What if the prophesied hero is inept? Could he save the nation without proper support?
This military fantasy, strongly inspired by ancient China, is filled with intrigue, backstabing, grueling training, overcoming disappointment and growth and change.
I particularly liked Taichi, her grit, impatience with the world as an older woman, her regrets...
Not exactly what I would usually go for as military universes, no matter how foreign, don't really interest me, but for those who love martial arts a la Flying Daggers, or tales of epic battles, or even Warbreaker by Sanderson, they will adore this novel.

The Art of Prophecy held so much promise of the next epic fantasty, but unfortunately, it fell rather flat for me.

The pacing was incredibly slow. While this built amazing world building, it left me feeling quite bored as we go on these journeys with these characters I had no interest in hearing about anymore.

The characters felt a little flat, as if the sole purpose was worldbuilding, and they were just a filler for the plot.

There was just not enough desire built up for me to want to continue reading, and I would often find myself mentally wandering off mid chapter and then no desire to read the next chapter. Nobody is as disappointed as me.

This was a great read. Really enjoyed it. Good combination of ideas and fantastic characters, The writing was a little patchy in places as was the editing, but certainly not enough to spoil a good book. Once the rights in Australia resolve themselves and we can get stock again, i'll definitely be hand selling. Thanks!

a very drawn out first instalment that certainly elaborates on the world-building but it fails to really flesh out the characters. there were so many boring bits that could have been easily cut down.

Another chosen one story - or is it?
This is not your average chosen one lead - and the setting for this story is gorgeous. An alternate China - a new style of martial arts. The relationships between the characters are complex and fully realised. There is a lot of world building, this definetely gives the feel of a first book in a series. But in an excellent way. You want to read the next books.
The characters are all so different and so compelling, and they make you love or hate them in their own unique ways, and the growth of these characters even in one book is amazing.
Can't wait to see what happens next.
If you like a world with many layers and details, this is the one for you

There seems to be a plethora of books out dealing with this subject matter and I must admit I have read better. Saying that it had a good storyline, with great characters but it was so slow. This book could have been so much better. Saying that I am sure other readers will enjoy it more just not.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC of 'The Art of Prophecy' by Wesley Chu.

'The Art of Prophecy' is the first in a series by Wesley Chu and my gosh is it a saga. The writing style is elegant and gorgeous woven into the fantasy fit for the screen. The characters and the way Chu fits everything together was a masterpiece and I devoured this book so quickly, I was shocked by how short it truly felt.

If you buy books purely on cover alone, this one is definitely worth it. It was a joy to read and I am ever so excited to read the rest of the books when they come out.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy. It was amazing from start to finish! I loved how the different stories of the characters unfolded. The ending was a little slow but other than that it was an amazing read!

Interesting plot with great characters. Occassionally things moved a little too slowly for my liking but I'm definitely looking forward the next book in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Daphne Press for the advance reader copy.

This is an example of a well-written book that didn't much match my taste, hence its position in the Bronze tier of my Best of the Year list.

With the exception of one consistent common error (using "may" instead of "might" in past tense narration), there are few copy editing errors even in the pre-release version I got via Netgalley for review. That's a good start.

There are several capable, and distinct, women as both viewpoint and secondary characters, which is great. And (the reason I picked it up) it subverts the Chosen One of Prophecy trope; the remaining viewpoint character is that Chosen One, and he's a pouty, spoiled teenage brat, and he doesn't get a pass for it. The women, including a woman in her later years, are a lot more interesting; this is often the case with stories involving entitled young men, but here they are also given most of the focus, something that often doesn't happen when there's an entitled young man around.

All of this is great, and is the reason (along with general competent craft) that the book goes on my Best of the Year list. The reason it only just gets on there, though, is the tone and the nature of the events.

I am very much not a fan of dark, violent stories, and this is one (though not lacking in noir humour). What's more, it's a dark, violent story in which the violence is always shown to be futile, the consequence of a corrupt system that pits the characters against one another and destroys innocent bystanders, and in which all of that suffering ends up making very little difference. Nobody wins. Nobody triumphs. At the end of the book, the characters are not in a notably better state (apart from the entitled young man having unlearned some of his bad habits and being potentially salvageable as a human being) than they were at the start; the various parts of the political situation that caused all the suffering are not resolved, or even much changed; and I was left feeling, "What was the point of all that?"

It's not all the way grimdark, in that three out of four of the viewpoint characters are, in their own way, decent people caught up in events too large for them (the fourth is an outright psychopath). But it's not far enough from grimdark for my personal taste, and I won't be following the series any further.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for approving my request to read and review this book!

And WHAT a book !

