Book Reviews

Uptown Oracle Reads… The Secret of Spellshadow Manor

Alex Webber thought he was hallucinating. But when he sees the mysterious man following Natalie multiple times, he can no longer disbelieve his eyes. Alex sees her walking with him down a road in his neighborhood he’s never seen before – and can’t help but follow where he finds himself standing before a decrepit old…
Uptown Oracle Reads… The Dark Net

The Dark Net is real. And now an ancient darkness is gathering there. This force is threatening to spread virally into the real world unless it can be stopped by members of a ragtag crew: Twelve-year-old Hannah wonders why she sees shadows surrounding some people; Lela, a technophobic journalist; Mike Juniper, a one-time child evangelist who has…
Uptown Oracle Reads… The Tombs

New York, 1882. A dark, forbidding city, and no place for a girl with unexplainable powers. Sixteen-year-old Avery Kohl pines for the life she had before her mother was taken. She fears the mysterious men in crow masks who locked her mother in the Tombs asylum for being able to see what others couldn’t. Avery…
Uptown Oracle Reads… Ready Player One

In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying Halliday’s past to unlock the puzzles and win the ultimate prize. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he…
Uptown Oracle Reads… Starlings

A strange Eritrean coin travels from lovers to thieves, gathering stories before meeting its match. Google becomes sentient and proceeds toward an existential crisis. An idealistic dancer on a generation ship makes an impassioned plea for creativity and survival. Three Irish siblings embark on an unlikely quest, stealing enchanted items via bad poetry, trickery, and…
Uptown Oracle Reads… Traitor Prince

Javan has been at school for 10 years and is only just returning to his kingdom and father. Before he has the chance however, he miraculously survives assassination attempts only to find that an impostor is posing as him. When he tries to let the palace guards know, his uncle betrays him and he’s sent…
Uptown Oracle Reads… Honor Among Thieves

Petty criminal Zara Cole has a painful past that’s made her stronger than most, which is why she chose life in New Detroit instead moving with her family to Mars. In her eyes, living inside a dome isn’t much better than a prison cell. Still, when Zara commits a crime that has her running scared, jail…
Uptown Oracle Reads… Paris Adrift

Determined to escape her old life, Hallie packs up her life in England and heads to Paris. She falls in with the eclectic expat community as a bartender at the notorious Millie’s, located next to the Moulin Rouge. Here she meets Gabriela, a bartender who guides her through this strange nocturnal world, and begins to find…
Uptown Oracle Reads… The Hazel Wood

Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the bad luck at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really…