded by author Lynn Flewelling.

©2006 Lynn Flewelling (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

A masterwork of fiction.

I started reading Lynn Flewelling with the Nightrunner series which have earned a cherished place in my list of favorite books. The Tamir trilogy absolutely blew me away. Definitely a must read!

Brings Tamir Triad to a close

Originally posted at FanLit.

The Oracle’s Queen is the final novel in Lynn Flewelling’s TAMIR TRIAD, an epic story about a queen who has been prophesied to rule the land of Skala. To prevent the emergence of this queen, the king, who usurped the throne by killing his own female family members, has killed all the noble women and girls who could possibly challenge him. He doesn’t know that his own sister’s daughter has been hidden by dark magic and a heinous murder.

In the first novel, The Bone Doll’s Twin, we watch this little girl grow up as a boy named Tobin. Tobin struggles with gender identity, the madness of his mother, the ghost of his murdered twin brother, the confusion and guilt of his father, and the need to deal with his uncle the king. It’s pretty compelling. In Hidden Warrior, the second novel, Tobin has learned that he’s really a girl. While this explains a lot about the weirdness of his life, the knowledge causes him all sorts of other issues — the gender identify issue is most prominent. Can someone who’s been thinking of himself as a boy all his life switch to being a girl? Fortunately, Tobin has time to adjust because he still must act like a boy until it’s time to reveal himself as the rightful queen.

The Oracle’s Queen begins where Hidden Warrior ended — with Tobin being transformed into a girl in public and claiming to be the prophesied queen. Now the nobles are forced to choose sides — will they be loyal to the king and the son he pronounced as his heir, or will they realize that Tamir must be crowned so that the land can be healed? Tamir’s friends — Prince Korin’s Companions — must also choose sides between Prince Korin and Princess Tamir. For me, this was probably the most gripping part of the story in this last book of the trilogy. These boys (and, covertly, a few girls) have been training for years to fight for their prince and this is not how they expected it to happen.

Most of the plot of The Oracle’s Queen involves the war that ensues after Tamir is revealed and, at this point, the story isn’t remarkably different from so many other epic fantasies. There’s a long slow build-up involving lots of strategizing, war preparations, troop movements, etc. There’s an oracle, visions, a race of helpful fae, and an evil wizard to defeat. Frankly, I thought much of this was dull, simply because it moved slowly and was reminiscent of so many other fantasy epics. I was further disappointed that, to try to secure her throne, Tamir resorted to some of the same ruthless tactics as her uncle had.

The other part of the story involves Tamir’s personal life. She is still trying to satisfy the ghost of her murdered twin (who we keep thinking is gone and at peace until he shows up again). She is also trying to learn to be a woman. Some of this is the little stuff, like learning to walk in a dress or how to style her hair, but other aspects of this new life are monumentally important for Tamir, especially her relationship with her best friend and squire Ki. She’s known for quite a while that she’s in love with Ki but his world is turned upside down when he finds out that she’s a girl. He feels like he’s lost his best friend and he has trouble thinking of her romantically. The angst this causes both of them goes on a bit too long and makes up a significant part of the plot.

If you’ve read and enjoyed the previous books in THE TAMIR TRIAD, you’ll definitely want to read The Oracle’s Queen since it successfully brings Tamir’s story to a close. While I did enjoy the story as a whole, I couldn’t help but think it would have been better if condensed into only two volumes. Again, I recommend Audible Frontiers’ version which is read by Victor Bevine.

It all comes to this

A good 15 years since I read the book, yet it still sounds as good now as it did in my head then. From the narrator I hear I've gotten the names just about right as well which is rather pleasing.

Tamir is slightly bullheaded and frustrating at times, but overall a wonderful character with depth and compassion, youth and confusion evident in thoughts and action in every paragraph.

I've read the books many times the last decade and some, the other books by the author as well and they still bring smiles, tears and long dark evenings of dreaming wonder of a wonderful world. These books are my repeat offenders, every time there is something slightly new to discover.

Theses books are worth your time. And Flewelling's other books should be considered as well.

Sad gothic amazing

I like the book even though it’s very……………….. I don’t know sad adult gothic things !!! The point is it’s good and I liked it

I loved this trilogy!

This was,my second time reading/listening to this trilogy. I enjoyed it even more this time around. It's in my top list of favorites! The story, the characters, and the world building. Magic systems. great fantasy series.

Good closure to the trilogy

I had a very long gap between reading book 2 (which I found way too slow, with too much YA-ish whining) and this one. In fact, the only reason why I read book 3 at all is because I have some sort of compulsion that requires I read all the books in my Audible library.

I am actually glad I did read this one. It is a decent wrap up to the story line, and was only very minimally YA-ish (the focus/treatment on sexual experience/topics was pretty juvenile, but otherwise, it didn't have that YA lecturey feel).

If one were to take a university course on Trans in literature, I am pretty sure this book could make that cut. It isn't political, but it is there, and there is a little bit of focus on that aspect of the story. Of course, that is what helps this story step out from the pile (I mean PILES) of similar "hero overcomes evil" fantasy novels.

Narration is excellent. It isn't graphic, for the most part. I don't recall any swearing...

Great conclusion to a very fulfilling trilogy

I was skeptical that a ghost story could draw me in but these ghosts were really spooky and scary and unpredictable. The living characters were well fleshed out and the evil villain was particularly despicable. The stories involving the King's companions were very moving and heart breaking. I highly recommend this series and the final book wraps things up nicely.I would have wished for an extra chapter about Tamir and Ki at the end, though. The narrator was excellent.... no fault found with his acting.

A very competent ending for the story

If you have enjoyed the other two books, this is a no brainer, it's still good.
The narrative does not go to places we didn't anticipate, it has not many surprises, but the journey is enjoyable so I don't mind much.

The reading keeps been very good if sometimes two characters speak to fast one after the other and the voice does not change. Minor inconvinience.

Nevertheless, a very nice wrap to a good story.

loved this series

I loved this series! I have listened to all of Lynn Flewelling's books and have loved them all.

There was a lot of identity issue to deal with.

Any additional comments?

Like the other books there is a real sense of identity struggle in this book. It's not a normal struggle that the majority of teenagers go through but those who are transgender. Since I have never stuggled with this it is hard for me to relate except through sympathy. I can only immagine what a stuggle it would be to know yourself one way and find yourself another. And then to have a friend see you as one person and continue to see you as the same person when you are not the same person. Especially when you add romantic feelings to the mix.

All in all, the story was very original in content. I did get tired of hearing the story of the transformation to every individual that was incountered. Maybe it was necessary realistically, but in writing...no.

The ending would have been better if it wasn't stopped after the battle and then given a general overview of the highlights that came after. I would have much prefered to hear about the corination, wedding, etc. and then finished with an overview of the later years. This ending felt like a sprint to the end.