Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday: Prophecy by Ellen Oh

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating.


Prophecy by Ellen Oh

Release Date: January 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen

Check it out on Goodreads!

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.

I would say my reaction to this book is 3 parts "OMG YAYYY" and 1 part trepidation, because doesn't that cover copy make it sound UNCANNILY like Kristin Cashore's Graceling? (Seven Kingdoms, a girl with strange eyes, female warrior, outcast, protecting the heir to the throne?)

However, seeing as authors never get to write their own summaries, it feels unfair to make any hard and fast judgements. Probably the publisher is trying to draw those parallels to help sales and the books are more diverse than they seem. Besdies, Graceling or no Graceling, this sounds like an AWESOME way to start of your 2013 (or finish your 2012 if you're lucky enough to get an ARC!)



PERSONAL EDIT: So I'm writing this post, and I'm struck by this really weird sense of deja vu as I look at the cover, and VOILA, it hits me! For my senior thesis in high school I wrote a novella (which is a whole other long story), but my mom being the sweetie and artist that she is, quickly whipped up this picture so my thesis would look more legit than the other kids (and it totally did. She rocks. You should have seen the Renaissance costume she made me in 6th grade; another girl was so jealous she cried.)

I digress. That is SUCH A WEIRD COINCIDENCE, right?! To be honest, I have absolutely no recollection of what my story was about--and Ellen Oh's is undoubtedly way better--but between the colors/cover/title there is a lot of overlap. Maybe I can pretend to be her inspiration and get some royalties (totally kidding!)

But all that aside, I think the most important question Prophecy leaves us with is this... Yellow Eyes: Hot or Not?

29 comments:

  1. I haven't heard of this one; def need to check it out!

    Happy Reading! :)
    Check out my WoW Post :)
    Tabby @Insightful Minds & IM Design Studio

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  2. It's cool that you and Ellen have similarities in covers. Yellow eyes? I think it depends on the look of the person. If the eyes look complimentary they may be hot but if it looks creepy or too predatory that's a big no no.

    Prophecy seems like a nice novel for 2013. Kira and that prince need a lot of luck. Please look at My Wow.

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  3. This book sounds great! thank-you for sharing :)

    My WoW, http://obsessionwithbooks.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/waiting-on-wednesday-dark-light-by-sara.html

    Have a nice week!

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  4. Totally hot! I'm a sucker for the weird ones!
    Great pick this week, also what a weird coincidence O.o oh, and your mum should be getting royalties too!
    My WOW!
    Happy Wednesday!

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  5. I cannot freaking wait for this book! It sounds so awesome! I love the cover too! This is an brilliant pick!

    My Waiting On Wednesday!

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  6. AWESOME pick! I want to read this one SOOOOO bad! I hope you'll drop by and check out my WOW for this week :)

    http://viewfromthehillbookreviews.blogspot.com/2012/06/waiting-on-wednesday-june-20-2012.html

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  7. Wow! This one sounds really awesome. I'm fan of fantasy, so I think I should check this out. And Kira reminds me of Kira of Partials, haha! Thanks for sharing! ^^

    My WoW

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  8. Hmm, I always get nervous when books start to sound alike...but you're right; this one could be totally different.

    Thanks for sharing...and here's MY WOW POST

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  9. Love the cover. The cover for Prophecy looks awesome. Check out my WOW post as well.

    Grace

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  10. Love the cover!! This sounds like it could be a great book! Thanks!


    My WoW 

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  11. I'm going to check this one out on Goodreads... Thanks for sharing it..

    Happy Reading..
    Jenea @ Books Live Forever
    http://booksliveforever.com/?p=1799

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  12. Ha!! "Yellow eyes: Hot or not?" I love how you get straight to the heart of the really important issues ;)

    I'm definitely excited for Prophecy. It draws on the mythology and culture of ancient Korea, which suggests to me that it will go in a totally different direction that Graceling. Oh is working with a completely different tool set.

    I agree with you that the cover copy writers were probably hoping to draw some parallels and that's okay. I'm shocked by some of the harsh GoodReads comments at the moment, already accusing the book of copying Graceling. Chill out, everyone!! I don't know about everyone else, but I'm sure Kelsey will agree with me that there's room for more than one badass female warrior outcast on the bookshelves!

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    1. I hadn't seen those comments on Goodreads, but I'm upset to hear tht they are there. People should never throw around the word plagerism, expecially in a situation where they haven't actually read the material in question. Yes, this book summary has similar buzz words, but authors don't write those, so its not fair to make any major judgements that way. Hell, I wrote a cover copy being used on a YA book and the manuscript wasn't even finished when I did! (A sad truth)

      So to all of those people making those accusations: cut it out. The fact that you're doing so only demonstrates an ignorance of the way book publishing works.

