Prophet

I’ve seen this described as an Inception AU with the serial numbers filed off, which was honestly why I gave it a chance, but unless there’s some identifiable fanon I’m missing, it’s really just trope-adjacent: Sunil, an eerily talented fuckup, is protected by a supercompetent American soldier who is, on the inside, at least as much of a hot mess. Here, Sunil’s talent is the preternatural ability to tell whether someone is telling the truth—actually, it’s worse than that, which he only partially hides: he can assess the truth value of any statement, regardless of whether anyone in the room knows the answer. But he’s, uniquely, never been able to tell if Adam is lying. The military only knows about the lie detector part, show more which is how he acquired a bunch of his trauma: he was sent to Afghanistan and watched a whole bunch of people get tortured; the interrogators didn’t want to hear that their victims didn’t know anything. Anyway, this is all backstory to the main plot, which is that an American government contractor’s experiment with a psychoactive substance goes very wrong, leading victims to manifest objects that then make them catatonic with a kind of horrific nostalgia. Sunil might be the only one who can figure it out, but will he and Adam ever admit their feelings for each other? (This is why it feels so fannish: lots of mutual pining and wordlessness, and we mostly have to take on faith that they are MFEO. To be absolutely clear, I am fine with this!) show less

[b:Prophet|186168831|Prophet|Helen Macdonald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1688841639l/186168831._SY75_.jpg|98569390] gets five stars not because it's a perfect novel, but because it's the most fun I've had reading a book for a while. I found it addictive and really entertaining. The characters and plot are both highly compelling and the sci-fi weirdness delightfully uncanny. The two points of view are Rao, who has the superpower of knowing whether any statement is true or false, and Adam, his military babysitter. Both have a distinctive narrative voice and their often-spiky dynamic makes a great perspective on the strange events that unfold. In the past Rao was used by the military and in the show more present he is extracted from prison in order to investigate a weird manifestation on a military base. I don't want to say too much about this as I enjoyed the gradual discovery, so will merely observe that I found it ingenious and original. The concept of Prophet reminded me of Grant Morrison's The Invisibles - always a good sign as that is my favourite graphic novel series of all time.

It turns out that an American billionaire is funding the weaponisation of nostalgia using an unstable, seemingly alien substance named Prophet. Rao discovers he is immune to this and can even extract it from others, but it appears to be feeding on him somehow. The authors strike a good balance between explaining Prophet and leaving it ambiguous, by describing the effects on individuals in great detail while the nature of the substance remains mysterious. I pictured it like the living mirror in The Invisibles series, which is also powerful and unpredictable.

As well as the world-building, I enjoyed the total disrespect of the US military and its private sector parasites throughout. Adam is allegedly the perfect soldier, a total Captain America, yet his true loyalty is always to Rao. The novel's denouement is a mission to rescue the billionaire who unleashed the nostalgia weapon; after the rest of the team are horribly killed Adam locates this guy and immediately murders him. What a moment!

I noticed in the acknowledgements 'special thanks to the fic writers of AO3', which goes some way to explaining how [b:Prophet|186168831|Prophet|Helen Macdonald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1688841639l/186168831._SY75_.jpg|98569390] also manages an excellent 460 page slow-burn love story between the protagonists. When they finally do kiss, it's certainly earned. The bickering and unresolved sexual tension reminded me of top quality fanfic, which I mean as a compliment. Few novels manage to be fun in the same way that good fic is (which is why I read it), while also managing an exciting and existentially intriguing sci-fi plot.

I don't want to give away why I had such a great time reading [b:Prophet|62806082|Prophet|Sin Blaché|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1694868956l/62806082._SY75_.jpg|98569390], but encourage you to give it a try if the blurb is at all intriguing. I'm glad I did. show less

I hate this book and am thinking that I may end up abandoning it.

There is probably a good story in there somewhere, but it's about 200 pages shorter, that's for sure. The narrative is clunky and slow. The characters are loathsome. Whatever story there is, is buried under page after page of irrelevant and turgid dialogue and endless representations of the fact that Rao is a non-stop sensation seeker and Adam is a robotic military man incapable of emotion.

I really can't understand why some books get hyped as much by critics. They can't possibly have actually read this thing and liked it.

And my reading for 2024 was going so well! Great concept - a sinister chemical that induces 'nostalgia' and causes people to create physical replicas of beloved possessions - but the writing is only good for inducing narcolepsy. And the main characters are themselves stock fan fiction fodder - fill in the blanks, any 'odd couple' works - I tried swapping Rao and Rubenstein out for Kirk and Spock, but I was still deathly bored by the interminable deep and meaningfuls and started skipping whole 'empty' chapters. Also, Rao's habit of calling Adam 'love', which is either a posh term of endearment or a colloquial pet name for women and children, was deeply irritating.

I can well sympathise with all the DNFs and only wish I hadn't wasted so show more much of my own time ploughing through to the end. show less

Sci-fi-espionage-horror-weird-romance fiction that's ultimately in the same category as Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach series, except that it's so busy being all those other things, which are very readable, when the real Weird Horror is unleashed near the end you're left wondering why the whole book hadn't been like that. It also kinda cops out on being truly transformative and mind-bending in favour of a (sorry spoilers) happy ending.

The other fault was the admiration for not one but two super-soldier macho types which felt way too bog-standard for something that was clearly going for being subversive and critical. One character, upon learning that she's been working for a secret network of billionaires who wield way too much power show more (also a bit bog-standard) decides to retire an work in a dude ranch. I mean, these are secret agents, weapon-trained, combat experts, the best at espionage and counter-espionage, they learnt the world is being screwed by a powerful group that have essentially played them for fools and almost destroyed the world, and they just shrug and walk away. When you get down to it, that's weird, not that I want them to go to war with them or anything, that would probably be even worse, but it does expose how weak and tired some of these tropes really are.

That all sounds critical, but it's a hugely readable book, just one or two things jumped out at me probably because the main interest of the book is actually the central romance. show less

Who else played and loved 2019 Game of the Year Control? There's a very specific weird, unsettling, hilarious, eldtrichy, paranoid-espionage-tinged vibe that Prophet shares with that excellent game—but Prophet is also very romantic. What a ride! People should start optioning books for video games, because I would play the hell out of this.

This was a fun read! There's an X-Files kind of plot, a suspenseful trip into a house of horrors at the end (I always love a new take on this), and a slow-burn will-they-won't-they romance, yes! Definitely good beach-read material, and I rarely say this, but I believe I would read a second book with these characters. As per usual, I buck the trend and love what everyone else is hating on, but this has been one of my favorite reads of the year thus far.