The Prophecy Of Shadows (Elementals #1) Author: Michelle Madow
Publisher: Dreamscape Publishing
Expected Publication: Jan 26 2016.
Pages: Not listed.
Rating: 3/5
Synopsis: When Nicole Cassidy moves from sunny Georgia to gloomy New England, the last thing she expects is to learn that her homeroom is a cover for a secret coven of witches. Even more surprisingly … she’s apparently a witch herself. Despite doubts about her newfound abilities, Nicole is welcomed into this ancient circle of witches and is bedazzled by their powers—and, to her dismay, by Blake—the school’s notorious bad-boy.
Girls who get close to Blake wind up hurt. His girlfriend Danielle will do anything to keep them away, even if she must resort to using dark magic. But the chemistry between Blake and Nicole is undeniable, and despite wanting to protect Nicole from Danielle’s wrath, he finds it impossible to keep his distance.When the Olympian Comet shoots through the sky for the first time in three thousand years, Nicole, Blake, Danielle, and two others in their homeroom are gifted with mysterious powers. But the comet has another effect—it opens the portal to the prison world that has contained the Titans for centuries. After an ancient monster escapes and attacks Nicole and Blake, it’s up to them and the others to follow the clues from a cryptic prophecy so that they can save their town … and possibly the world.
My Thoughts: I liked this book, but I did not love it. Originally I was drawn in by the cover and then when I was read the description I thought this was definitely the book for me.
While the story has so many elements, twists, and turns that kept me wondering, I felt a little bit rushed with errors of predictability and too quick revelations. The big secret is revealed to the main character right away as she walked into her new homeroom and the teacher goes 'Welcome to Witch Class!' (Okay those weren't the exact words). I was a little floored, looking around wishing someone else was reading this with me because really
If there is one thing that I absolutely hate in a book is feeling rushed. So that bothered me right from the start, also I pretty much pegged the characters with ease. Another thing that kind of confused me just a little was the mash-up genre. The Greek Gods meets Witches. It was an interesting concept, except that I feel like the Greek God descendants part was sort of pointless to the general story. They were witches living near Salem and I thought this was going to be the focus of the story, but things took a weird turn and I was left a little confounded.
I had a hard time with the story because I felt like there were a lot of subplots and no real focus. Were they witches? Were they Gods? Were they magic comet infested science projects? What I did not see, and probably what I would have liked to see more was a general direction. If the main character is just finding out that she is a Witch...maybe just focus on that. If it's a series this gives you so much potential to build on the story that I like it went the books sort of take it one issue at a time.
Nicole doesn't really have a chance to come to terms with her revelation because it's just sort of thrown at her and then a bunch of other subplots and a love triangle are all piled on top of it. Talk about an overwhelming high school experience. We don't really get much character development aside from the stereotypes of the characters, we get their roles and that's it. I couldn't find myself getting drawn into the Blake/Nicole relationship because I didn't really get why they were drawn to on another.
I love Greek Mythology, any sort of Mythology really but I didn't think that it was used to its full potential. In fact I was a little disappoint by its involvement, while it was played up like a key to the story, it didn't really FEEL important. There were no real direct connections to the Gods/Goddesses themselves just vague.
Recommendation: Over all it was Okay. I didn't love it. I would probably pick up the next book just to see if anything takes a bit of a different turn.
