Review: The Prophecy

The Prophecy by C.J. Anaya
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow.

I can assure you, The Prophecy does not disappoint. It’s wonderful in so many ways, making a coherent review difficult. All the things that occur, all the twists and turns – just wow. I’ve had so many feels about this series, and the final book simply works to bring them all back to the forefront of my mind.

Before I go into too much detail about this particular book, I wish to do a quick recap of the series. I do this because I want – no, need – you to understand the complex emotions it has brought about. This could be rather lengthy, and for that I apologise – but you cannot understand my emotional reaction to this book without understand my emotional reaction to the series as a whole.

I came across C.J. Anaya through a Goodreads giveaway for the first three books in this series. Unfortunately, I did not win the books, but I did sign up for her newsletter. Through doing so, I received the first book and a short story. I had intended to read it for quite some time – but my to-read list is ridiculously long. Despite having not read any of her work, though, I signed up to join her advance read team when I saw she was looking for people to join. This meant I got to read her Marry Your Billionaire at the start of the year – and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I knew right then that I would be reading more of her work. Still, I didn’t pick up this series right away. It had nothing to do with a lack of interest, rather I had so many advance reads to get through and there were so many new books I’d been waiting on, it just sort of fell to the bottom of my list. A bit later in the year, I noticed that C.J. Anaya was looking for people to review the series for her. Thus, I contacted her. I explained that I had the first book and would love to read the rest of the series. She was lovely enough to send me books two and three.

Then came the dreaded exam period that puts a dampener on bibliophiles. Despite wanting to read a book a day, such a thing isn’t really advised. Thus, it was put aside for a while. Finally, however, I got to work on the series. After finishing book one I knew I wanted more. However, what I did not expect was for me to find myself so crazy addicted to the second book. As soon as I was done reading it, I knew I needed to start book three. I did my usual trick when addicted to the series – I read it in one sitting. The ending left me on edge, counting down the days until I could get my hands on the conclusion. It has felt like years, waiting to know what happens next, when in reality it has been mere months. I’m lucky, compared to some fans, as I know others were waiting much longer than I have been.

Fear not, for the wait is over and it is more than worth it. All the emotions of the first three books are brought together in this one, leaving you more than happy to call the series a massive success.

The first book was a fun read, although I wasn’t crazy addicted to it. I enjoyed it a lot, as it pulled me into the series, and it more than left me wanting more. It wasn’t until the second book that I reached crazy fangirl level. It was at this point that I started recommending the series to everyone I could. If I knew someone to be interested in Japan, I would suggest the books to them; if I knew someone was interested in mythology, I would suggest the books to them; if I knew someone was interested in young adult romance or fantasy, I would suggest the books to them. Basically, any reason to suggest the books to a person and I was doing so. Throughout I’ve said this series needs more attention, and I stand by that statement. I would love to see this series become one that everyone is talking about, as it’s so worthy of the attention that many other books in this genre are given. In fact, I enjoyed this series more than I’ve enjoyed some of the series that have a lot of hype surrounding them.

Even though I adored both book three and now book four, I still believe book two is my favourite. All four books are amazing – but number two blew my mind in so many ways. Whilst book four has gone on to blow my mind, the mind blowing happened for completely different reasons in this book.

The third book ended on a big ‘what happens next’ moment, and book four picks up straight away. Events have been building throughout the prior books, and this one throws us into the action from the very start. I admit that it took me a couple of chapters to get back into the story – but that’s mostly because it’s been so long since I read the third book. Once my mind clicked back into the story, I was pulled in and refused to put the book down. I constantly wanted more; I was absorbing it better than the promises made by all those kitchen towel adverts.

There is so much action, with everything being brought together. In fact, there were new aspects brought to light that weren’t brought to a complete conclusion and it’s left me wanting a spinoff series. That is not to say we’re left unaware of things – everything related to the main story plays out. But side characters, those we have come to love throughout, had storylines I want to see more of. I’m not going to say who or what, but I know a lot of fans will be wanting a spinoff series to see how something plays out for a fan favourite.

I will say, however, that I was surprised by how little the prophecy played into this book. It was constantly being mentioned, it was always the end goal, and yet when they had the answers and things played out… well, it took up very little of the book. That is not to say I disliked the story – I enjoyed the way the story came about, the way we got to see so much, and I really enjoyed the actual prophecy and the events that unfolded – yet I felt as though it wasn’t given quite as much attention as I’d been expecting. By the time we get to know the truth of the prophecy, we’re so caught up in so many other events that the mind sort of goes ‘oh, so that is what it was all about’. I loved the prophecy, I loved the way everything came together – I’m simply surprised it was held off for so long. I appreciate the suspense, I get that there was to be a lot of mystery, and I understand it needed to be held off until near the end – I simply wanted more time focused upon it and the events that played out after. The post-prophecy revelation events merely felt too little compared to the action that occurred throughout the rest of the book. There were so many twists and turns throughout that I feel as though the actual prophecy wasn’t the biggest shock of the book.

Nevertheless, the ending was wonderful. Was it what I had been expecting? No. Was I happy with the way it ended? Yes. Did we get a happily ever after? I’m not going to give you spoilers. Just know that I was super happy with how things ended. Endings are always bittersweet, and this one was more sweet than bitter. But there’s plenty of bitter to be had, too. Seriously, be ready for emotional events. If you’re the emotional sort, have a tissue ready because the ending will play with your emotions big time.

Okay, I realise this is becoming a rambling mess of feelings. In short, this is a magnificent ending to the series. You will not be disappointed. C.J. Anaya has written a wonderful ending to a beautiful series, and I recommend you get to reading this series right now.

As a final note, I would like to send the biggest thanks possible to C.J. Anaya for allowing me to advance read The Prophecy. Such made me a very happy fan, and I cannot wait to see what comes next!

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