Review: Prophecy

Prophecy by Ellen Oh

The greatest warrior in all of the Seven Kingdoms... is a girl with yellow eyes.

Kira’s the only female in the king’s army, and the prince’s bodyguard. She’s a demon slayer and an outcast, hated by nearly everyone in her home city of Hansong. And, she’s their only hope...

Murdered kings and discovered traitors point to a demon invasion, sending Kira on the run with the young prince. He may be the savior predicted in the Dragon King Prophecy, but the missing treasure of myth may be the true key. With only the guidance of the cryptic prophecy, Kira must battle demon soldiers, evil shaman, and the Demon Lord himself to find what was once lost and raise a prince into a king.

Intrigue and mystery, ancient lore and action-packed fantasy come together in this heart-stopping first book in a trilogy

Hmm, this is a hard book to review. Overall, I enjoyed Prophecy but some things just didn't seem right to me. Prophecy was pretty cool in some parts, dull in others, and sometimes the parts just moved to fast to catch anything. (There were so many "bad guys" I started getting confused about who did what!)

A lot of times I look at a dragged-out series and think that it could have easily been one book. I have a whole opposite complaint for Prophecy. A whole boatload of things happened to fast to grasp. The author could have expanded a lot of things, and either made a bigger book, or cut Prophecy into two books. I never thought I would say a book was too action- packed. Wow.

Because of the whole rushing-the-story thing, I never felt I got a connection with any of the characters. Which is a shame because Ellen Oh did create some great characters, and I definitely hope in the second book, Warrior, the audience gets to dwell on each more.

Kira, the demon hunter, was overall a cool main character. She was different from any of the other main characters I have read about. I also enjoyed reading about her brother and her dad. To be honest, I never felt connected to the young prince. I had an extremely hard time visualizing him, and he acted like a variety of ages. Kira's love interest (I think, so far all the readers can do it predict) who will go unnamed because I forgot it, was very sweet and I was disappointed we didn't see more of him. Maybe in Warrior? Please?

The plot was, as I have ranted about, rushed and all we can do is hope Ellen Oh slows down in future sequels. The Asian mythology was interesting, though had many complicated names I was prone to forgetting. Demons and other creatures bounded from the pages pretty vividly when they turned up. These were some of the better scenes. I especially enjoyed the beginning demon scene.

Overall, Prophecy didn't meet my expectations, but I will definitely check out the next book!

3/5 bookcases