Review: Magical and unique YA novel
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 29, 2012
I thought Prophecy Girl had a pretty interesting concept that I haven't really seen before. It had some paranormal elements that I've seen before with tons of magic and certain creatures that were new to me. Overall, I was torn between a 3 star rating and a 4 star rating, but I decided upon 4 stars due to the originality of the story.Sam was the kind of YA heroine that surprised me. She was rarely, if ever, predictable and she was a complicated person. Sam was fiercely protective of her sister, yet self conscious and somewhat awkward in any other situation. She developed a crush on Nick, yet rarely pursued him or sought him out or let herself become romantically distracted. It was a little refreshing to read a book with a little bit of romance, but not have the heroine get completely sidetracked about it. At the same time, it was annoying because Sam kept fighting the inevitable and not really thinking clearly about anything. It was like she was afraid to do anything for herself, but when it came to her sister, she didn't hesitate to go above and beyond.I really liked Nick's character. I thought he was easy going and added a lot of humor to the situation. He had his own little quirks that made him unique and I could see exactly why Sam was drawn to him.I sensed from the beginning that something weird was up with Sam's mom and it's evident in the synopsis that something isn't right. I suppose in the sense of magic and fairy tales, it's not the first time an evil mother figure has been terribly cruel to her daughter, but it was so shocking! I mean, it wasn't just spoken about or hinted at. There were scenes where Sam's mother grabbed her hair and threatened her and it was utterly jaw dropping to read. It's not the kind of fairy tale child abuse that we all sort of pick up on and not really think about. It's definitely real child abuse that is quite evident and in your face and I loved this aspect because it was so real and added so much depth and grit to the story.The story was descriptive, especially when it came to the setting of Lacuna Valley. There were very insightful moments and scenes of pure awe when it came to the openness of the landscape. While it was a descriptive, magical, and unique story that was decently written, I hesitated to rate it any higher because I felt like something was lacking in some of the writing. There was something not pulling me into the words when I was reading and I tripped over some sentences a few times and had to force myself back into the world again, if that makes sense. I can't really say for sure what it was that created this phenomenon for me, though. It wasn't badly written by any means, it was just lacking something for it to truly draw me in with the writing.I would definitely recommend this book to others. It's a great YA novel with wonderful characters and an interesting plot. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series!