The Art of Prophecy took me massively by surprise - the synopsis hardly alludes to the grandeur and heart of this book!

The book starts off by hitting the reader with ‘what if the prophecies were wrong and the chosen one was a mistake’ which drew me in so fast. I ADORE when fantasy books play on the tropes of the genre - much like Brandon Sandersons ‘what if the villain won?’.

We follow Jian, a mere boy and ex-chosen one as he navigates life on the run from his masters who want him dead. Taishi, the legendary master of the art of war, against her better judgement, decides to keep Jian safe. Sali, a warrior whose leader is killed and Qisami, an assassin determined to beat Taishi and kill Jian.

These characters were wonderful to follow, from the naivety of Jian to the humour of Taishi, and the honour of Sali. Jian’s story in particular I found fascinating as he is forced to mature and unlearn all he knows. But Qisami’s dialogue and fighting skills are so superior she is ICONIC.

The writing was captivating and humorous - the dialogue never fell flat and I was marking quotes left right and centre.

One complaint I had was that Sali’s perspective often fell flat by comparison to Taishi and Jians but there were truly some epic moments. She had a clear goal in mind and stuck to it. I think the coming of age story of Jian stuck with me a bit more

There were also some really fascinating components of this book such as Sali and the others who were each a part of the soul of the khan to reincarnate him. Also the field of seemingly tall grass blades, also the pressure point attack at the beginning on Jian by an ex master causing his blood to be poisoned and heart to stop. I loved the tongue-whip/spear weapon choice too. Also them thick-skinned monks were incredible.

Clearly I’m simping for this book but I had so much fun reading this and was reminded what I love in fantasy. I want to say “read this if you liked….” but it stands so well on its own I can’t claim it as being similar to something else.

So just read it!

Even though this is quite a long book I flew through it. I loved all the characters, none were perfect in anyway. Villains you will want to win, heroes with flaw (but you want them to win too).
I can’t wait to continue this series and see how my favourite characters progress. And see how it’s ends. I wonder if there’s a way for all the character I’ve loved to win, even though they are on opposite sides.
Wesley Chu has done an amazing job with his world building, and character development. The characters grow throughout the book and I can’t help but love them all!
Now I just need to grab myself a physically copy of this book because the cover is as beautiful as the story.

This novel follows four characters in an action-packed high fantasy adventure.

A prophecy said that the Chosen One, Jian, is the kingdom's hope. From childhood, he was destined to defeat the Khan, an immortal god, and finally free his kingdom. He grew up in luxury, having all his needs met, and training with the so-called best masters of the kingdom, however, the prophecy was wrong. In an unfortunate accident, the Khan died and Jian was not the one who killed him. Raised to be a hero, Jian needs to find himself and find another way to succeed.

Taishi, an elderly grandmaster who retired from fighting battles, finds herself back in the middle of one. Disappointed in how the other grandmasters were initially training Jian, she took it upon herself to train him.

We have Sali and Qisami featured in this novel as well (a warrior and an assassin respectively) and while I did enjoy their POV chapters, I'll focus my review on Jian and Taishi since they are the main characters (having the most POV chapters).

My first impression was this: BRILLIANT. I loved the premise of this novel where the prophesied hero is not meant to be the hero. Jian was pathetic and arrogant to the point where I almost pitied him for being so ignorant in the beginning. In short, he is the complete opposite of what you would expect the 'hero' to be. So, having Jian have this life and purpose questioned was an interesting plot point that I enjoyed reading about.

Taishi, initially believing in the fact that Jian is to be the prophesied hero, is strong, harsh, strict and a borderline terrifying teacher who takes charge of training Jian to be the hero he is meant to be. Honestly, I could just gush about Taishi all day. Is it appropriate to say she is the ultimate girl boss and grumpy momma-bear? I'm going to say it. Taishi is easily my favourite girl boss character. She does not tolerate anything less than respect and has no problem cutting people down in size (literally and figuratively).

On that note: all the female characters in this novel were so interesting and complex.

I also want to comment that I loved the master-student relationship between Taishi and Jian. Jian went from a spoiled brat to a somewhat respectable 'hero' and Taishi revealed her soft side while training the boy.

I would say that as much as I enjoyed the plot and the characters, the language selection is the only thing that annoyed me a little bit. I thought that sometimes the language used didn't fit the time period or setting e.g "marketing ploys" or "the latest rage" felt too modern to be used in a novel that is classed as a Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel. In saying so, there were also some brilliant quotes included throughout this novel as well. So, the writing redeems itself on this point.

