Book Rambling: The Prophecy of Shadows by Michelle Madow (ARC)

 

Title: Elementals: The Prophecy of Shadows

Author: Michelle Madow

Series: Elementals (Book #1)

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal

Publication: January 26th, 2016

Rating: ★★★

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Abbreviated Goodreads Summary:

When Nicole Cassidy moves from sunny Georgia to gloomy New England, the last thing she expects is to learn that her homeroom is a cover for a secret coven of witches. Even more surprisingly … she’s apparently a witch herself. 

When the Olympian Comet shoots through the sky for the first time in three thousand years, Nicole, Blake, Danielle, and two others in their homeroom are gifted with mysterious powers. But the comet has another effect—it opens the portal to the prison world that has contained the Titans for centuries. After an ancient monster escapes and attacks Nicole and Blake, it’s up to them and the others to follow the clues from a cryptic prophecy so that they can save their town … and possibly the world.

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Non-Spoiler Review:

This books is marketed as a cross between Percy Jackson and the Secret Circle.  I absolutely love Percy Jackson, so I was extremely happy that I was accepted to review a copy of this!

The reason that this book gets a 3 stars from me is probably because of the characters. I thought that the main protagonist, Nicole, was kind of boring.  She has a “chosen one” storyline which I don’t mind, but her as a character was just a little bland.  Also, her romance was very insta-lovey, so beware if you hate that. The insta-love doesn’t bother me too much.  The thing that made me dislike her the most was probably the fact that even through all the challenges and missions the group was trying to solve, Nicole was constantly obsessing over Blake.  For example, it’ll be like “Let’s solve this puzzle. Just kidding, I’m going to stare and think about Blake.” So, she is not my favorite female protagonist.

However, the side characters, Kate and Chris, are my favorite in this novel.  Both of them actually have depth and are more entertaining to read about than Nicole.  Also, the way the author wrote Danielle, as a typical “she’s a b-word; we hate her because she’s dating the hot guy” was a little too cliche for me.  But the side characters were fun to read about for me!

Additionally, a lot of the book was just info-dumping.  We see it with Danielle – we’re more often TOLD that she is terrible rather than shown.  With the magic system in general, we get a lot of info dumped on us rather than exploring how the magic works.  The novel wasn’t very long, so maybe a longer book would have helped with both the worldbuilding and the pacing/convenience.

Overall, I think this novel was a fun and entertaining read.  I liked the Greek mythology elements, and the plot was enjoyable (albeit a little predictable).  If you love YA fantasy and Percy Jackson, I definitely recommend giving it a shot! The different powers were really interesting to read, and I think with more character development further along in the series, I will like the characters more!

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**Thank you NetGalley and Barclay Publicity for giving me a review copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are solely my own.**