      Anyhoo, I'm all about bad ass ladies. I don't think the market could ever get over saturated with them (and as it stands now, we aren't even close). I didn't realize this was drawing on Korean mythology. Have you read any Jennifer? I would love a suggestion. =)

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  13. Prophecy sounds really interesting, plus it's got a strong female heroine, I always love love books with those, I've read too many books with damsels as the heroine in there and they really annoy me, I like girls (in paranormal/fantasy/dystopian) strong, independent, a good fighter, a girl who doesn't need a guy to save her etc, like Rose from Vampire Academy, and Katniss from The Hunger Games.

    The yellow eyes thing seems kind of creepy, but different as well, since it's not a normal eye colour.
    Thanks for sharing, I'm going to add this book to my tbr list.


    Here's my: Waiting on Wednesday post

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  14. Hmm, this one sounds really interesting. I can't wait to read future reviews for this. The similarity to your novella is uncanny! I think you should really claim royalties, haha ;-)

    Great pick! <3

    Here's my WoW

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  15. This one sounds really awesome! I love stories with kick ass heroines, I'll definitely have to add it to my TBR list.

    My WoW

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  16. I have not heard of this but it looks and sounds awesome! Great choice :)

    Shortskie's WoW

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  17. I was also struck by how it sounds like Graceling, though since I love high fantasy I'll read it anyways. It might end up being just as awesome as Graceling. Great choice!

    My WoW!

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  18. This sounds like an interesting read.

    http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2012/06/waiting-on-wednesday_20.html

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  19. Wow!!! That is so weird! Bet this one was really surprising for you as well! Great pick may give it a try however my TBR pile is HUGE at the moment so it may be a while! :)

    You can see my WOW here!

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  20. I feel so utterly connected to you now!! Clearly genius runs in your family! We may need to speak to HarperTeen about this... ;o)

    Can I say I totally want to give you and everyone here commenting, a big hug! You all made me so very happy! Prophecy is set in ancient Korea and it's about a girl who has an unusual ability to see and smell demons and must protect the crown prince from a demon invasion that has been foretold hundreds of years ago. And there are three dragon king treasures which need to be found, the first of which is the tidal stone, which controls all the seas. The tidal stone is what is depicted on the cover. So hopefully that will give an indication on how different it is. And yes, there is korean mythology and korean legends in the book which I think make it stand out.

    I can't wait for all of you to read it and thank you all for the cover love!

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    1. Thank you for stopping by! Maybe we have a secret psychic connection... we should work on that. Oh, and feel free to speak with Harper on my account. No compltaints here ;)

      And this is why I wish they would let authors write their own summaries. The HarperTeen one is DAMN cool, don't get me wrong, but yours is even more compelling and unique.

      And if I hadn't already made it clear, I CANNOT WAIT!

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    2. That sounds really cool! I hadn't read that summary before, but I'm intrigued by the idea of the Dragon Treasures as well as Kira's abilities.

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  21. I've never heard of it, but that sounds pretty awesome. For some reason, it slightly reminds me of Game of Thrones? New follower!

    Here's my WoW: http://projectreadandreview.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/waiting-on-wednesday-15.html

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  22. I haven't heard of this one yet, but I love the summary- anything with mythology I get excited over. That is seriously neat with the thesis cover comparison- you should post your novella if you have it! =)
    Thanks for sharing! If you get a chance, check out my WOW post @ YA Nation
    ~Suzanne

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  23. Definitely agree about the covers, strange coincidence but both are awesome (props to your mom for her drawing talent)! Secondly, I have to say that the summary by Ellen Oh shows how unique the story is and I'm definitely on board! Great pick, I'm adding it to my list :)

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  24. I haven't heard of this one!! It sounds really great and I def be adding it to my tbr pile :)

    Happy reading and check out my WOW post :)
    http://sarahcatchingbooks.blogspot.com/2012/06/waiting-on-wednesday-50-renegade.html

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  25. I LOVE the cover for this one (and for yours too, ha!) and absolutely can't wait for this book to release! It sounds so good. Great pick. :)

    Ashelynn @ gypsy book reviews.

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  26. Wow! This sounds like what I was hoping for from Throne of Glass. I really wasn't expecting a sappy romance when I read it, haha! I hope Prophecy will live up to it's blurb. :D

    ComaCalm's WoW Throne of Glass Giveaway

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Love all y'all! Thanks for commenting!!