Literature Good for the Soul
When I first read The Prophecy of the Stones, I must have been about eleven. I'm pretty sure I found it among the many, many books on the shelves of my English teacher's classroom. The years have seen this book remember fondly, a marvelous tale crafted by a girl not too much older than I was. Just by being determined enough to write an entire novel at such a young age, Flavia Bujor guided me toward my own dreams of being a novelist.
I read it only once. Seven years ago. I no longer remember the characters, or really much of the plot. I remember a quest, and magical stones and a little girl in Paris, dying of cancer. I didn't need the characters. The inspiration was there. I had my own stories to tell, and three little girls from another's story hadn't a place in my head.
A few days ago, I picked up a copy at a thrift store. $0.75 Flipping through the first few pages, the writing was what my adult mind would call awful: immature, short sentences whose French equivalents must have sounded at least a little less stilted. And yet I still wanted to read onward. Through immature writing and poorly devised characters, I loved this story once again. It's not a master work. It's hardly more than a child's dream-time, but it is a story that, for all its faults and flaws, has captured a piece of my soul in a way no other book has ever quite managed. If you want a "good" book, leave this one on the shelf. But if you want a story to cling to your heart and be remembered fondly ten years down the line, this is the story for you.
Literature The Prophecy Of The Stones
Oh, God. I read this book when I was somewhere around 9 years old, and I absolutely detested it. I almost always finish the book I'm reading even if it isn't amazing. I didn't finish this book. The one good thing about this book is that it motivated me to try and write better then the chick who wrote this. I remember being annoyed by the characters and their relationships with each other, and the poor plot events. I might be able to read it again to laugh at it, but I'm far more likely to throw it down in disgust. Frankly I'm not willing to risk it.
Literature This Book Made Me Want to Throw Up
It was awful. The story, the characters, the plot line. Flavia Bujor cannot write worth a darn.
Let's diagnose her characters, shall we?
Jade: Pretty much the only interesting character in the whole book, has a few sue-ish tendencies but at least her bratty, spitfire personality makes up for most of it
Opal: Good Lord, I hated this girl. Especially her crush on Adrien, she was the main reason I hated this book.
Amber: A stock character, not entirely too bad, but she really should have stayed single.
Moving on the the plot and the story: When I started this book I grazed through almost all of the chapters in which Opal had a major role. I understood most of it Until the end. Like WHAT THE HELL. And, enough to say, I really wanted to punch both Elyador and Adrien. Shallow Love Interest much? Shallow characters in general. The best (and I used this term loosely) was the meeting with Oonagh, she literally stole the scene.
Final Verdict: This is like Twilight, but slightly better (I use that term even more loosely).