The Prophecy by Erin Albert Rhew Series: The Fulfillment Series #1
Published by BookFish Books on November 15, 2013
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 381
Source: The Author
My content rating: YA (Nothing more than kissing, Some violence)
My rating:
Growing up on a small farm in the kingdom of Vanguard, seventeen-year-old Layla Givens lives a deceptively tranquil existence. But her carefully constructed life quickly falls apart when she’s abducted by a religious zealot who proclaims her The Fulfillment of an ancient peace prophecy and whisks her away to marry her greatest enemy.
Wilhelm, Prince of the Ethereals, is reluctant to meet his new bride. He's grown up believing Vanguards are evil, an enemy to fight and fear...not love. Can he set aside his prejudices and work alongside Layla to bring lasting peace after centuries of war?
Nash, a loner who has never fit in, carries a huge secret, one big enough to destroy both kingdoms. When he accidentally meets Layla, he’s no longer content to live in the shadows, but he must resist his growing attraction—for her safety and for the longevity of the two kingdoms.
When Nash's secret is revealed, a firestorm sweeps through both realms, with Layla at the center. Now she must choose between duty and desire while the fate of two nations hangs in the balance.
Layla has lived her life hiding her eyes – purple eyes that mean she could be The Fulfillment, the girl who is prophesied to bring peace to the warring Ethereals and Vanguards. Between the Vanguards’ incredible strength and the Ethereals’ uncanny ability to control minds, trust has never been possible between the two races and peace seems unattainable. But the prophecy says that The Fulfillment will marry the Ethereal Prince and bring peace. When a religious leader declares that Layla is The Fulfillment, she has no choice but to go to the Ethereal palace and play along – whether she believes in the prophecy or not. But she finds herself conflicted between the man she is supposed to marry and the man who she believes has stolen her heart – if she can trust it, which she discovers may not be such a simple question after all.
- The title and cover. Neither the title nor the cover of this book is very exciting. Every fantasy novel ever has a prophecy in it (okay, slight exaggeration, but not by much), so the name The Prophecy just doesn’t seem all that special or interesting. I wish Erin would have called it The Fulfillment (though maybe she’s reserving that for a future book?), Similarly, the cover just doesn’t draw me in and doesn’t say a ton about the story. I’m one of those horrible people who totally judges a book by its cover, so I’m really glad that I got past the cover (and title) and agreed to review this book anyway. I would have missed out on an amazing read! UPDATE: There’s a new cover now and it’s all pretty! I took the old cover off of this post completely, so you can disregard the comments about that now!
- Layla. Layla was a fantastic main character. I totally felt for her as she was pulled from everything she knew, sent off to marry some enemy prince. I loved that she had to move past a lot of her preconceived notions and prejudices about the Ethereals and eventually came to love them (or at least some of them). Layla was smart and strong and she didn’t just roll over and accept her fate – she fought for her freedom and for the right to choose the type of life she wanted to live. I loved her!
- The romance(s). Okay, if I look at past reading experience, I should not have loved this book. Here’s the thing, there’s a love triangle and insta-love! It seems like a horrible combination, and usually insta-love alone is enough to make me cringe and ruin my enjoyment of a book. So, why did I LOVE this book anyway? Well, I think it mostly comes down to the characters. I loved them all! First off, I was completely in love with both of the men in Layla’s life and I honestly couldn’t decide between them, so I could understand how Layla couldn’t either. Wil was sweet and loving and loyal, but still strong and Nash was the misunderstood type – the guy who just needs someone to love him the way he deserves to be loved. I LOVED Nash… no, Wil… no, Nash… um, yep, that pretty much sums it up. And then, when certain facts about Layla’s feelings for both of them came to light, I found myself feeling even more confused (just as she did) – I can’t WAIT to see what Albert has in store for these three in book 2! So, what about that insta-love? If you read my reviews, you know that I am not a fan of insta-love and Layla falls for both Wil and Nash pretty quickly. But, somehow Albert managed to form a real connection between the characters in a short amount of time – the high stakes and high emotion (not to mention possible supernatural causes of their feelings) made it all feel believable. I didn’t find myself frustrated over why Layla fell for these boys so quickly – instead I found myself pulling out my hair, crying “How will she ever choose!!??” (Okay, so that was a little dramatic, but only a slight exaggeration!)
- No super-evil villains. I love it when a book blurs the lines between good and evil. In this book, there are some characters who definitely fall into that gray area. The bad guys might not be all bad – and some of them might have good intentions (or not – hard to say). Even one of the major villains is deeply loved by many of the other characters. This makes for a complex and interesting conflict!
- The ending. Yep, it’s a cliffhanger (on a few different levels) and it left me waiting desperately for the next book!!!
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