The book I chose to read this six weeks was Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink. It fits under the genre of fantasy and was copyrighted in 2009. The story takes place in the 1800's within the state of New York. Wealthy sixteen-year-old twins discover that they are on opposite sides (good and evil) of an ancient prophecy that has caused hardships for both twins and their ancestors. Lia, the "good" twin, tries to find a way to end the prophecy while Alice, the "evil" twin, stands in her way of doing so. The theme of this book is to never give up on trying to do what you think is right although the wrong way might be easier to accomplish.
Michelle Zink writes the story from Lia's point of view, otherwise known as the protagonist. This shows the reader all of Lia's inside thoughts and views on other people, which is important to understand the story. Identical twins Lia and Alice Milthorpe's parents died from what was thought to be just plain misfortune. They soon discover that their parents death was no mistake at all. They find themselves stuck in a prophecy that has run through their family for ages and has caused them danger and bad luck. Lia wishes to find a way to end the prophecy for her future descendants while Alice has no interest in doing that. In fact, Alice wishes to do the opposite by joining the bad souls that cause misfortune and letting them roam free on earth to cause even more mischief and plagues. Lia doesn't let Alice stand in her way from continuing her journey to find the keys that lock the gate that holds back the souls from proceeding to raid the earth. The intended audience for this book ranges from 6-8th grade. The genre is fantasy because the story includes supernatural things such as detaching a soul from a body and spell casting. The author keeps the reader interested by having a mystery for both the characters in the book and the reader to solve. This also ties in with the authors style of writing because it is sort of mysterious throughout the book and has a gloomy tone to it that shows through her choice of words. It is effective towards the intended audience because the style is appropriate for the plot.
The book affected me because it showed that the antagonist and the protagonist, which were the twins, still loved each other even though they were on different ends of the good/bad spectrum. Before reading this book, I had not seen such opposite characters feel affectionate to each other in that way. For me personally, if I get into a fight with my siblings I still like them, but I don't like to admit it because that's cheesy. But the thing that's different from my relationship with my siblings and the twins in the book is that the twins are distinctly good and evil. While I was reading this book I tried to predict what would happen based on what happened in other fantasy books I've read and most of my predictions were wrong. There wasn't really a plot twist in the story, it's just that I haven't read many fantasy books.
I think that the book was well written but it wasn't challenging; there were a few vocabulary words through out the book, but other than that I think that a fourth grader could understand it. I still enjoyed the suspense of the story and how easy it was to follow. I would probably recommend this book to a 6th or 7th grader or someone who enjoys fantasy books.
Amie Nguyen
11/3/13
RATING: **** 4/5
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