Prophecy (The Dragon King Chronicles #1) – Ellen Oh

    The greatest warrior in all of the Seven Kingdoms... is a girl with yellow eyes.
Kira’s the only female in the king’s army, and the prince’s bodyguard. She’s a demon slayer and an outcast, hated by nearly everyone in her home city of Hansong. And, she’s their only hope...
Murdered kings and discovered traitors point to a demon invasion, sending Kira on the run with the young prince. He may be the savior predicted in the Dragon King Prophecy, but the missing treasure of myth may be the true key. With only the guidance of the cryptic prophecy, Kira must battle demon soldiers, evil shaman, and the Demon Lord himself to find what was once lost and raise a prince into a king.
Intrigue and mystery, ancient lore and action-packed fantasy come together in this heart-stopping first book in a trilogy.

Firstly, I want to say that I probably wouldn’t have picked up this book if I hadn’t won it from the giveaway hosted by Jamie & Epic Reads so a big thank you to them for that!

I was really hesitant to read this book at first, mostly because I find myself not connecting with a lot of foreign settings (most specifically Asian settings for some reason — Maybe because I don’t know a lot about the culture and the language?) so I was so glad that it didn’t seem to be a hinderance with PROPHECY. Okay, well it was for a little bit when there were so many foreign words/jargon that I got overwhelmed for a little while in the beginning and it prevented me from remembering all of the different regions and the names of the characters.

I’ve only recently gotten into high fantasy so I’m glad to say that I really, really enjoyed a lot of the book! It definitely had a GRACELING sort of feel for me, which really makes sense since GRACELING was one of the first high fantasy books I’ve ever really read and enjoyed. I really liked the world building and all of the magical elements that were involved. I really thought Kira made a great heroine and even though she’s an even fiercer warrior than the men she fights alongside, I didn’t feel like her attitude was cocky. She’s very humbled by the fact that her yellow-eyes and ability to sense and kill demons target her as a unnatural creature herself.

I actually really liked that the romance side of the book wasn’t really fully explored. Obviously you can see the spark between Kira and Jaewon but their relationship doesn’t really progress past friendship. It was nice that the romance wasn’t forced into being. I’ve read a few reviews that felt like the relationship between Kira and Jaewon seemed a bit insta-lovey because he seemed immediately taken to her and was willing to follow her anywhere, but it didn’t really come off that way to me. I took a lot of his interactions with Kira to come off in a sly, joking manner and sure – if he was kind of a vagabond anyway, why not team up with an attractive girl with unique abilities and an exciting mission? My personal take is that I wasn’t bothered by it at all! Of course, that’s really up to each individual reader to decide for themselves.

I think the only thing that really kept me from enjoying it even more really was all of the different names/terms/regions that I just couldn’t keep straight. Especially during the big action sequences it all breezed by me so quickly and it really just took a little away from all of the excitement when I was trying to figure out which character was which!

The ending was a bit predictable in some ways, but I was okay with being able to foresee that because that’s really how the book should have ended and no other way! I was very satisfied with how everything unfolded and then all came back together in the end.

Kira: I was surprisingly attached to Kira. I really liked her a lot and that was something I wasn’t really expecting. She was strong but not too over the top for me and I thought her abilities were interesting and it was nice that there weren’t too many crazy rules about what she could and couldn’t do. I feel like sometimes when magical abilities present themselves in stories, there are way too many different things to keep track of so I really got on board with Kira and her demon slaying powers!
Jaewon: Hmmm how do I feel about Jaewon? I thought he was an interesting character to introduce and it seems like he can become a good potential romance for Kira. For now, he’s become a good friend for her and added a nice little bit of humor to the book.

Read it

This one was good! I wasn’t totally bowled over but I’m definitely curious to see how this story turns out!

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