Review: Prophecy by Ellen Oh

Prophecy by Ellen Oh
Released-Jan 2nd 2013
Published-Harper Teen
Purchase- Amazon / B & N

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.

My Thoughts:

Kira is a seventeen year old girl, the first cousin to the young prince and his bodyguard and also the Kings secret Demon Slayer. She is hated and feared for her fierce yellow eyes and while she's a girl, fights like a male warrior. The people of Hansong believe that demons have not possessed the city for ten long years, but they will never know that Kira and her tiger-spirited talents has kept them safe all this time. When a sinister plot has taken over the kingdom, Kira must protect her young cousin from harms way so the prophecy can rightly be fulfilled. 

Prophecy is a smart and clever fantasy that may be targeted for young adults but has a middle grade quality to it. I'm not sure if it's the fact that I'm use to reading more intense and fantastical high fantasy books that has profound depth or if there is a certain spark that was missing from this debut novel, but never the less, while this book did indeed have it's moments, in the end it turned out to be an okay read.

There are many elements that I enjoyed about this book. I liked the story line very much. It's has it's fill of action, that funny enough actually reminds me a little bit of the anime's; Naruto, Bleach, Soul Eater and even a little Inuyasha. Not to say that Ellen Oh took specific qualities from those shows, just that it reminded me of them while reading, which made this somehow more entertaining. I also found the history and culture of the city and it's people to be interesting and well researched and then we have the magical aspects and demonic lore which ties well with fantasy/paranormal genres that fans will surely enjoy. The characters were well written and the writing is also well done.

However, while I may believe this book has a lot of potential for a first book in a planned trilogy, I wasn't overly wowed by it. I usually find pacing difficult to delivery in fantasy reads, it has to flow just right for it to grab the reader and then carry them through every twist and turn. Unfortunately this book tended to drop me off here and there and then come back to find me later. I was interested, but I can't say I was interested the entire time.

All in all, Prophecy is a decent read. It has a wonderful historical, fantasy and paranormal combination and a very intriguing concept. I may not have loved this the way I wanted to, but I liked the way it ended and am looking forward to seeing what Ellen Oh comes up for the next book.

Find the author:

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                                                                  3.5 snowflakes