SOJALS rating:

Good (3/5)

I first read this on the 19th January 2006.

Kajiwara Hiroshi is the Terran Association's most brilliant general. He led the first fight against the alien Wayholder Empire, eventually withdrawing against overwhelming force. He is a samurai and believes his retreat was shameful, although few would agree. He is also sworn to obey his master however misguided, deluded or simply criminal that master may be. Now he has told him to stand down, to allow the Wayholder empire to commit atrocities against undefended humankind.

But there is a chance that his masters are correct. The truth is that the penalty for resisting the demands of the Wayholder Empire is terrifyingly disproportionately immense. It is essential that the Terry forces take now action against the Wayholder, even while they slaughter the populations of human worlds. And the Wayholder may even be our ally against a more evil enemy.

Lieutenant Mei-Liang (Darcy) was in that first conflict with the Wayholder that so shamed Kajiware. Darcy's lover Billy Wong was killed in the first seconds of the battle. Darcy survived that, then survived the battle and finally made herself a heroine. She'll be critical in the future fight, when we finally decide to fight.

Daitaku is the cloned duplicate of Kajiware-san. He is as brilliant and determined as the original. However he is young and perhaps hasn't yet learned moderation and self-control. Can he learn it in time to defeat the most powerful enemy.

This was pretty good stuff. I have to say that Kevin O'Donnell is seriously underrated. I hope he'll manage to pen a couple more novels and that they'll finally establish his reputation. All his novels have such promise, they have great ideas and intriguing plots. All are very good. but only in "ORA:CLE" do all the elements come together to make a masterpiece.

that promise really delivered