Have you ever woken up one day only to discover that your entire life is now a lie? In The Art Of Prophecy by Wesley Chu, book one of the War Arts Saga, that seems to be exactly what is happening. Laishi, an older retired war arts master, has been sent to evaluate the skills of the prophesized hero of the five states of Enlightenment. She quickly discovers that the supposed skills are practically non-existent and the hero would be useless in a fight so she decides to take over his training. Jian, the prophesized hero, does not take this well and refuses to acknowledge his lack of skill. However, they quickly end up having to work together and run for their life when the prophecy marking Jian as the hero is widely considered to have been broken. Laishi starts searching for answers as to what might have happened while Jian must come to terms with the idea that everything he knew about his previous life was false. His previous teachers have turned on him and tried to kill him, his vaunted skills are not anywhere near as good as he thought they were, and the prophecy he was supposed to achieve is considered to have been fulfilled making him useless.
I want to start this by saying this book has one of the weirdest premises that I have come across in a long time. There are a lot of books that include the use of prophecy and prophesized heroes, and I mean a lot of books, but I have never read a book that is based around the idea of the prophecy failing. Yet, that is the basic premise of this book. However, it does create an extremely original plotline and story arc. Instead of the characters scrambling to figure out how to fulfill the prophecy they are scrambling to find out why it failed or why it broke. The hero is struggling to deal with the idea of not being the hero, something he was raised from birth to believe. It reads like it is taking all of the stereotypical fantasy elements that revolve around predestined heroes and prophecies and turning them on their heads. I can’t say that it is throwing them out the window because the elements are still there but they are definitely flipped. The book was an incredibly fascinating read because of that. I will admit that this was a large part of what drew me into reading this book, but I was just as fascinated by the war arts or martial arts that were part of the story as well. The book is based in an Eastern culture, though which one is not entirely obvious, and revolves around the use of war arts. Laishi is a war arts master who is an extremely proficient fighter. However, the book also introduces minor fantasy elements with jing, a character’s ability to manipulate themselves and the world around them while fighting. Laishi uses jing to jump on or control the air and wind around her. In fact, this is actually what causes the problems she points out with Jian as he has been trained in the war arts but not in the use of jing. There are numerous fight scenes throughout the book that are incredible to read mostly because of the level of skill the characters would need in order to pull off what is being described. I found these rather interesting to read and they really helped flesh out the culture that is being depicted. This book was a great read and one that I would probably read again someday. I am giving it a 4.5 out of 5 stars.
As you have probably gathered this book is considered fantasy and I would not argue with that. However, I would also consider to be a book heavily focused on martial arts so I would think it would appeal to readers who enjoy either of those genres or topics. It was an interesting blend that was for sure. Despite the hero Jian only being a teenager the book itself is primarily aimed at an adult audience, which I don’t disagree with. There is a lot of violence present in the book and it deals with a lot of heavy topics such as betrayal and loss so it may be difficult for some readers, specifically younger readers. Outside of that I don’t necessarily see why older teens couldn’t read it if it sounds like something they might enjoy. I know I enjoyed it enough I am planning to read the sequel. If you decide this sounds like something you would like feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.