Review: The Paladin Prophecy by Mark Frost

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Series: The Paladin Prophecy #1

Pages: 560

Received: Received from publisher through NetGalley

Release Date: September 25, 2012
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca /
Buy From BookDepository.com

Goodreads Synopsis:

Will West is careful to live life under the radar. At his parents' insistence, he's made sure to get mediocre grades and to stay in the middle of the pack on his cross-country team. Then Will slips up, accidentally scoring off the charts on a nationwide exam.

Now Will is being courted by an exclusive prep school . . . and is being followed by men driving black sedans. When Will suddenly loses his parents, he must flee to the school. There he begins to explore all that he's capable of--physical and mental feats that should be impossible--and learns that his abilities are connected to a struggle between titanic forces that has lasted for millennia.

Co-creator of the groundbreaking television series Twin Peaks, Mark Frost brings his unique vision to this sophisticated adventure, which combines mystery, heart-pounding action, and the supernatural.

My Review:

Okay, wow, this book was so much more than I was expecting it to be. I came into this book a little guarded because it was so big, and the cover was kind of meh for me (something I may walk past in a bookstore to be honest...)

This book opened up with a bang and Frost really gives you a lot of action and intrigue that keeps you reading. I loved how quickly everything moved in the beginning, I found it so hard to put down I just needed more information about everything going on. I will say that I did find the book to slow down quite a bit in the middle, there was a lot of information to process but something about Frost's writing kept me going and I was not disappointed. Just like it opened this book definitely ends with action and I can say that the way Frost ended the book will definitely bring readers back for more in Book 2. The story could have possibly been parsed a little bit in the middle, so that readers don't feel overwhelmed with information. I also felt that some things that happened didn't seem that important to the overall story, which made for a bit of a longer read.

I really liked that though this book is along the similar theme as many other YA books out there today (the idea of a child with special powers and someone is after them for that), I find that Frost takes his story to a different level. His writing style is interesting and continually leaves you wondering about everything in this world. I also really enjoyed that this takes place in the real world (with a few technological liberties of course...) I thought the technology aspect was really interesting and different, it made for some fun times.

A lot of the book revolves around the friendships that Will makes at school, in the beginning we see that Will is basically a loner with no friends in his hometown, but then he comes to this special school and all of a sudden he has made all these new friends and quickly he starts questioning RULE #5: TRUST NO ONE... I really loved how quickly these characters were there for Will (and one another) in times of trouble.

There was so much to this book, that I had fun reading it and I definitely suggest checking it out! Frost is well known for bringing in weird ideas and great twists and he definitely did that in this book, and now I am off to check out Twin Peaks to see more of Frost's great writing...