27 August 2022

Books: The Art of Prophecy (The War Arts Saga) By Wesley Chu (2022)

 

“It has been foretold: A child will rise to defeat the Eternal Khan, a cruel immortal god-king, and save the kingdom. The hero: Jian, who has been raised since birth in luxury and splendor, celebrated before he has won a single battle. But the prophecy was wrong. Because when Taishi, the greatest war artist of her generation, arrives to evaluate the prophesied hero, she finds a spoiled brat unprepared to face his destiny. But the only force more powerful than fate is Taishi herself. Possessed of an iron will, a sharp tongue—and an unexpectedly soft heart—Taishi will find a way to forge Jian into the weapon and leader he needs to be in order to fulfill his legend. What follows is a journey more wondrous than any prophecy can foresee: a story of master and student, assassin and revolutionary, of fallen gods and broken prophecies, and of a war between kingdoms, and love and friendship between deadly rivals.”

The Art of Prophecy is squarely directed at fans of kung fu, wuxia, and wire-fu fans who love Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, The Legend of Drunken Master, Kung Fu Hustle, and other aspects of that genre. Here Wesley Chu offers an ambitious new series that reminded me why I liked his Tao series so much; though here, he takes a step up into full on epic with this first volume. Much like his earlier work, what makes The War Arts Saga work are his decades-long training as a martial artist and occasional stuntman. This means his set pieces are easy to understand, the fight sequences believable, and story easy to follow.

The novel is also dominated by women, all who are very well defined and three dimensional. Ling Taishi is Chu’s best character, smart, sharp-tongued, hilarious, and wise. The fact she does what she does with only one arm is amazing. Both Salminde –who’s world has come to end with the failure of the prophecy- and shadow assassin Maza Qisami come on strong as well.

I will say I did struggle with to stay invested with characters, especially when Jian and Taishi become separated and spend a year apart from each other. I will also say that this may not have anything to do with the book –I just fell into a funk (and was not feeling 100% as well, either) and found TV (watching the Disney + docuseries on Industrial Light and Magic) and my phone more interesting. So It did take me much longer to finish this book than I normally take.

And like some trilogies, the writer’s world building sometimes can slow the narrative momentum down a bit, mostly by focusing on secondary characters and their problems. There is also a lot to keep straight here, a lot of new characters (with big, ambitious titles) to keep an eye on. But that said, The Art of Prophecy is action-packed, often snarky and absurd and you appreciate Wesley Chu’s attempt to put a fresh spin on the Chosen One trope.  

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