Review: Prophecy by Coreena McBurnie

Title: Prophecy
Author: Coreena McBurnie
Series: Antigone: The True Story
Publication: December 7th 2015 by Flaming Nora Press
Genre: Young Adult ~ Mythology
Purchase: Amazon
Rating: 3/5

A hidden prophecy. A chosen princess who speaks with snakes. A family duty.

Sixteen year old Princess Antigone, daughter of the infamous ancient Greek King Oedipus, wants to lead a normal life and fulfill her duty to the gods, her city, and her family, but fate has other plans. The Olympian gods bless her, the snakes talk to her, her parents want her to marry a foreign prince, her embroidery looks like burial shrouds for dogs, and she has fallen in love with the wrong boy.

When the mysterious and devastating prophecies surrounding her family are revealed, Antigone must choose where her allegiance lies: With the gods who have betrayed her family but who she is obliged to serve? With her plague ridden city? With her family which lay in ruins? Or even with herself?

In Prophecy, Book One of the Antigone: The True Story series, Antigone steps out of the shadows of the past to tell her own story, a story where truth of history is stranger than the fiction of myth.

As a huge fan of Greek mythology and the story of Antigone and her family, I was thrilled that the author send me a review request. Thanks again, Coreena! I liked the story for sure, I just didn't completely love it. But it was a pretty fast read (although the holidays kind of slowed me down). 

I liked how the story started with Antigone having a dream about Apollo coming to her in the shape of a snake, basically telling her she is blessed. Although she wants to leave a normal life, she also wants to please her family and the gods. As the story unravels, more and more secrets about her family get revealed, the biggest one towards the end. 

I really liked Antigone. She had her own mind and a strong spirit, which is something I love in any heroine or hero. As a princess she has duties her family expects her to follow through like do her embroidery, get to her lessons on time, marry a foreign prince, but that isn't what Antigone wants at all. 

I wasn't a fan of the romance between her and Haemon. I'm a tricky one with romance and I just wasn't feeling it, personally. Especially not after the hateful things Haemon said to her once all the secrets of her family were revealed. He apologized for it , but I kept thinking; too little too late, buddy. I also kind of wished more exciting things were happening throughout the story because sometimes I had to tell myself to keep reading, although in the end it wasn't a very long book.

The writing was pretty good, though, and all the mythological aspects were very well-written also. So that was really great for me and probably the more important part of the story, in my opinion.

Overall, Prophecy was a good enough book. It has good and less good aspects (like pretty much every story has). It definitely was an interesting twist on Antigone and her family's story!

       About the Author:

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I write mythological fiction. My passion for ancient cultures, mythology, and history started many years ago and, after studying Classics in university and earning my Master's degree, I am channelling this love into my writing. Prophecy, Book 1 in Antigone: The True Story series, is my first published book. I do most of my writing in Novembers during Nanowrimo and spend the rest of the year editing and reading. I live in BC, Canada with my husband, three kids, and our cat.