The Prophecy of the Stones

For a book written by someone who was twelve to fourteen, this story is amazing. I've heard the author was seriously sick or just very sick when she wrote it, and that's also amazing. I remember this book as it haunted me after 2009 because I could not find it anywhere, not a trace. I remember it was by a child but nothing more.

It's not perfect, but it has a charm. I was a teenager with cynicism galore when I read this and through the flaws, it was good. No deaths, no horrible dragged out problems forever. It's not a story for people looking for blood and violence and death. It's about three girls and a prophecy, what more could someone want?

If you come to this book expecting great literature, or the next epic fantasy novel, you'll be disappointed. But if you come to it to read a story written by a thirteen year old girl who loves to write and has a healthy mix of creativity and imagination in her life, you'll probably be pleased with what you find. I've certainly read less solid works by adults. Sure there may be holes in the plot, or some other problems in the writing, but the story works just fine. The plot is pretty straightforward: good vs evil. In this case, the reader hopes that the good comes in the form of three fourteen year old girls who are to fulfill a prophecy in the land called Fairytale. Each girl bears the name of a stone she carries, Amber, Jade, and Opal, show more and bring a unique set life experiences which aid them on their quest. Plus there's the search for the chosen one, who will ride from the dark into the light.

One interesting twist is the interspersed story of Joa, a girl in a parallel world called Paris, who is dying. She draws strength from her dreams where three girls, whose names are that of stones, and are the initials of her own name, are on a quest to defeat evil.

I hadn't known there was a lot of hype about this book when it came out. I picked it up because the author was about the age of two of my granddaughters, and I was curious to see what was in the mind of a girl their age. I'll probably pass this on to them, along with some other books I collected that might help wean them from sparkly.

I got this book at Blue Bicycle Books on King St in Charleston. show less

There are a lot of things wrong with this book. The writing is amateurish. The plot is painfully simple. The characters are totally flat. The entire world is very black and white with its portrayal of good and evil. Flavia Bujor tends to use "mysterious urges" as an excuse for the characters to do various things that eventually solve problems.

But despite all these things... I fell in love with this book as a little girl, and I've never quite grown out of it. When I first read it, it was perfection, and I read it over and over again. It's kind of hard to compete with that.

So while I might hesitate to give it to a teenager, I'd give it to a young girl in a heartbeat.

The book really deserves 2 stars, but as the reason I read it in the first place is that it is written by a 14 year old -- I am giving it an extra star for creativity. The story is creative, but silly in many important moments. The movement back and forth from the present time to a dream is really annoying. The author should not have been afraid to just make it a work of fiction and not worry about justifying the magic by having part of the story be a dream.

GEMS! it's the prophecy of the GEMS! get the title right people! I found this to be a very interesting book. The characters are relatable and the plot draws you in from the very first page. Very good.

I was immensely impressed by the story quality compared to the age of the author. I got this book at the same time as I got "The Time Travelers" and I enjoyed "Prophecy of the Stones" intensely more than "Time Travelers". Flavia Bujor got in all of the basic story elements. She had character development, plot motivation, and all of the other things we're usually forced identify in school. Overall, Flavia gave me confidence in my dream to become and author and/or illustrator and I was really pleased to read it. Once again, I was heavily impressed.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I picked it up because I thought the cover was cute. It was written by a 15 year old and you can definitely tell. It was good but it was all over the place and the events seemed rushed. It had a very abrupt ending.