First impressions of Prophecies Awakening were very good, but I should have guessed from the number of pages in it, that it wasn’t going to be what I expected.

I like my fantasy to be grand, epic, intricate. I like it when the author creates lot’s of different story arcs that seemingly have nothing to do with each other and then starts painting in the picture. I love it when the author takes time to create an intricate world, that feels unique, but most importantly, feels real. I also like my stories to be on the long side, with long character arcs and strong character development. This helps me to get to know the characters, to feel for them. I also like my fantasy to be “realistic” in a way, I don’t like the whole black-and-white theme where good prevails in the end and everyone lives happily ever after. That doesn’t mean that I want things to end badly, I just don’t want it to be a cakewalk where the story starts off with a problem and then a lineair succession of events to a climax where everything is better. I like it when things go wrong every now and then, I (sort of) like it when characters have set backs, or even die. It’s the mark of a great story if you can let a character die and evoke an emotional response in your reader.

A fantasy novel of only 200 pages can not pull that off (to my experience). So I find it hard to be involved in this story.

Everything happens so fast here, so lineair, there is no room for gray area, nor is there time to waste. The pacing is so incredibly fast. Here’s a guy, here’s a dragon. “Hey dude, you’re the only one who can save the world, let’s go do that real quick ok?” Maybe we can grab a beer after?

This is blatantly obvious at one point where the super duper guard dude (who was shit-scared a few chapters ago) now decides to infiltrate a castle all by his lonesome and is suddenly interrupted by “the master thief”. Of course, guards & thiefs aren’t the bestest of friends, but after the thief explains that he is a good boy now, the two become friends. This is how it goes down:

“What drew you to a life of thievery? And what did you do with all of your treasures?” 　　Tusdar looked to the ground and shuffled his feet. “I… I never stole from anyone who was poor. One of my greatest achievements was stealing a gold goblet from Kassina’s tower. That was a bold move on my part, but I never ran into her or her skeleton warriors. As soon as the war erupted, everything I took I gave away to the people of Marithia. I hope that it helps them stay alive. Come on! You can use someone with my skills, and I am a changed man.”</blockquote>

And just like that, the super duper guard dude accepts him on his word as a nice guy and they instantly become (best) friends.

The story in itself is like reading the cliffnotes for an epic fantasy tale, but unfortunately, the details never get filled in and the characters never develop. This is not to say that this is a bad book, it’s just not written for me. Given the many 4 star review that this book has gotten on Goodreads I think it’s safe to assume that there is an audiance out there.

On a sidenote, the author claims that this is an “adult” take on fantasy, with gritty scenes and such, and this far, he’s right. But it doesn’t take away the whole fisher price feel of it all. I think the “gritty” part was only showing in a couple of scenes and in the use of some naughty words here and there.

I do feel the need to point out something though: Are all the characters in this book idiots? Especially near the end it feels like they’re a bunch of children tripping over their own feet while trying to fight the great source of evil.

It all feels really ridiculous and when the plot finally climaxes it’s not really that spectacular. The last quarter of the story is one big “epic” battle, but in stead of being tense and sucking me in, it was one hillarious moment after another.

"A concerned look passed between father and son, both of them unsure as to the wisdom of her decision. [to flee]"

This book is just not for me, maybe that younger readers will like it more for it’s quick style, but without any real depth to the story, this just doesn’t appeal to me.

Copy provided by the author in return for an honest review