Title: The Black Bird Oracle
Series: All Souls
Author: Deborah Harkness
Publisher: Viking
Publication date: July 16, 2024
Length: 464 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction / fantasy
Source: Purchased
Rating:
Diana Bishop journeys to the darkest places within herself—and her family history—in the highly anticipated fifth novel of the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling All Souls series.
Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clairmont in A Discovery of Witches. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two otherworldly beings found themselves at the center of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Since then, they have fallen in love, traveled to Elizabethan England, dissolved the Covenant between the three species, and awoken the dark powers within Diana’s family line.
Now, Diana and Matthew receive a formal demand from the Congregation: They must test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Pip and Rebecca. Concerned with their safety and desperate to avoid the same fate that led her parents to spellbind her, Diana decides to forge a different path for her family’s future and answers a message from a great-aunt she never knew existed, Gwyneth Proctor, whose invitation simply reads: It’s time you came home, Diana.
On the hallowed ground of Ravenswood, the Proctor family home, and under the tutelage of Gwyneth, a talented witch grounded in higher magic, a new era begins for Diana: a confrontation with her family’s dark past, and a reckoning for her own desire for even greater power—if she can let go, finally, of her fear of wielding it.
I’ve been a fan of Deborah Harkness’s All Souls books ever since the very first book — A Discovery of Witches — was published in 2011. After the original trilogy’s conclusion, fans were surprised and delighted to learn that more books were planned! In 2018, a 4th book — Time’s Convert — was released (note: I only got around to reading it a couple of months ago — my review is here)… and here we are, six years later, with another book in the series. Book #5, The Black Bird Oracle, was released July 16, 2024, and picks up the story several years after the events of Time’s Convert.
In The Black Bird Oracle, the far-flung vampires of the de Clermont clan are largely offstage (except for Matthew, of course, and a few others popping in later in the book). Instead, this sprawling book focuses squarely on the witchy inhabitants of the series. The action is set during the summer of 2017, when Diana and Matthew’s children Pip and Becca are about to turn seven. Just as the family is preparing for summer vacation, a visitation by a flock (unkindness?) of ravens and a summons from an unknown relative provide portents of grave significance, and the family relocates to Ipswich, Massachusetts to learn the secrets of the Proctor family — Diana’s patriarchal line.
Once settled at the Proctor farm and sanctuary, Diana learns about this side of the family’s contribution to her magical talents. She is under pressure to explore the nuances of Light, Shadow, and Darkness as they relate to magic. The Congregation has its eye on her and the children, and she must develop this aspect of her abilities and learn the Proctor family secrets, if she’s to defend her children from powers who may try to control them.
Does that sound like gobbledygook to you? If you haven’t read the earlier books in the series, I’m sure it does. The Black Bird Oracle is absolutely not a starting place. While I love the world of All Souls, the only possible entry point is A Discovery of Witches. Nothing about these books will make sense otherwise.
There are some interesting elements here, especially in regard to the Proctor family history, how they’re intertwined with the tragic events of Salem, and the ways in which the Proctors and de Clermonts have crossed paths over the centuries.
And yet… the book felt strangely flat to me. For all that I adore Diana, I never felt drawn into the story on more than a surface level. Perhaps that’s because the central conflicts of the book have to do with levels of magic, which beyond a certain point get overly symbolic and esoteric. I missed the more personal connections, and although several of the newly introduced Proctor family members are quirky and interesting, the main relationships are oddly stagnant — except when they’re downright puzzling, as in Matthew and Diana’s dynamics. After all they’ve been through in order to be together and create a family of their own, their connection seems fuzzy and off-kilter in this book. I missed the sense of a strong, powerful team working together that we’ve seen previously.
On the positive side, Becca and Pip are great fun — although I’d like to know more about their abilities and their vampiric sides. The focus in The Black Bird Oracle is on their witching talents, and their vampire-influenced traits (and dietary needs) get only the briefest of mentions.
Part of what puzzled me about The Black Bird Oracle is the point of the plot itself. The central conflict never felt fully defined. Toward the end, there’s some excitement involving the Congregation and the reappearance of an old foe of Diana’s, but this is largely unresolved. This new danger is left hanging — I presume we’ll need another book to see what unfolds from here.
Sadly, The Black Bird Oracle was somewhat of a letdown for me. While I’m always happy to reenter the world of All Souls, the emotional hook was missing from this reading experience. I’ll be back for whatever books comes next (fingers crossed we won’t be waiting another six years!), but I can’t say that I feel particularly satisfied after reading this installment in the series.
It pains me to give a Deborah Harkness book a less-than-stellar review. Her writing is always intriguing, and her attention to detail superb. I know many fans are over the moon about this book, and I’m happy for them! I’m still devoted to the author and series, and hope that the next book will return me to five-star joy.
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