Blog Tour: The Art of Prophecy – Wesley Chu

Bestselling author Wesley Chu is back with a thrilling wuxia-inspired fantasy that questions what happens when a prophecy goes badly wrong.

Prophecies don’t make heroes: they only choose them. When Chosen One Jian falls short of his prophesied quest, he must find his own path to greatness.

The prophecy is clear: Wen Jian is the Chosen One, born to defeat the immortal Eternal Khan and save the kingdom. The only problem is that the prophecy is wrong.

Jian has been raised in splendor, trained by the best warriors, and celebrated before a single battle has been won. After all, he’s the chosen one, selected by prophecy to defeat the immortal god-king and free the kingdom for good. But when the prophecy is proven to be incorrect, Jian still has to find a way to succeed—and maybe even become a hero in his own right.

To save the kingdom, an unlikely band of heroes rise: Taishi, an old grandmaster who swore her days of battle were over; Sali, a warrior re-evaluating her allegiances; and Qisami, an assassin with questionable values. Together, the four embark on a journey more wondrous than any prophecy could forsee.

My thoughts: this was really good, fun and I can imagine it making an amazing film. Taishi was easily my favourite character, a cranky, tired warrior, now stuck with the pampered and not remotely prepared prophesied hero, that every one wants dead. Including the hilarious assassin Qisami and the irritated beyond belief Sali.

Inspired by the author’s love of martial arts, wuxia movies and his Taiwanese heritage, this is filled with brilliant one on one fights and incredible stunts, Taishi is a windwhisper and can manipulate air currents to aid her in battle, Sali carries an ingenious tongue, part whip, part sword, Qisami loves her vicious knives.

Throw in a trainee doctor, a map maker’s daughter, a war monk and some half trained fighters and you have a gang of misfits around Jian, the not exactly a hero. But somehow they just have to keep him alive, something about destiny.

Bits of this honestly made me laugh out loud, there’s some incredible fight scenes, there’s loads of banter, a city in a mine shaft, temples, terrifying hyena like creatures, a desert called the Sand Snake and a Grass Sea. The imagery is incredible. And so vividly brought to life, I could imagine the crowded city of Jiayi where much of the story takes place easily, from the descriptions.

Book one of a new series and it ends with so many loose threads that will hopefully be picked up in the next book, leaving me (and you) eagerly awaiting it. Exciting.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.