What do You think about The Prophecy (2006)?
Here's my booktalk on this one...it's a very entertaining fantasy."You'll be the forty-fifth warrior-king and not some worthless scholar!” That’s what the King of Idris tells his 14 year old son, Perryn, who’d really rather be reading a book in the library than getting trounced at sword practice by the merciless master of arms, Cedric. But a warrior is what is needed right now. The kingdom is in deep trouble—they are under attack by a fearsome dragon and by the fierce Norsemen who sweep down from the North to try to conquer the kingdom. Cedric wants to help his father, especially when he finds an ancient book that contains instructions on how to defeat a dragon. But his father won’t listen and doesn’t believe in the book’s magic. Even worse--Perryn overhears Cedric talking about betraying the kingdom to the Norsemen. So begins a quest to find the ingredients needed to slay a dragon: a unicorn, a bard, and the famous Sword of Samhein. But quests are never easy. The unicorn is terrified of danger and getting dirty; the bard is a bit of a con man; and the sword is rusty. Can Perryn really defeat a dragon with that kind of help?
—Jan
Why is this book one of my favourites?It's a wunderful little story , I like the twists, the characters, the "coming of age"-plot, but there are many books with such plots.What I like most is the infinity, the possibilities and hints for the future.Not only with the further way of Perryn and his father, there are so much more questions in the open:CedricWarDragonsTapestriesKnowledge/SecretsHow is it possible to become a "Scholar-King" with this lingering problems?This book cries for more informations - or dicussions.In the end of this book we get something that changes the motivations of the Prince - he goes above his father, bis own people, the saving of the friends - he does it, because the mirror shows him the method a Schaman uses to use the dragon - Perryn goes for the dragon basically also for the "enemies".This was the point the story becomes ageless and the reason why I love this little book.
—Hypatia
This book is about a young prince (Perryn) who has not been able to win his father's love ever since his mother died and his dad became an alcoholic. The fact that Perryn is no warrior makes matters even worse, as his kingdom has a long tradition of "warrior kings." Perryn is a "scholar" and through his studying, discovers a prophecy about how to defeat the dragon that plagues the kingdom. He thinks that if he can bring together the elements of the prophecy (A True Bard, a Unicorn, and the Sword of Samhain), then he can finally prove to his father that scholarship is worth something. So, off he goes on a quest!I read this book because there's a unicorn on the cover, and there were some interesting unicorn ideas, but the unicorn herself was a total wimp. The True Bard was the most fun character and he really carried the story for me. It was a sweet book with a somewhat lackluster ending.
—Lacey Louwagie
