R. J. Larson

When seventeen-year-old Ela of Parne is called by the Infinite to be his prophet, she initially cannot understand why she has been selected, but after experiencing his presence she willingly agrees to bring his word to a war-torn nation.

Prophet

Celeste Richardson

I first read this book when it was published ten years ago, long before I was active on Goodreads. I’ve been bringing books that I loved in the past and that impacted my faith in some way to a girl at my church. When the youth group girls started doing a Bible study on Elijah, I knew this book was the next I needed to recommend. But as I hadn’t read it in a decade, I knew I wouldn’t remember many details if she wanted to discuss it, so obviously a reread was in order. And it was so much fun!

Ela of Parne has been chosen by the Infinite to serve as his first prophet in seventy years. She is also the first female prophet in remembered history, as well as one of the youngest at right around eighteen. But when the Infinite speaks to her, offering Ela the opportunity to be His voice to enemy nations, she doesn’t hesitate. Throughout the book, I was so impressed with Ela’s faith. There was enough internal fear and conflict to make her faith believable, but her practical outward trust in the Infinite even when terrified was exemplary. She was definitely a female counterpart to the Biblical prophet Elijah in more than just her plot arc.

The world Larson built here is what I would consider light fantasy. It’s a world that’s not our own, with just enough differences to hammer home that fact. But it is similar enough that setting stories from the Old Testament within it made perfect sense. I also found that it breathed some new life into stories that I’ve heard my entire life by changing things up just enough to highlight the core of the stories. It reminded me how powerful and impactful these stories are.

While Ela is without a doubt the star of this book, the supporting cast was wonderful, as well. Tzana, Ela’s younger sister who suffers from a very unusual disease, is a little ray of sunshine despite her ailment, and I loved that she tagged along with Ela on her journeys. Kien had a lot of character as well as a slow, believable arc of growth, and I look forward to revisiting more of his story in the next installment of the trilogy. And then there’s Pet, also known as Scythe, a beast of a warhorse breed known in-world as destroyers. I had a soft spot for great animal characters, and Larson definitely delivered that with Pet.

I thought this was a very solid, fast-paced book, especially for Christian fiction. I tend to love the message of a lot of Christian fiction while being left wanting with the actual prose and story, but that wasn’t the case here. The prose didn’t sparkle, but it served the story well. If I had any complaint it would be that certain sections felt almost too fast, not giving the scene enough time to breathe before moving on to the next. If the girl I lent this to enjoyed it as much as I did, then I’ll be incredibly happy. Hopefully she’ll want to continue the series, which will give me an excuse to continue the reread.

Prophet

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