Review: Prophecy of The Sisters by Michelle Zink (Book 1)

THE DETAILS:
Pages: 352
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Book 1 in the series
Bought it
Release date: 01/08/2009

THE PLOT:
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.


MY THOUGHTS:
'The Prophecy of the sisters' is one of those books that I didn't even know existed until this year. I had heard that it was much like the 'Gemma Doyle Trilogy' by Libba Bray and decided to give it a go. Mind you I am normally very weary about reading books that are too similar to other books I have read. This novel was good in that way, because it had similarities and differences.

This novel had me at the first page. There are not too many novels that have this ability. It starts out with some beautiful descriptions, juts straight into the historical writing style and a tragedy. You learn that this character Lia has just lost her father and has a strange mark appearing on her wrist. She has no mother and lives with her aunt and twin sister. Straight away your mind is bogged by questions. That's what I really liked about the beginning of the book.

This book was really just an introduction to the series. It doesn't tell you all that much about the big picture. For those people who like books with big plots and more events this book is not for you. The book does move a bit slowly and does appear to be going nowhere at times.

The characters were very agreeable and they felt real. I didn't like how the characters thought that Lia was hiding something from them at different times. I would have thought that after losing a father she would have been able to get away with keeping secrets because everybody would think she was just acting strange because she was mourning. Isn't it enough to have just lost your father?! I also thought that the characters lack of sadness was unrealistic. If she is the nicer, weaker twin then isn't she more likely to cry? That bothered me. I think there should have been more moments where she just got sad because of that.

I can definitely understand where people get the idea that this book is similar to "A Great and Terrible Beauty" by Libba Bray, because there are some things that appear the same in both books. Both main characters lose a parent at the beginning of the book, both live in the Victorian era, both think something crazy is happening and are the "chosen one" (but face it most book series' have a "chosen one" in some form). There were a lot of differences though. The characters have different traits. Gemma is a strong female who is moody and succumbs to peer pressure, while Lia is probably weeker, yet doesn't like to follow everyone else.  Also the writing style is different because Libba Bray's is more emotive, whilst Michelle Zink's is more descriptive. There are many other differences.

Overall I think this book is worth 4 stars. (The 'Gemma Doyle Trilogy' is worth 4.5). The thing that brought the rating down was the lack of events or importance of event in the book. Nothing much seemed to happen apart from Lia finding out that she was in a prophecy and a few other minor things. When something big did happen it didn't seem like the character thought it was a big deal. It was like "oh yeah, it's sad, now let's go and solve the prophecy." I did think the idea of having a mark was really cool though and liked how some of the ideas came from the bible because I do know some christians who don't like to read things that dictate their beliefs and I could share this reading experience with them (I'm not religious myself). I think the writing quality and the excitement of "what will happen in the next book?" really saved it. Then again, having a mark was really cool...

COMPARING THE COVERS:

I think I like the one on the right better, but am glad that I got the other cover because the rest of the books only come in that design. The statues make it seem really historical and shows the readers that it is something different. I really like both covers.

THE SERIES:
1. The Prophecy of the sisters
2. The Guardian of the Gate
3. Circle of Fire

The other two books are definitely going on my wishlist.

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