This book stands really great as a standalone, boasting a quick-paced narrative with a dash of magic and romance. I personally am not one for magical realism, but I would definitely recommend it to the lovers of the genre.

In These Deadly Prophecies there's this wry humor. This conversational, reflective tone, which hooks the reader immediately. These Deadly Prophecies mixes a story that feels introspective as it navigates prophecies and free will with a murder mystery. There's just the right balance of humor and heart. Tabatha is a fun character from the very first image we have of her.

Tabatha Zeng wants nothing more than to become a sorceress. Her parents are less than thrilled but still supportive. When she is fourteen, she earns the opportunity to become an apprentice to one of the most powerful and well-known sorcerers, Sorceror Solomon.  She diligently studies under his direction for three years when her dream of becoming a sorceress takes a dark turn as her mentor, Sorcerer Solomon, is found murdered by magic.

Tabatha forms a wary alliance with Sorcerer Solomon's youngest son, Callum, to unravel the murder. As the investigation moves forward, Tabatha learns more about the secrets of the Solomon family. The ending is twisty but satisfying. I especially love the narration of Tabatha throughout.  Recommended for readers who love a good mystery with suspenseful elements.

Thank you to Andrea Tang, NetGalley, and Penguin Young Readers Group for an advanced eBook copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Penguin Teen and NetGalley for an eARC.

Tropes: Forced Proximity, Prophecy, Amateur detectives, Classmates to Lovers, Urban Fantasy
YA Mystery with a dash of Romance

"Because lying like a discarded doll, tossed to the side of the foyer-and clearly long separated from its owner- was a single, beautifully tattooed human hand with familiar, matte black nails."

This was such a fun story! I really liked that there were twists and turns that put you off the scent of who actually murdered the sorcerer.
The Solomon family has such complicated dynamics, between the three kids, two moms, and a murdered father- then throw in two sorcerers apprentices... and chaos ensues.
I enjoyed the urban fantasy aspects of this story and that magic wasn't a secret from the masses. It had an added twist that a lot of urban fantasies don't have.
When Knives Out was released as a movie this style of book/story seemed to become more popular since it was a hit- and honestly I love that. I was a big Nancy Drew reader when I was growing up so I enjoyed those references.
I think that the prophecy is convoluted in this story, maybe more so than others, added a little bit of intrigue and helped with the twist of who actually did the murdering.
I liked Callum and Tabatha's relationship- while Felix was a major side character I also think his relationship with both MCs added to the story and I enjoyed him.
I wish that there had been a little bit more about the police side of the investigation because I feel like it was just randomly talked about.

This is my first book by this author and I really enjoyed it.

I liked the premise of the book (kind of a magical Inheritance Games), and I loved the narrator's voice and personality, but I had a hard time getting through this one. It was pretty slow, and then the solution to the mystery came out in twists and turns without many clues leading up to it that made it feel earned.

“𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚑𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚜.”

📖 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙮 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙗𝙮 𝘼𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖 𝙏𝙖𝙣𝙜

Tabatha is an apprentice to one of the most renowned sorcerers, Julian Solomon. Solomon gift is in prophecies and when he ultimately predicts his own death at the hands of his most beloved, everyone in his family is a suspect. When the prophecy comes true, Tabatha must solve his murder. She also promised him she would stick close to his youngest son, Callum. Tabatha and Callum dive deep to solve the mystery of who killed the sorcerer. The murderer is out there, and Tabatha might be the only person standing in their way of what they truly want.

This story gave me The Inheritance Games and Knives out vibes! It was full of twists and turns. The ending got me, I did not expect it. Ultimately, I felt like the narrative dragged on and talked in circles a bit. I was expecting more displays of magic, but there really wasn’t much. For a young adult book, it was clean and a fun mystery overall.

Tropes:
☠️ Murder Mystery
🫣 Suspense
🪄 Magic
💞 Young Adult Fantasy

Thank you NetGalley and Bookish First for my free advanced copy of this story! 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙮 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙨 is OUT NOW!

This was a fast-paced and exciting YA read. As advertised, it is great for fans of Knives Out & The Inheritance Games, but add magic.
I liked the mystery/prophecy aspects, the characters, and the pacing overall. Would highly recommend to young readers. At only 250ish pages, this is definitely a bingable read.

Thank you SO much, Penguin Teen, for the ARC!

This had an interesting murder mystery and some cool prophecy magic set at a nice pace. I liked the main character Tabatha and her Nancy Drew/Joe Hardy partnership with Callum, they're a grumpy/sunshine pair and the bit of romance was cute.

I think the worldbuilding was lacking and didn't really explain how magic works very well. I also thought the mystery could have been a bit more exciting, especially at the end.

Still a fun book overall and I can see where the Knives Out comparisons come from.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the copy.

I’m a sucker for a whodunnit mystery especially if it’s advertised as Knives Out and Inheritance Games with Magic sign me up!

I did read this while I was sick and it played out like a fever dream in the best possible way. It is one of my favorite reads of the month.

Happy Publication Day!

