Foretold: 14 Tales of Prophecies and Predictions edited by Carrie Ryan

Foretold: 14 Tales of Prophecy and Prediction edited by Carrie Ryan

4.5 stars
Foretold is an anthology featuring a lot of the hottest names in YA fiction, which means my standards were pretty high for this. They were already high since I knew that Richlle Mead’s story was in here and that set a rather high bar. After seeing Laini Taylor’s name the bar rose higher. I wasn’t disappointed, but some of these stories didn’t live up to what I thought they would. Here’s a breakdown of each story.


Gentlemen Send Phantoms by Laini Taylor
5 stars
I’m a fan of Taylor after reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone so of course my expectations for this story were high. She didn’t disappoint. Catherine “Pippin” is the center of the story. St. Faith’s Day is the day when all the girls bake a cake they set out for their phantom husband. Pippin has her sights set on one special boy, Matty, but so do all of the other girls in the village. Pippin reminded me of Karou with her dreams of flight. It brought back memories and has me excited to read Days of Blood and Starlight. Taylor can even make a short story mesmerizing.


Burned Bright by Diana Peterfreund
4 stars
Bright is the daughter of a leader of an occult. She is waiting, along with all the other members of the occult, for Judgment. Bright and Sam must figure out what to do when this judgment doesn’t come. I’m on the fence about this one. I enjoyed it, but it made absolutely no sense to me. The ending was interesting though, but crazy. I don’t expect anything less from someone who’s been brought up in an occult. I’m interested in Peterfreund’s other works, but I never seem to get around to reading them.


The Angriest Man by Lisa McMann
4 stars
David should’ve died when he was born, but he was stung by a bee. The bee carried the hate from the angriest man to ever exist and David lives with this burning hatred. I actually liked this. It was kind of boring at times, but held my attention. The ending on the other hand isn’t how I would’ve ended, but I could see why McMann did. McMann’s writing style is still very similar to Wake and reminded me I need to finish the series.



Out of the Blue by Meg Cabot
5 stars
K.C. and Kyle are twins. One night on their sixth birthday they slept outside in a tent. A man came inside a big ship placing objects in each of the twins claiming his world needed their help. Ten years later, KC is an outcast and decides to reveal her secret on her a blog, which no one reads except her best friend. It gets out and KC, Kyle, and their friends find themselves being interviewed by special agents. I loved this one. I’ve never read anything by Cabot, which I’m sad to admit, but this was totally awesome. I loved the concept and the style it was written in reminded me of a King novel for some reason. ALIENS! Not the attractive friendly ones either. These are more reminiscent of Signs.


One True Love by Malinda Lo
3 stars
Princess Essylt’s father kept her locked away because of a prophecy about her destroying him when she met her true love. He didn’t think about her true love being a woman. Sadiya, who also happens to be the King’s next bride. I’m not a big fantasy reader and the way this was written reminded me why I never could finish fantasy books as a kid. There were too many different places being introduced and I just wasn’t all that interested. Fantasy isn’t my genre and it takes a lot for me to read one much less love it.


This is a Mortal Wound by Michael Grant
4.5 stars
Tomaso lives 2019 and the Internet has become the new way to learn. Teachers aren’t used and neither are books. When his old teacher, Ms. Gill, kidnaps him and forces him to learn from books again. Tomaso has to fight his life because of his hatred for textbooks and their lack of knowledge. I liked this one a lot. Interesting concept with great writing; it wasn’t a completely sold short story but I still enjoyed it.


Misery by Heather Brewer
5 stars
Alek and his best friend Sara live in Misery. Every year on a special day you receive a gift from the town, but no one knows where the gift comes from. When he goes to Jordyn, the town psychic, to find out his gift he is told it is nothing. I loved this. It was brilliant. The writing fit the story with a somber tone. I loved how the town had no color and pretty much lived inside of the people of Misery. The ending, it was perfect and made me think for quite some time.


The Mind is a Powerful Thing by Matt de la Pena
4.5 stars
Joanna celebrates her sixteenth birthday, but not even a great night can get the feeling of dread out of her. When she gets a fortune cookie that reminds of a horrific day she becomes paranoid and the night ends with sadness. This is a perfect example of thinking about something too much will bring it upon you. I loved it. The characters were interesting and my heart swelled for Ronny at the end.


The Chosen One by Saundra Mitchell
4 stars
Corvina isn’t as special as her sister the future queen of Vernal. Not since the accident leaving her scarred and burned. When her sister, Lucia, becomes ill before she is to host the Betrothal Quest Corniva sets out to find a cure for her. She meets Valerian who helps her find herself and the cure along the way. Like I said before I’m not a fan of fantasy, but the writing didn’t feel like a fantasy. I did still get confused though and had to reread parts several times. I enjoyed the story and quest since it seemed to flow into the story easier than the quest in One True Love did.


Improbable Futures by Kami Garcia
5 stars
Once a conry always a conry. This is Ilana’s life and the carnival is all she’s ever known, except for being in kindergarten for a month. Ilana’s job is to be a fortune teller like her mother. Ilana doesn’t give happy fortunes like her mother and knows it’s all a scam just like everything else in the carnival. She wasn’t expecting her predictions to come true. I surprisingly enjoyed Garcia’s tale which I wasn’t expecting since I've heard some iffy things about her writing along side Stohl and that's made me iffy to pick up their works.
Death for the Deathless by Margaret Stohl
3.5 stars
Adrienne and Luc are the prophet and the bringer of prophecies for the Immortals. When a final prophecy tales of not even Immortals surviving the End all hell breaks loose and the prophecy isn’t all what it seemed. This had so much promise, but I think Stohl failed to live up to this promise. I hate saying this but I think Stohl's writing is the reason I didn't enjoy this. I hate saying that but it’s true. She has great ideas and concepts, but her writing is so hard for me to get through. I still have hopes that she’ll blow me away one day and prove me wrong.


Fate by Simone Elkeles
4.5 stars
Carson moves into a RV park where he meets Willow. Willow’s optimistic views just might be the thing he needs. I thought this was adorable and so cute. The last line made me giggle like a little kid. I love Elkeles work, but I feel like she ended it too soon.

The Killing Garden by Carrie Ryan
5 stars
Tanci is the first girl to be born in a long line of males. Her father is the Gardener, which is a prestigious title, and she wants to live up to his approval and trains herself to take his place. Once she accomplishes being the Gardner and is forced to race her best friend she starts to question what exactly people do to be sent to the garden by the Emperor. She meets Rete in one of quests to find out the answer. Knowing that she’ll one day have to kill him in the Garden, but she can’t help but feel for him. I love Ryan’s work. She’s a great writer and this is such an interesting idea. I haven’t read anything like this and was sucked in. I want Tanci to find happiness wherever it may take her.

Homecoming by Richelle Mead
5 stars
 
 
 

Rose and Dimitri go to Russia!

I loved it and it was so nice to read about Rose and Dimitri again. I hope they get married and I want a short story or a book about it. Mead doesn’t fail to make me smile with the VA characters.

Overall it was a really good anthology and I recommend giving it a shot. Not just for Dimitri and Rose, but because they have some pretty awesome short stories in here and they deserve love too.

Cover Thoughts: I don’t like the cover. The coloring, girl on it, and rain just don’t fit. I feel like there are thousands of other ways to show a prophecy that could’ve been done and this was just a cheap shot try.