Little, Brown; August 2009
Overall Grade: B+
There are so many things in her life that Lia can’t explain: the unaccountable, unexpected deaths of both her parents, her twin sister Alice’s distance and strange behavior, a mysterious scar-like mark that appears on her own wrist, the discovery that her two new friends bear similar marks. When she discovers her role in an ancient prophecy, a prophecy that for thousands of years has turned sisters against each other in an age-old battle against evil, she finds some answers…but the questions of what she must do become more and more confusing.
Prophecy of the Sisters contains arguably some of the best writing I’ve encountered this year. Michelle Zink has created a unique dilemma and unique characters to face it; I loved the way she gave the protagonist a very complex personality and allowed her the opportunity to use her free will to fight what seems to be her fate. However, I found the plot somewhat bothersome. While the events were dramatic and story-worthy, I thought the overall situation was lacking an element crucial to the kind of epic-style fantasy the story implies. Namely, while the evil power is very clear in this story, there doesn’t seem to be any equivalent good power. Particularly in a story set in our own world, against the backdrop of real world religions, this lack of good was disorienting. It brought up many unanswered questions: Who made the prophecy in the first place? Who or what are the good characters working for? If it is simply a lack of evil, it diminishes the story’s significance and makes a happy outcome seem less complete.
This issue is complex enough that I believe I shall have to address it further in a “special topic” handling epic fantasy plot in general; for now, let’s hope that Ms Zink has plans to answer these questions in Prophecy’s sequel and bring the story to a satisfying end.
Literary Quality: A
Plot: C+
Voice: A
Originality: A
Descriptive Ability: B
Humor: n/a
Illustrations: n/a
Believability of Characters: A
Believability of Situations: A-
Overall Reading Enjoyment: B
Overall Grade: B+
There are so many things in her life that Lia can’t explain: the unaccountable, unexpected deaths of both her parents, her twin sister Alice’s distance and strange behavior, a mysterious scar-like mark that appears on her own wrist, the discovery that her two new friends bear similar marks. When she discovers her role in an ancient prophecy, a prophecy that for thousands of years has turned sisters against each other in an age-old battle against evil, she finds some answers…but the questions of what she must do become more and more confusing.
Prophecy of the Sisters contains arguably some of the best writing I’ve encountered this year. Michelle Zink has created a unique dilemma and unique characters to face it; I loved the way she gave the protagonist a very complex personality and allowed her the opportunity to use her free will to fight what seems to be her fate. However, I found the plot somewhat bothersome. While the events were dramatic and story-worthy, I thought the overall situation was lacking an element crucial to the kind of epic-style fantasy the story implies. Namely, while the evil power is very clear in this story, there doesn’t seem to be any equivalent good power. Particularly in a story set in our own world, against the backdrop of real world religions, this lack of good was disorienting. It brought up many unanswered questions: Who made the prophecy in the first place? Who or what are the good characters working for? If it is simply a lack of evil, it diminishes the story’s significance and makes a happy outcome seem less complete.
This issue is complex enough that I believe I shall have to address it further in a “special topic” handling epic fantasy plot in general; for now, let’s hope that Ms Zink has plans to answer these questions in Prophecy’s sequel and bring the story to a satisfying end.
Literary Quality: A
Plot: C+
Voice: A
Originality: A
Descriptive Ability: B
Humor: n/a
Illustrations: n/a
Believability of Characters: A
Believability of Situations: A-
Overall Reading Enjoyment: B
Possibly objectionable topics*: demons, violence, murder, suicide, spellcasting, contact with the dead through a spiritualist, indication of plurality of gods
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