These Deadly Prophecies is perfect for readers who enjoyed The Inheritance Games. Tabitha has always wanted to be a prophet and is currently an apprentice to one of the best prophets in the world, Sorcerer Solomon. However, when Solomon predicts his own death, it soon becomes Tabitha's responsibility to find the murderer.

I loved Tabitha's narration of this book and feel that it would be a great audiobook. I enjoyed the investigation into the Sorcerer Solomon's death and felt that the characters were quirky and fun. Each character seemed to have their motive in why they wanted Solomon dead, and, in the end, I was still surprised on the culprit. If you are looking for a fun, quick mystery read, I would highly recommend reading this book.

These Deadly Prophecies is out today!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Publishing for the opportunity to review These Deadly Prophecies. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I picked up the newly published THESE DEADLY PROPHECIES by Andrea Tang because I had not read much young adult fiction lately. This clearly fits the label with several main characters in their teens and plenty of romantic angst as well as rebellion against authority figures. It is an unusual mystery in that the murder victim foretold his own death: Julian Solomon was a skillful and powerful prophetic sorcerer who made his apprentice, Tabatha Zeng, promise to help protect his youngest son, Callum, who attends her high school. Studious Asian girl thrown together with popular white jock try to solve the mystery. They are hampered by the involvement of Callum's older siblings, Felix and Circe, as well as interference from Julian Solomon's two wives and also the chief detective of the local occult crimes unit. If readers can deal with the numerous sorcery references, the story is laced with humor and moves along fairly well for its intended audience, with Tabatha and Callum having to decide if they trust each other or not. A diverting blend of mystery and magic that seems to fit in the newer "romantasy" genre. 3.5 stars

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Andrea Tang for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for These Deadly Prophecies coming out January 30, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own..

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. The summary said it was supposed to be like Knives Out. I love those type of murder mystery movies, so I was really excited to check out this book. I also love stories featuring Asian characters, so this book seemed perfect for me. Tabatha was a really fun character. I love that she was on the reserved side, but also stood up for herself. I think she really grew as a character. I left the plot of the book. The idea of sorcery was really fun. I think the only thing I wanted more of was a little more backstory of magic in the real world. There were some about the laws of magic, but it’s hard to get an idea of how the world of non-magical people viewed those with magic. But overall I loved the book! Callum and Felix were fun characters and I think that was handled well. I loved the twists at the end. I’m not sure if there will be another book, but I will definitely check out more books by this author.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys murder mysteries and books about magic!

In a fresh own voice story we follow Tabatha, a sorcerer’s apprentice who tries to solve the murder of her boss, Solomon, and prove her own innocence. The police have their eyes on her and Callum, Solomon’s youngest son. But the more she digs, the more she realizes just how dangerous a world she’s fallen into. Because the rich and powerful have a way to keep things shut.

The story is imaginative for sure. It’s woven with many different characters and a world sort of like the society we live in, but with magic. We have Tabatha, a 17 year old who doesn’t conform to the norm. She chooses to be an apprentice instead of following her mother into the world of law. Callum is the one of the popular guys even though he’s more quiet and reserved. Tabatha evolves throughout the story to find the true murder while also trying not to fall for Callum, who also suspects her.

All in all, I enjoyed the concept the story itself delivers. I think what didn’t give me the wow factor was the world they lived in couple have given us more. I know the story is very character driven, but it lacked in the build up of. And it was easy to predict who the murder was. I still think it’s an enjoyable book for those who like who-done-it’s.

The title and plot of the book, are initially what drew me in, and the first few chapters were quite engaging. However, after that, the story kind of lost steam and not much happened until the end. Our main character Tabatha and her buddy Callum spent a large portion of the middle of this story discussing and speculating about the murder that took place in the beginning, and who the murderer could be, but I felt they did not put in much effort into actually investigating the case.

Things did pick up towards the end, around the 85% mark, and I think the story had a pretty strong finish. This was one of the first murder mysteries I've read in a while where I had know idea whodunnit (although that may have something to do with the aforementioned lack of investigation). However, when the big reveal did happen and the motivation was explained I was really impressed by how well everything tied together.

In regard to the characters, I thought they were all intriguing, but I felt that they were not fully fleshed out. I would have liked to learn more about the supporting characters, especially the backstory that Tabatha wasn't privy regarding all the drama-filled messiness that was going on behind the scenes of the Solomon house between the sorcerer, his wives, his children, even Hester, and Detective Chang. We get to know a tiny bit about each person and these relationships but I would have loved to dive deeper. Spending more time with these characters would have made the story more engaging (especially that middle part) and really helped connect some dots.

Overall though, I thought it was a fun and quick read. If you’re looking for a murder-mystery with some magic this book is worth checking out!

Thank you, Penguin Group, NetGalley, and Andrea Tang for allowing me the opportunity to review this book!

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔, 𝒏𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒔𝒉*𝒕.......🔮🧙‍♂️🪄

Special thanks to @penguinteen @netgalley & @atangwrites for the #gifted eARC.

