Witches and Gods: The Prophecy of Shadows

Review + Guest Post + Giveaway: The Prophecy of Shadows by Michelle Madow

Title: The Prophecy of Shadows (Elementals #1)
Author: Michelle Madow
Publisher: Dreamscape Publishing
Publish Date: January 26, 2016
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy

Synopsis: When Nicole Cassidy moves from sunny Georgia to gloomy New England, the last thing she expects is to learn that her homeroom is a cover for a secret coven of witches. Even more surprisingly … she’s apparently a witch herself. Despite doubts about her newfound abilities, Nicole is welcomed into this ancient circle of witches and is bedazzled by their powers—and, to her dismay, by Blake—the school’s notorious bad-boy.
Girls who get close to Blake wind up hurt. His girlfriend Danielle will do anything to keep them away, even if she must resort to using dark magic. But the chemistry between Blake and Nicole is undeniable, and despite wanting to protect Nicole from Danielle’s wrath, he finds it impossible to keep his distance.
When the Olympian Comet shoots through the sky for the first time in three thousand years, Nicole, Blake, Danielle, and two others in their homeroom are gifted with mysterious powers. But the comet has another effect—it opens the portal to the prison world that has contained the Titans for centuries. After an ancient monster escapes and attacks Nicole and Blake, it’s up to them and the others to follow the clues from a cryptic prophecy so that they can save their town … and possibly the world.

Cover: I participated in the cover reveal for The Prophecy of Shadows, and I have to say that I love the cover.

Characters: I had mixed feelings on the characters. When I look at them one way, I really like them and enjoy them. But when I look at them differently, I really didn’t like them.

(Was there a Nicole in the Diamond Sisters trilogy? I feel like there was, but I’m not sure.)

I liked Chris and Kate. They might’ve been somewhat secondary characters, but I liked them. I liked Kate as the brains of the group (although Blake sometimes gave her a run for her money). Chris was the nice guy that this novel needed. I really hope they get together. Kate and Chris as a couple would be adorkable! Chrate all the way! (These ship names just haven’t been working.)

Danielle was kind of funny to watch. I didn’t really see her as a mean girl. I wish we could have gotten more of that side of her.

Plot: I had high hopes for The Prophecy of Shadows. After reading Diamonds are Forever (my review), I became a fan of Madow. I’m signed up for her newsletter or something, so I’ve been awaiting to read The Prophecy of Shadows. Also, I’m a huge fan of Percy Jackson so this novel should have been perfect.

I was coming into the book expecting it to be like Percy Jackson since it’s been compared so much to it. I thought I knew what to expect and I was bound to love it. This wasn’t really like Percy Jackson at all. There are very few people that are demigods. Most of the people are witches. That made me iffy. Yeah, it’s different but when you picture Greek Gods, you don’t think of witches. It was kind of disappointing.

I wish there was more to the adventure. To me, it seemed as if the group (Elementals if you wish) passed through very easily. There was hardly a challenge. What I like about mythology is that death is a common thing. Nicole and the rest of the crew rarely faced death. Yeah, there was a few times but not a lot. It was almost boring at how easy everything came to them. They’ve got their powers, the prophecies are going well. I wish there was more action and more OMG! moments.

Ending: The ending was good. Nicole had to do something very bad after she did something very bad. When she was saving Kate I thought it was going down. I might’ve been yelling at the book for her to not do it. I saw it ending very badly.

Overall: The Prophecy of Shadows was very well written. You can always count on Madow to have well-written books. It was her first shot at something fantasy, and it was okay. It didn’t suck. I’m just so judgemental because I love mythology. I saw so much potential for The Prophecy of Shadows, but it didn’t quite reach them. I just hope the next novel in the series is better; I feel as if it will be. I’m actually looking forward to it. I want to know what happens next. I feel as if the next one will be better since the story is started and I really want to see what happens between Blake and Nicole. I'm excited for it!

About the Author

Michelle Madow grew up in Baltimore, graduated Rollins College in Orlando, and now lives in Boca Raton, Florida. She wrote her first book in her junior year of college, and has been writing novels since. Some of her favorite things are: reading, pizza, traveling, shopping, time travel, Broadway musicals, and spending time with friends and family. Michelle has toured across America to promote her books and to encourage high school students to embrace reading and writing. Someday, she hopes to travel the world for a year on a cruise ship.
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Michelle Madow's Top 5 Favorite Book Boyfriends

1) Jace from The Mortal Instruments

2) Ash from The Iron Fey

3) Adrian from Vampire Academy

4) Damon from The Vampire Diaries

5) Blake from Elementals ;)