Surprise! I know I usually post three times a month (on the 1st, 15th and 28th or 29th of every month for those who are unaware) but today instead of reorganising my scheduled posts I thought of surprising my lovely audience with a bonus book review this month. The book that I will be reviewing today is none other than another Daphne Press release The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu.
Before I start my review I want to thank NetGalley and Daphne Press for giving me an ARC of this novel to review.
So, without further ado, here's my review:
'...but she paid no attention to those people who spent their lives looking up at the stars..."
Chapter Six, page 68 (ebook version)
This novel follows four characters in an action-packed high fantasy adventure.
A prophecy said that the Chosen One, Jian, is the kingdom's hope. From childhood, he was destined to defeat the Khan, an immortal god, and finally free his kingdom. He grew up in luxury, having all his needs met, and training with the so-called best masters of the kingdom, however, the prophecy was wrong. In an unfortunate accident, the Khan died and Jian was not the one who killed him. Raised to be a hero, Jian needs to find himself and find another way to succeed.
This novel follows four characters in an action-packed high fantasy adventure.
A prophecy said that the Chosen One, Jian, is the kingdom's hope. From childhood, he was destined to defeat the Khan, an immortal god, and finally free his kingdom. He grew up in luxury, having all his needs met, and training with the so-called best masters of the kingdom, however, the prophecy was wrong. In an unfortunate accident, the Khan died and Jian was not the one who killed him. Raised to be a hero, Jian needs to find himself and find another way to succeed.
Taishi, an elderly grandmaster who retired from fighting battles, finds herself back in the middle of one. Disappointed in how the other grandmasters were initially training Jian, she took it upon herself to train him.
We have Sali and Qisami featured in this novel as well (a warrior and an assassin respectively) and while I did enjoy their POV chapters, I'll focus my review on Jian and Taishi since they are the main characters (having the most POV chapters).
First: wow, look at that cover! Isn't it STUNNING? It's stunning right?
Second: My first impression was this: BRILLIANT. I loved the premise of this novel where the prophesied hero is not meant to be the hero. Jian was pathetic and arrogant to the point where I almost pitied him for being so ignorant in the beginning. In short, he is the complete opposite of what you would expect the 'hero' to be. So, having Jian have this life and purpose questioned was an interesting plot point that I enjoyed reading about.
Taishi, initially believing in the fact that Jian is to be the prophesied hero, is strong, harsh, strict and a borderline terrifying teacher who takes charge of training Jian to be the hero he is meant to be. Honestly, I could just gush about Taishi all day. Is it appropriate to say she is the ultimate girl boss and grumpy momma-bear? I'm going to say it. Taishi is easily my favourite girl boss character. She does not tolerate anything less than respect and has no problem cutting people down in size (literally and figuratively).
On that note: all the female characters in this novel were so interesting and complex.
I also want to comment that I loved the master-student relationship between Taishi and Jian. Jian went from a spoiled brat to a somewhat respectable 'hero' and Taishi revealed her soft side while training the boy.
I would say that as much as I enjoyed the plot and the characters, the language selection is the only thing that annoyed me a little bit. I thought that sometimes the language used didn't fit the time period or setting e.g "marketing ploys" or "the latest rage" felt too modern to be used in a novel that is classed as a Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel. In saying so, there were also some brilliant quotes included throughout this novel as well. So, the writing redeems itself on this point.
Overall, it was a great read and I would highly recommend it. So, that's it for my review, thanks for reading and I hope you all have a lovely day.
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