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kjjohnson 's review for:
The Art of Prophecy
by Wesley Chu
I thought that overall this was a great book that I really enjoyed reading.
Jian was a complete, obnoxious brat at the beginning, and I thought his slow transformation into a decent person was excellently done. It took a long-ass time, complete removal of his privilege, and being insufferable or pouty most of the books, but he made it and I was so proud of him. Also it must truly suck to be the reason that everyone around you who you care about is chased/suffers/is at threat of death.
Taishi is great too, and it was nice to have the old master/mentor type as a woman. And having their own thoughts/feelings/goals/regrets! I did low-key think she was going to die in the final confrontation just because she was the old mentor, but was glad she pulled through. And it made sense structurally - of course she wasn't going to die when she hadn't really taught him anything yet.
It was also nice getting the perspective of the Eternal Khan side with Salminde, though she consistently irritated me by thinking that she alone knew what was best for her people. Like yeah, maybe you (temporarily) saved 1000 people, but the others who you consider traitors are worrying about the nation of the whole and the slaughters of many more than 1000 people that your escape will probably cause. It made sense for her - she definitely is a warrior not a politician - but it did not endear her to me.
I don't have a ton to say about Qisami - she leans a little too far into the 'hot but craaaazy' category for me, but maybe she'll get more depth in the later novels; some hints are there. I will say the three way fight with her and Salminde vs Taishi was fantastic, and then thinking she could convince Salminde to let Jian live was hilarious given what we saw from Salminde's perspective.
There was quite a bit of 'character (usually Jian) aaaaalmost died but then a last second intervention!' for my taste, but overall I really enjoyed the world, the characters, and the slow-motion crashing of all the threads into each other at the end. It definitely made me want to read the sequel, where I will sit in tense sadness/anticipation regarding Taishi's probable death.
I will say I absolutely loved the concept of a prophesied chosen one type whose prophesied action is accomplished by someone else and then the world has to deal with it. Finding out that the Immortal Khan reincarnates and so the prophecy still has a good shot at coming true (although probably in an unanticipated way) was a little disappointing from that perspective, but the concept remained awesome.
Jian was a complete, obnoxious brat at the beginning, and I thought his slow transformation into a decent person was excellently done. It took a long-ass time, complete removal of his privilege, and being insufferable or pouty most of the books, but he made it and I was so proud of him. Also it must truly suck to be the reason that everyone around you who you care about is chased/suffers/is at threat of death.
Taishi is great too, and it was nice to have the old master/mentor type as a woman. And having their own thoughts/feelings/goals/regrets! I did low-key think she was going to die in the final confrontation just because she was the old mentor, but was glad she pulled through. And it made sense structurally - of course she wasn't going to die when she hadn't really taught him anything yet.
It was also nice getting the perspective of the Eternal Khan side with Salminde, though she consistently irritated me by thinking that she alone knew what was best for her people. Like yeah, maybe you (temporarily) saved 1000 people, but the others who you consider traitors are worrying about the nation of the whole and the slaughters of many more than 1000 people that your escape will probably cause. It made sense for her - she definitely is a warrior not a politician - but it did not endear her to me.
I don't have a ton to say about Qisami - she leans a little too far into the 'hot but craaaazy' category for me, but maybe she'll get more depth in the later novels; some hints are there. I will say the three way fight with her and Salminde vs Taishi was fantastic, and then thinking she could convince Salminde to let Jian live was hilarious given what we saw from Salminde's perspective.
There was quite a bit of 'character (usually Jian) aaaaalmost died but then a last second intervention!' for my taste, but overall I really enjoyed the world, the characters, and the slow-motion crashing of all the threads into each other at the end. It definitely made me want to read the sequel, where I will sit in tense sadness/anticipation regarding Taishi's probable death.
I will say I absolutely loved the concept of a prophesied chosen one type whose prophesied action is accomplished by someone else and then the world has to deal with it. Finding out that the Immortal Khan reincarnates and so the prophecy still has a good shot at coming true (although probably in an unanticipated way) was a little disappointing from that perspective, but the concept remained awesome.