Review: Prophecy of the Sisters (Michelle Zink)

Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink

Publisher: Little Brown and Company (2010)
Format:  Paperback | 343 pages
Genre(s): Young Adult, Historical Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

Description (Goodreads): "In Michelle Zink's debut novel, orphaned twin sister Lia and Alice Milthorpe are yoked together in an ancient prophecy that makes them enemies and could destroy them both. If Lia can break this familial curse, she can not only save her relationship with her beloved boyfriend; she can finally resolve the mystery behind her parents' death. A teen author to watch."

Here's a difficult book to give an opinion about. I enjoyed it enough but didn't think it was that great. There were a lot of things that the author was trying to do with the story that didn't quite work and things she could have used but didn't.

It's 1890; Twin sisters Alice and Lia Milthorpe just lost their father in a bizarre accident, making them orphans. As if that wasn't enough a friend of the family finds an hidden book with a strange prophecy. When Lia, the older twin learns about the contents of the book she decides to start investigating it's meaning... because something strange has happened to her too; a strange mark has appeared on her arm overnight.

"Prophecy of the sisters" was, as I said before, an agreeable enough read. But it was also just... average. Nothing stood out much in the story, there were no remarkable characters and some parts of the plot were a bit unrealistic.

First, I wasn't crazy about the way the author mixed Norse and Celtic mythology with Christian. I thought it was confusing and unnecessary (to this book at least).

Second, the story was just... predictable. The prophecy was easy to figure out as was Lia's true role in it. And Luisa and Sonia's role in it as well. So it was kind of frustrating to read about how Lia and her friends didn't understand the prophecy and how much investigating they had to do to get the knowledge. I wondered why they just didn't piece it all together as it was so obvious. I don't know if the author thought readers wouldn't piece it together that quickly or if it was a way to make readers feel smart, but it made me, at least, enjoy the book less.

Third: the characters. This book is about twin sisters (and both are supposed to be the protagonists) but we only ever get Lia's perspective. Alice is very one-dimensional and seems to be there just to be Lia's antagonist. I didn't particularly like this. There are books that have multiple POVs and don't really need them; but this book should have had alternating chapters, in my opinion. I'd have liked to know about Alice too and her own internal struggle (she doesn't seem to have one, but if that's so she is very poorly developed).

As for supporting characters there were a few, but they were merely there as aides and didn't have that much personality. Some are exclusively placed in the story as "means" of information for Lia and her friends.

Overall: I liked the concept but not how the author developed it. She could have created a much more intricate story. Also I didn't get why this is historical as the fact that it takes place in the 19th century doesn't really matter much. Lia and her friends seem to have too much freedom considering the period and the author really doesn't describe 19th century American society with enough detail to make it interesting. The author also didn't manage to make it "gothic" as it seemed to be the intention. An average paranormal read for young adults.

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