Overall, it was a great read and I would highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Daphne Press for giving me access to this ARC for review.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Daphne Press for providing me this arc in exchange of an honest review*

Oh Boy! What an excellent ride this book was. Action packed with a male (it's not often, you know?) protagonist and his group of helpers are 3 badass women. This was an EXCELLENT book and I can't wait to read the next one. And the next one. You get it right? Read this book, I implore you.

Jian has been training his whole life to fulfill a prophecy declaring him as a saviour to an entire kingdom. Unfortunately, that prophecy appears to be false, and now those that supported him have instead turned against him.

This is such a brilliant, action packed book! The story is riveting with some intense and fascinating world building. Each of the characters is so well written hat I'm still not completely certain who I'm rooting for. I'll definitely be looking out for the sequel when it is released!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The worst disappointments are the ones where the premise sounds so amazing, but then you read the book waiting for some of that to happen and it just never really does.

I love it when tropes get flipped on their head, so reading a story where the chosen one is a useless kid had me excited. Unfortunately, most of the book's pages are full of meandering tangents, until I forgot that this was supposed to be about a chosen one at all. And maybe that was the point; it just wasn't what I was looking for.

I do think this could make for a very entertaining movie franchise. The martial arts scenes were written really well, and there are plenty of amusing characters and snappy dialogue. The characters moved around a lot, and did a lot of things, but I honestly couldn't tell you about a single event that happened that seemed like it was relevant to the overall plot. This feels very much like a setup book for the rest of the series, rather than a story in its own right.

It does pick up a bit towards the end, which saved the book from being a complete miss for me, but I'd be hesitant to recommend this based just on that.

Thnaks, Netgalley and Publisher for the opportunity to read and review!
Loved every minute of reading! The main character, as young as he is undergoes an amazing transformation from a golden child to youth who wants to do what's right and fight for it while still remaining himself. The female cast is also pretty amazing, strong and intriguing. The pacing of the story doesn't slow down and keeps you intrigued with every chapter. the worldbuilding is intriguing, the writing style flows really nice while reding! It's the read I end up this year and it couldn't have been better! Lovely read!

I fell in love with the gorgeous cover and was attracted by the blurb. It was an amazing ride: entertaining, fast paced, brutal at times, and disruptive as it took some fantasy tropes and turned them into a lot of fun.
The author is talented and i can't wait for the rest of the series.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

<b>thank you so much to daphne press for providing me with an arc of this book!</b>

4.5

i was already interested in this book; i had it preordered before i had ever requested this, and oh my god i was so right to.

the art of prophecy feels like something that just emerged, yknow? the type of thing that was born, not made. it wasn't one person who decided on plot, characters, themes; it just popped out fully formed.

jian as a main character is (in my opinion) the best kind of child protagonist. he is irritating, entitled and whiny when we first meet him. by the end of the novel, we understand how he got to that place, and we watch him unlearn all those traits, while still being quintessentially himself. he still wants to do some good, he wants a goal to work towards, and seeing his journey to finding these things in a different avenue of what he's been raised to believe about himself is immensely satisfied.

my favourite part of the novel are the women. *cue the women gif of saoirse ronan* all of the women in this book are so interesting, it makes me want books focused singularly on them. yes, all 3 are 'Badass Independent Women', but their motivations are so different and as people, their traits probably couldn't be further from each other. i enjoyed the way faith was introduced, because sali's decisions were made partially for her (the motivation of finding her sister) but also for her community at large. jian as a figure introduced an interesting perspective on what it's like to have the weight of a thousand expectations on you, and not know how to live up to them. taishi as a non-motherly-mother-figure was such a lovely surprise too, and i really enjoyed being in her head. i have to say, my favourite character in this was qisami. she is such a cut-throat, hilarious character who truly doesn't care about morals, or belief in a higher authority, she only cares about getting free from the coolest assassin collective i've read about in years. after that jaw-dropping epilogue, i am VIBRATING with excitement for the sequel.

overall this was such a fun, complex story with fight scenes that are cinematic in nature, and characters who i feel like are out there in the world already. i'll be keeping my pre-order of this gorgeous book, and i'll be first in line when the sequel comes out too.

4.5 stars.
The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu is a non-stop, action filled juggernaut of a Kung-Fu novel. All of the actions scences, and there are a lot of them, are so clearly described that when this gets turned into a movie or (preferably) television series a script wont need o be created, it already has.
What happens when a Prophecy has gotten it wrong, the chosen one is not needed to kill the great Khan, as the so-called great Khan has gotten himself drunk and then killed by a passing foot soldier. Three female warriors are going to end up clashing (many times) over the chosen one. Lots of humour, similar to Jay Kristoff's Nevernight books, but without the annoying footnotes.
This novel has turned out to be my favourite read of 2022, and now my main Xmas wish is for the next two volumes not be too far away.