The Prophecy - Gill JamesPages: 367
Publisher: The Red Telephone
Release Date: 26th February 2008
Kaleem Malkendy is different - and, on Terrestra, different is no way to be.
Everything about Kaleem marks him out from the rest: the blond hair and dark skin, the humble cave where he lives and the fact that he doesn’t know his father. He’s used to unwelcome attention, but even so, he’d feel better if some strange old man didn’t keep following him around.
Then the man introduces himself and begins to explain the Babel Prophecy - and everything in Kaleem’s life changes forever.
The Prophecy has such a promising plot, but for me it just wasn’t executed well enough for me to enjoy it properly.
With science fiction I feel that there has to be a certain amount of exposition integrated into the story for it to make sense. You can’t magically understand what the author wants you to when they’re talking about something that they made up and when the world has been changed so drastically I want to know how and why. Preferably in more than just a simplistic sentence. I found this to be a major problem in The Prophecy. it may just have been me being dumb, but there were so many things central to the story, like the Stopes programme, although I worked out what it was, a bit of clarification would have been lovely.
I also had a bit of an issue with how The Prophecy read. I kept tripping over my tongue with names like Razjosh, Gabrizan and Marijam. I just had no idea at all how to pronounce them and it bugged me. Again, maybe it was me and I just wasn’t paying proper attention, but the prose sometimes felt sloppy and inconsistent. There seemed to be gaps that minor bits of information should have been included in to make the writing flow properly.
Though I had major with The Prophecy, I did love Gill James’ take on the Earth of the thirty-fifth century. It’s a world where a poison cloud has forced people underground and no one enters or leaves the planet until the cloud suddenly disappears. Now Terrestra, as Earth is now called, is filled with people paranoid about disease, scared of outside and wary of anybody different to themselves.
I think that with some polish and a really good editor, The Prophecy could be a brilliant novel. Hopefully you guys aren’t as picky as me and will love this!
For my 2010 100+ Reading Challenge
Sophie
I don't think I'll be reading this, but thanks for the honest review about it!
ReplyDeleteNames like Razjosh, Gabrizan and Marijam would be hard to read. Oh, my dyslexic brain.
ReplyDeleteUmmmm... Thanks for such an honest review. All your points for not enjoying it sound very valid. I really won't be bothering with this.
ReplyDeleteGreat review, Sophie! It's such a shame you didn't enjoy this book much. I don't think I'll be picking this up. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteSorry you didn't like the book. I'm not going to pick this one up. Great Review!
ReplyDeleteI've got a copy of this lined up to read, so I'm hoping I enjoy it at least at little more than you did! Thanks for sharing your honest opinion, as always. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for an honest (and very intriguing!) review!
ReplyDeleteHi Sophie, I just wandered over from Once Upon a Bookcase since Jo has posted a list of all the bloggers going to the UK meet up :o) I don't think I've come across your blog before but I'm now a new follower & am looking forward to meeting you in May!
ReplyDeleteI received this for review too & am about half way through it. I've had the same problem with you so far & found it irritating that there aren't proper explanations for a lot of the things that are going on. It is also driving me crazy the number of mistakes with punctuation! I know there are usually some errors but there seem to be hundreds in this one & it's really driving me nuts LOL.