The Art of Prophecy
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4.1 • 8 Ratings
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Chu (The Lives of Tao) opens his ambitious War Arts Saga series with one-armed, aging Ling Taishi, the "greatest war arts master of her generation," taking on a new student, Wen Jian. Jian is the Chosen One, prophesied to defeat the Eternal Kahn, immortal god-king of the Katuia Hordes, and Taishi offers to prepare him for this task—just in time to learn that the Kahn is already dead. Taishi, desperate not to repeat the failures that lead to her son's death, hides Jian in a war arts school while she travels across the Enlightened States to discover why the prophecy fell through. Though Act I seems like by-the-numbers wuxia built on the tired trope of an unqualified man unbelievably surpassing a skilled woman at her life's work, things pick up as the focus shifts from bland hero Jian onto a number of fascinating female characters, including two who want to kill him: Salminde "Sali" the Viperstrike of the Katuia, who seeks both her missing sister and the reincarnation of the Khan; and the mercurial Maza Qisami, an expert assassin known as a shadowkill. The epic scope of the worldbuilding, along with the sheer number of fight scenes, will delight Chu's fans.