MY REVIEW::
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

When I saw this one was a murder mystery with a magical twist and was great for fans of Knives Out & The Inheritance Games , boy did I sign up IMMEDIATELY!!!!!🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️
(Knives Out is like my fav movie, since my parents introduced me to it last year!)

I was engulfed with this story! I literally couldn't turn through the pages fast enough. I read this in one sitting it was SO good!!!!!!🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

This is a YA tale of a sourcerers apprentice who is coached on how to solve his murder WHEN it happens. Yes , he knows "who" it is - via prophecy - and Tabatha is in charge of figuring out who did such a thing to their own family member.

This book involves boys, magic, murder, and friendship. I highly recommend this one!

PUB DATE:
Jan 30, 2024

QOTD ❓️⁉️❓️ Do you believe in magic?

AOTD - I don't think that I do, but I love reading about it.

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#mysteryandthrills #bookmagic #sourcerersapprentice #thesedeadlyprophesies #andreatang #netgalley #thrillerbooklovers #yathriller
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DNF - it felt like I'd read far too many similar books, and this one wasn't offering any real twists or something new. Plus, when Tabatha's father says "Why are we always centering your ambitions" my eyes rolled so hard it hurt. No one says that in real life, unless they're trying to sound corporate -- not in a family discussion.

eARC provided by publisher.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Group for the e-arc of this book.

The potential and the pieces for These Deadly Prophecies to be a new favorite of mine were there, but they just weren’t executed, which is really disappointing.

The murder mystery part of the story kind of feels like Knives Out, but it felt like we didn’t actually get any clues or foreshadowing as to who actually committed the murder. We just find out at the end when the person confesses. This certainly has to do with the fact that Tabatha and Callum are not real investigators or detectives, but it just makes all their investigating and looking for answers feel rather pointless.

The magic in this world is crucial to the murder mystery part of the story, except Tabatha’s specific branch of sorcery is not used to help her investigation at all. In fact, I don’t recall a single instance of her using her prophetic sorcery to advance the plot in any way. Why give her magic at all? The book would’ve ended the same way whether she was there or not. She really feels like a bystander in her own narration and maybe that was the intention, but it didn’t give her any room to grow. She was just there observing.

I didn’t care about a single character outside of Tabatha and Callum (and even them I just barely tolerated because their dynamic and banter was nice). The tone of the book was very shaky as well, sometimes bordering on comedy and sometimes getting really dark, but it wasn’t balanced out well enough to work.

In the end, this was fun and I love a good dysfunctional murder mystery, but there were a lot of lacking areas of the story that, if improved, would’ve have increased my enjoyment much more.

"'No,' said Callum patiently. 'My answer is to pin his murder on his actual murderer, so we can both go home, book therapy appointments, and carry on with our lives.'"

These Deadly Prophecies has only solidified my belief that one of the best genres is fantasy-mysteries. I don't typically enjoy contemporary fantasy settings, but I really enjoyed this book and the world it took place in.
Yes, it's a good old-fashioned murder mystery with a rich, magical family, but it's filled with so many twists and turns. While I didn't manage to figure out the murderer, I didn't really have any theories to begin with (I made one guess at the beginning as a joke, and for a moment I thought I'd somehow guessed right, but nope) and I was satisfied with how the mystery played out. Overall, it's super fast-paced and there's rarely a dull moment. My only complaint was that I could've asked for a little more action and danger. The handful of action scenes were written very well and I would've loved to see more.
I really liked the cast of characters as well. Each member of the family had good reasons to be suspects, and I will say the only one I had an opinion about was Felix...I didn't like him (probably because I thought there was gonna be a love triangle). The story really focuses on Tabatha, who reminded me a lot of Pip from A Good Girl's Guide to Murder but with magic, and Callum, who reminded me a lot of Ravi from the same book. Unlike everyone else apparently, I thought their relationship was well done considering the story takes place over a week or so, and also, YA isn't meant to be spicy... Besides, the training scene? I liked it more than I should've.
These Deadly Prophecies is an exciting, fast-paced magical murder mystery with lovable characters and a great story.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!
4.25/5

I love a good murder mystery and this was perfect for that category. I would say 3.75-4 (still thinking on the official rating). Overall though it was a fun little adventure.

An intriguing murder mystery about an apprentice who has to hunt down the killer of her mentor Sorcerer, all while learning family is complicated.

I liked how short this story was, as it made the plot move faster. However, there were times when the pacing lagged, which was frustrating. I really wish that we actually got to see Tabatha do magic, since she is learning how to to be a Sorcerer, I kinda thought we'd see her do more magic. In fact the magic was mostly done by Julian's children, which were really the main characters, as Tabatha felt more like a vehicle to tell the story than an actual character. The author spent a lot of time explaining about the complex family dynamics, but we barely saw Tabatha's relationship with Julian. The whole plot felt a lot like an imitation of The Inheritance Games, but with magic. The writing style kept pulling me out of the story. I liked this one, but it wasn't my favorite.