Good morning! Today, we're so excited to be a part of the blog tour for Kat Ross' newest release, Blood of the Prophet. Ashley has been waiting all year for this book, and can't wait to share her review with you. We've also got a giveaway, so be sure to fill out the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post to enter to win your very own copy of the first book in this fantastic series, The Midnight Sea!
Also don't forget to stop by all of the other wonderful stops on this tour! You can find the full tour schedule by clicking the banner above.
About the Book
Author: Kat Ross
Publication date: September 12th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Synopsis: Visionary. Alchemist. Savior. Saint.
The Prophet Zarathustra has been called many things. Now he spends his time drawing pictures of weird-looking goats. That’s what happens when you’ve been stuck in a prison cell for two hundred years. But the man who might be mad, and is definitely supposed to be dead, has suddenly become very valuable again…
It’s only been a few weeks since Nazafareen escaped the King’s dungeons with her daēva, Darius. She hoped never to set foot in the empire again, but the search for the Prophet has led them to the ancient city of Karnopolis. They have to find him before Alexander of Macydon burns Persepolae, and Darius’s mother with it. But they’re not the only ones looking.
The necromancer Balthazar has his own plans for the Prophet, and so does the sinister spymaster of the Numerators. As Nazafareen is drawn in to a dangerous game of cat and mouse, her newfound powers take a decidedly dark turn. Only the Prophet understands the secret of her gift, but the price of that knowledge may turn out to be more than Nazafareen is willing to pay…
Purchase The Midnight Sea: Amazon
About the Author
Kat Ross worked as a journalist at the United Nations for ten years before happily falling back into what she likes best: making stuff up. She lives in Westchester with her kid and a few sleepy cats. Kat is also the author of the dystopian thriller Some Fine Day (Skyscape, 2014), about a world where the sea levels have risen sixty meters. She loves magic, monsters and doomsday scenarios. Preferably with mutants.
Ashley's Review
It's no secret that I loved the first book in Kat Ross' Fourth Element series, The Midnight Sea. I quickly fell in love with the characters and the incredible world that Kat built, and I have been so anxious to jump back into the action with Blood of the Prophet. I expected to be taken on a wild journey, but this book was just so much more than I hoped for!Blood of the Prophet picks up shortly after The Midnight Sea ends. Victor is off trying to retrieve the Fire from Neblis and Nazafareen, Darius, and friends have gone their own way to find the Prophet before Alexander storms Persepolae. Kat does a really great job of putting in bits and pieces of important information from the first book that I didn't necessarily remember without making it seem like a recap. Everything flows nicely from The Midnight Sea to this book, and I really appreciated that.
Even though Nazafareen and Darius spend much of their time in the same city, this book didn't feel like it was dragging. There is a lot of set-up, but it bounces between people and perspectives and keeps things feeling fresh and exciting. I found that I was always looking forward to the next page, the next chapter, just because I needed to know what was going to happen next. Especially in Balthazar's chapters, because he is one scary mofo. I do not ever want to be on his bad side with those crazy necromancer chains and all.
I also didn't think that there could be much world-building since the first book had so much, but I was sadly mistaken! There is just so much in this world that I didn't know about, and I was glad to learn more as Nazafareen learned more. I also really enjoyed seeing things from other peoples' perspectives, because it gave me much more background on the places they traveled to and from. Kat has this incredible way of expanding her worlds without making it overwhelming and actually showing things instead of telling. I could read these sections all day and never get bored!
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a YA fantasy with traces of historical fiction. Some of the names and places will be familiar to readers who know anything about the Persian empire, but everything has been changed and twisted into something different and exciting and completely of Kat's own making. Her beautiful prose just add to the overall effect and make for an incredible book that does not suffer from the typical sophomore slump. I can't wait to read the final book in this part of the trilogy! 5/5 would definitely recommend.
Great review, Ashley! This sounds like an action packed series, and def a page turner! Glad you liked it! :)
ReplyDeletethanks so much, Ashley! Honestly, I've been learning to write a multi-book series as I went along so I'm relieved to know I got some of it right :) Anyway, thrilled you enjoyed it, hopefully I'll have a Queen of Chaos cover to share soon... We are in the final tweaking stage right now.
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