The Art of Prophecy

Very interesting. Having only seen Crouching Tiger, but knowing wuxia as a genre I'm kind of glad I read a book first instead of trying to compare this to a bunch of movies.

After a very promising start, this one lost its hold on me along the way, as I struggled to stay invested in the secondary characters and plotlines. That said, The Art of Prophecy is action-packed, funny, and puts a fresh spin on the prophesied chosen one trope. Others will surely enjoy this more than I did, as there were a lot of elements to like here.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

Merged review:

After a very promising start, this one lost its hold on me along the way, as I struggled to stay invested in the secondary characters and plotlines. That said, The Art of Prophecy is action-packed, funny, and puts a fresh spin on the prophesied chosen one trope. Others will surely enjoy this more than I did, as there were a lot of elements to like here.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

I loved this book. A chosen one where someone else full fills the prophecy? Count me in!

And it was for better than it sounds. Tasha. Oh how love her. with only one arm, a I take no shit personality, and one of the best fighters she ruled the page. Pair that with a whiny chosen one and its brilliance.

I was hooked to the story from page one. I did not expect it to take turns it did and loved it.

The worldbuilding is expansive and woven into the tale expertly.

Go pick this up, you won't regret it!

I love wuxia movies, but it's a genre largely untapped in contemporary (Western) fantasy. If names like Tsui Hark, Yuen Woo-Ping or King Hu quicken your pulse a little, then be assured there are sequences in this book that will make your heart sing. The fight scenes are gloriously visualised, the characters (especially Taishi!) are memorable and believable, and the plot rattles along in splendid fashion. As ever with multi-part series, final judgement will have to wait until it's complete, but I am definitely along for the ride.

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The action was when it was on page was awesome. The funny moments were funny. Yet, there were moments that I felt as if something was missing. Certain decisions were made that didn't make sense to me and it would take me out of the world. It's not a horrible read. I will have to re-read this before moving on to the second installment.

4.5 stars

It was okay at best for me. Apparently I'm not that into Asian mythology and not familiar enough with martial arts to understand the lingo of things. There are some good parts that peak my interest and then dies off for me. A little disappointed after reading Time Salvager which is fantastic, his cover is cool and the world map is one of my favorites but there are so many instances in the book where it's talking about a place but it is not on the map so the map is useless for the most part.

Good start to a martial arts fantasy. 3.5 / 5.0
Interesting cast of characters.
Not your typical chosen one story.

The Prophecy says that the Eternal Khan will be defeated by a boy. That boy is Jian.

Taishi is said to be the greatest in magical martial arts. Even now that she is older, no one has surpassed her talents.
Taishi travels to see how the boy Jian is progressing in his training.
She finds a spoiled brat unprepared for a fight of any kind. To think he could defeat the Eternal Khan is laughable.

This is a great story. I absolutely adore Taishi! She is fantastic!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an e-arc.

More like 3.5 stars, rounded up.

I admit, I got sucked in by another pretty cover. I have a thing for striking black and white art.

Jian is told from an early age that he's the chosen one, the one who is expected to do great things and save the people based on prophecy alone. The problem is that he was raised knowing this, and as a result grows up spoiled, unprepared, and basically untrained. Taishi, an elderly martial arts master sent to test him on his preparedness, is stunned and disgusted to find out what's been made of their once-in-a-lifetime champion, and becomes his teacher to make things right. Along the way, this master/student duo meets up with skeptical side characters who disagree with Jian's Chosen One role, and things decidedly do not go as planned.

This book definitely reminded me of high flying fantastical wuxia films I've seen in the past. There's lots of magical martial arts involved, drunken style references, and a good bit of sometimes slapstick humor. The cast is large and interesting for the most part, though I had some side characters I liked more than others. The setting is definitely inspired by Imperial China, but varied enough that I didn't get a been-there-done-that vibe. The Chosen One trope, evident from the book's description, is turned on its head in an interesting (if not unexpected) way, which was refreshing to read.

All that said, this book just didn't hit the right notes for me to rate it much higher. The writing style was just okay, a bit flat for what I generally read. The book was also very long and a bit meandering in its many different plot lines, and the constant shifting of viewpoints were sometimes hard to keep up with. It definitely had an anime/wuxia feel to parts, which I really appreciated, but sometimes in other parts just didn't work.

I highly recommend this book if you're into high flying wuxia epics, particularly because this is the first book of a series. Maybe pass on it if you're looking for depth and nuance, though.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.