Prophecy of the Sisters (Prophecy of the Sisters, #1)

by Michelle Zink

An ancient prophecy divides two sisters-
One good...
One evil...
Who will prevail?
Twin sisters Lia and Alice Milthorpe have just become orphans. They have also become enemies. As they discover their roles in a prophecy that has turned generations of sisters against each other, the girls find themselves entangled in a mystery that involves a tattoo-like mark, their parents' deaths, a boy, a book, and a lifetime of secrets.
Lia and Alice don't know whom they can trust.
They just know they can't trust each other.

• ISBN10: 0316027421
• ISBN13: 9780316027427
• Publish Date: 1 August 2009 (first published 1 March 2008)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown & Company
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 343
• Language: English

Reviews

[catiebug]

I've been trying to read some of the books I've had sitting on my shelf for awhile. I picked up this series from Book Outlet about 2 or 3 years ago (back when it was Book Closeouts). I was kind of hesitant about reading it because historical fiction is very hit or miss with me.

After the first chapter, I was hooked. The writing is beautiful and I think the story moves at a good pace and isn't too slow. The plot is so interesting and I love seeing the mystery unravel. I can't wait to see what happens next and find out all the answers!

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Prophecy of the Sisters sounds as if it should have an interesting premise, yet somehow a book that promises a major clash between good and evil in which the fate of the entire world is at stake ends up being somewhat dull. Ultimately, Zink ends up relying on the fact that she has pitched twin sisters against each other in this epic battle to carry the story—and it can’t. Making characters twins does not automatically make them fascinating. Also, the characterization of the two is so general that it does not matter whether they are twins or related or not.

Zink has cast Lia as the good sister and Alice as the evil one. They rarely interact, except when arguing over things pertaining to the prophecy. As readers, we only have Lia’s word that Alice and she used to be friends; we see little of that relationship in the book. And it is disconcerting to see absolutely none of Alice’s character arc. She is cruel and almost stereotypically evil except for a few brief moments when something in her breaks. What would be interesting is an explanation of how Alice became this way.

The paranormal elements are also not as interesting as one might expect. Lia and the other are able to “travel the Plane,” which means there are a lot of interludes that sound very much like dream descriptions. If one is not fond of dream sequences (even if what is occurring is technically real), then this book has a number of boring interruptions. A couple of séances also fail to be as creepy or powerful as they could be.

The romance is somewhat original in that it has already begun before the book starts. James and Lia are already a couple, so readers get to see them from the beginning drawing on each other’s strengths. The romance is unoriginal in Lia’s reluctance to draw James into her problems and her subsequent decision to push him away. (Readers can probably guess how this tactic will work out.) I personally am not excited by the set-up of what promises to be a twin struggle over the guy in the following books. Lia and Alice are fighting enough without adding a guy, who is clearly interested in one girl and not the other, into the mix. This plot line cannot possibly go anywhere surprising either. No one really expects the evil girl to steal the nice girl’s boyfriend.

Bottom line: I will not be reading the remainder of the series.

This review was also posted at Pages Unbound Book Reviews.

[elysium]

After Lia’s father dies she discovers a mark on her wrist and learns about a prophecy that has been in her family for generations, and is now concerning Lia and her twin sister Alice. One sister is the Gate and the other the Guardian and the mission is to keep Samael and other demons from coming into this world.

First of all I had no idea when I started this that it’s set in 1890’s and if I had known I’d have been more hesitant to read it. But apart from characters riding in carriages and wearing gowns I could have said it’s set in modern times.

I enjoyed this but it was little slow going. The main problem was that it had way too many questions but few answers. I never got the sense of the prophecy and it was too evil vs. good, I mean Lia was so good and Alice so evil. When Alice started to turn evil and why? I didn’t feel the sisters had any connection with each other or that they were ever really close.

Blurb says that the prophecy has turned sisters against each other but I never got the feeling that there was problems between the sisters of previous generations. Lia’s and Alice’s aunt Virginia lives with them but it was never mentioned that she had problems with her sister.

The book was enjoyable but I was still little bit disappointed. I’m not sure yet if I’ll read the next book but I’m curious if there’s some improvement in it.

[ladygrey]

eh. That's really all I have to say about this book. I wasn't impressed with the simplistic, first person writing style. I wasn't intrigued by the mystery and the magic of the story. I expected it to be more predictable than it was, so that was pleasant and kept me reading when I might have put it down.

But all of that is forgivable if I'm invested in the characters, and I wasn't. They are so flat, so one dimensional that I didn't care about anything. I mostly wanted the good sister to win but even that - if she had failed or died or any number of things it wouldn't have bothered me too terribly.

And when you don't care about the characters, it's hard to care about anything.

[Jo]

I don’t really know what I expected with this novel, but this book is so much more than anything I could have expected! It sounded awesome, which is why I wanted to read it, but the blurb just scratches the surface. The excitement that surged through me as I read this novel was so, I can’t even begin to explain.

Some of you may be aware that I am a huge David Eddings. I love his novels for a great many reasons, one being that Pawn of Prophecy was THE book that made me an avid reader, and whenever I read it, I get that same feeling of awe that books can be so enchanting as when I first read it . It may sound odd to be mentioning my love for Eddings in this review, but I do have a reason; Eddings’ Belgariad series was about a quest to fulfil a prophecy, it was intricate, it was magical – just like Prophecy of the Sisters. And just like Pawn of Prophecy, I was filled with the same awe, and the same feeling of how lucky we are that books, stories and authors exist for our enjoyment when I read Prophecy of the Sisters!

This is the kind of fantasy that I absolutely adore! You are left guessing with every page you turn, with every clue there are so many possibilities that could be the answer, and the excitement and wonder at Zink’s incredible story telling abilities just grow and grow.

This story is so complicated. When I read the prophecy, I sat there blinking at it, unable to make any sense of it at all, but as the story unfolds, and the clues arrive, and the jigsaw pieces are slowly fitted together, I challenge anyone to read this book and not be amazed at just how intricate this is! J. K. Rowling should watch her back, she has competition in the complicated and clever stakes!

It’s known by a fair few that I am not really a fan of historical fiction, so once I opened the first pages and saw it was historical, I inwardly groaned. I was sure I wouldn’t like it, and didn’t think it would work; a historical urban fantasy? But it does! The historical aspect makes Prophecy of the Sisters feel more like a high fantasy, which I love!

I love the characters! Lia makes a great main character, and despite the time period, she is very relatable. Strong, yet human and deals with her problems as such. Sonia and Luisa are just brilliant secondary characters, with their easy friendship, but their concern and worry that is very normal; I think sometimes, in some novels, people seem to accept the fantastic far too easily, and cope far too well with the issues, but it’s not the case with Sonia and Luisa, and it makes them more likable and believable.

Alice is probably the most impressive character; she is absolutely despicable, and far too disturbing for words, but utterly brilliant in that she evokes such dislike and abhorrence. As weird as it may sound, I am excited to see just how cruel and evil she can become, to what lengths she’ll go to next to try to get what she wants. To see if she can make me loath her even more.
I can’t tell you just how amazing this book is! I absolutely loved it, and I am itching to read the next in the series, Guardian of the Gate. If you haven’t read this book yet, get yourself to a bookshop now, you NEED this book!