Heather's Reviews > Prophecy

I really wanted to like this book. The premise encompasses all the things that I love to read. I love fantasy, especially fantasy that features a kick butt heroine. And a kick butt heroine with deadly skills? Even better. I also liked that this book has Asian influences. And honestly, I thought the fact that it was being compared to Graceling, which I have read and loved, and Eon, which I have not yet read but hear great things about, was a GOOD thing. There are definitely some similarities to Graceling. Like Katsa in Graceling, Prophecy's heroine Kira has a special power, she can sense (smell in most cases) a disguised demon. She is the only female warrior in the royal army and is the personal bodyguard of her cousin, the prince and heir. And like Katsa in Graceling, her abilities frighten people and, as a result, she is shunned within her kingdom.

But that is where the similarities end. Prophecy is an interesting story but as I was reading I kept feeling like there was something missing. Even with all the action scenes, and there are many, I felt as if I was reading a chronicling of an adventurous journey, but not living it alongside the characters. When I'm reading an action/ adventure, especially one in a fantasy setting, I want to be caught up in the book. I want to feel like I am there, fighting alongside that kick butt warrior, facing the challenges, and journeying along on whatever quest has been undertaken. But unfortunately, Prophecy didn't elicit any of these feeling in me. It lacked emotional depth. It lacked heart.

Now to be fair, there were some aspects of the book that I liked. I liked the descriptions of the demons. They were pretty atrocious and scary. I liked that they could conceal themselves within a human host and only Kira could pick them out in a crowd.

I also liked the Asian mythology that was incorporated into the story. I understand that many of the customs and language are Korean inspired and I did appreciate that this lent an exotic feel to the book.

There is the possibility of a love triangle. And I admit to kind of liking the bad boy/ possible evil guy Shin Bo Hyun the most. He's kind of a nasty character but of the two possible love interests, he is the one I found to be most intriguing. Probably because the other love interest, Jaewon, while sweet and attentive, was rather bland and boring. Shin Bo Hyun may not be the most moral of characters but the fact that I was able to feel that way about him was a small victory because I felt so little for all of the other players.

As far as story goes, it moved forward at an okay pace, but again there was a lot of telling and not showing. A lot of "And so they set out for the mountain range. Ten days later, they arrived..." There is a big reveal of sorts in the book, but it was something I had already figured out well in advance so it was anticlimatic.

So in closing, Prophecy was a disappointment to me. The comparisons to Graceling (and Eon) made me want to read this book but in the end they were only surface comparisons. Whereas Katsa was a fully fleshed, complicated, emotion- filled character (in addition to being a bad ass warrior) Kira, and the other characters in Prophecy felt stiff, flat and lacking in depth. I think that some readers may feel differently than me after reading Prophecy, but in my case, this one didn't quite cut it.