Book Review: Prophecy by Ellen Oh

This review is part of Melody’s Summer Reading: Diversity Spotlight. Enjoy!

Prophecy by Ellen Oh
Release Date: January 2, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
ISBN: 978-0-06209109-3
Source: Bought
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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.

As someone who reads fantasy but not a ton of fantasy and is very picky when it comes to the fantasy that I do pick up, I really wanted to like this book. This book was on my radar long before it released and I was holding off reading it because that’s totally logical when you really want to like something. Ha! Anyway, I am so, so glad that I finally sat down to read this! I read it in five hours, it was so good. The writing is very straightforward, which is either a hit or miss for me so I’m super glad that I hit it off in the style department with this one. Then there’s our MC…

The main character, Kira (side note: my older sister’s name is Kira so that was pretty awesome to see her name as a main character in a book!) is very grounded in and fights for what she wants and she refuses to settle or live by society’s standards just because. She knows she has a choice, the freedom to live her life to the fullest as she pleases and no kingdom can take that knowing away. She respects the kingdom but she doesn’t lose herself within it and that’s what makes her stand out. She’s a warrior in her kingdom but she’s fighting for so much more.

When I say more, I mean a whole lot more than anyone her age should have to fight for. There are so many moving parts in this story and whoa, I loved it. I loved that all of these parts all played essential roles to the story and it never felt overwhelming and always felt like it had a purpose. It always felt like everything was moving along just right. There was no filler. There was in fact a roller coaster in tone as the story is dark (but not too dark) and the story has its lighter moments but boy, is it a ride.

What I loved most about this story is that Kira is a protector. She has a duty to protect the future prince but also finds herself fighting for her freedom and the life of her mother and siblings and truth. This isn’t your typical heroine who finds out she has a divine purpose as “the one” in the beginning of the story. She is part of a prophecy but she is not the sole driving force of the prophecy and this information isn’t even given to her until the end of the book. It’s not a spoiler because it’s pretty clear what’s going to happen, the tag line on the cover of the book says, “One girl will save us all.”

So you can put the pieces together pretty easily. But it takes its time getting there. We see the story and character arcs and action that leads up to the prophecy really opening up to Kira and that’s rare to see I think so I appreciated that. We see what loyalty, what betrayal, what death looks like in her world and how it affects her and the people closest to her and there’s Asian folklore sprinkled throughout but it’s at the end that the prophecy really comes together and with all that goes down, you will be itching to read the sequel to see what happens next. Great start to the trilogy, I can’t wait to read Warrior next.

My hopes for book two? More demon slaying since Kira is known as a demon slayer. Even more world building because what’s been set up is diverse and great and I want more. And more heart as we continue Kira’s arc. Have you read Prophecy? What did you think?

Prophecy by Ellen Oh is available today.