The Prophecy Of The Stones (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) [Library Binding]

Flavia Bujor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Three teenage girls are chosen to fulfill an ancient prophecy in this vividly imagined first novel from a fourteen-year-old author.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-9-Jade, Amber, and Opal meet for the first time when they are 14 and find that their destinies are inextricably intertwined in some way that they have yet to discover. Each girl possesses a stone that matches her name. These stones have great power and are related to an ancient prophecy about the saving of the Light. The girls embark on a quest to understand their role in life and, in the process, enter the kingdom of Fairytale, where some of the magical beings are good, and some are evil. Another key figure is a knight errant who calls himself the Nameless One, who is also destined to be part of the fulfilling of the Prophecy. This is a long, involved story that often takes on the quality of a B movie. The style is somewhat flat and the voice is very youthful. Characters are constantly explaining situations and history. There is a dependence on magical objects that descend willy-nilly into the story and chance meetings in which the girls and the Nameless One are immediately known and accepted. Dialogue is stiff. While there are some interesting fantastical creatures and plot twists, there are also some very odd elements. Death, for instance, is "on strike" so no one can die. There is a small parallel story of a dying girl in a Paris hospital who has dreams that somehow relate to Jade, Opal, and Amber. The purpose of this device remains fuzzy to the end. Jacket information reveals that the author is 15 years old. While the story is a definite accomplishment for one so young, it is not a polished or mature work of fiction.
Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. Bujor's debut novel was a sensation in Europe, garnering lots of attention because the author was 14. This celebrity may be worthy of note (a big media campaign is planned for the U.S.), but the fact is, the book sounds as if it were written by, well, a 14-year-old. The story, set far in the future, starts off well enough. Jade, Amber, and Opal are thrown together because of a prophecy and their possession of stones that allow them to do magic and have psychic powers. In an incredibly long march to stamp out evil, the girls find themselves struggling against hardships and embroiled in battles, including a final bloody one in which "the Chosen One" fights to unite the lands of "Fairytale" and the "Outside" into one realm. If all this isn't enough, Bujor injects a saccharine story about a girl dying in modern-day Paris. The characters are one-dimensional, the plot derivative, and the writing sluggish. So why purchase this? Because of the buzz, which will be heard at libraries, and perhaps for the inspiration it can give young writers. If she can get published . . . Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Library Binding: 386 pages
• Publisher: Turtleback (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1417685794
• ISBN-13: 978-1417685790
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (129 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,159,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great feat for 15 year old author, April 12, 2004

By 

"popciclegurl87" (Spokane, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Prophecy of the Stones: A Novel (Hardcover)

The Prophecy of the Stones
Flavia Bujor
New York: Mirimax Books, 2004.
Pg. 288

The first time I saw The Prophecy of the Stones was when my mom brought it home and told me that it was written by a 15 year old girl named Flavia Bujor. I was hooked from that point on. Anything written by someone my age is worth a serious try. So I picked it up and started reading. Although the audience for this book was a bit below my reading level, the delightful story of the Three girls? adventures and the land of Fairytale kept me entranced until the finish.
Flavia Bujor is only 15 and has now written and published her first book in not only her native French, but also in many different languages, including English. She lives in Paris, France and goes to high school. Her second novel is in process. One of the things that I really like about the book is that fact that it?s author is so young. It inspires me to not give up on my dreams, because they really can come true with hard work.
This book starts out with three very different girls finding out on their mutual birthdays that they were not the children of their adopted parents. The girls then meet at midnight to find out and meet their intertwined destinies. They take out their stones and as they are holding them in their hands ?All three girls closed their eyes at exactly the same time, and bond formed between them.? Although Jade is snooty, Amber is emotional, and Opal is withdrawn and they seem to constantly be in disagreement, they are forced to work together. Within these three girls I see different traits that I can find in myself. Some traits I like, and others I don?t. The fact that I can connect so well to the main characters made the book more fun to read. The girls discover that the land they had been living in was not the wonderful thing that they had been taught. They discover Fairytale and to save Fairytale from invasion must risk their lives and fulfill a prophecy that has been around for years.
The book its self was not a shining star that I will treasure forever and make sure that all my friends read. On the other hand, it was not a horrid flop of a book either. Within it?s covers it holds a story that takes you through worlds of wonders and horrors. The fantasy aspect is very creative in finding new things instead of borrowing from others ideas. The three girls in it add the element of growing up to the whole affair. The learn how to give and take, work together, and find themselves in the process. The point that brought dulled the stories glow for me was the lack of interesting word choices. While the language got it?s point across, it failed to captivate me the way really good books do. I?m not sure if that was caused by the age of the writer or by the fact that it was written in French and then translated into English. The word choice problem that I had with the book could be solved by focusing the book to a younger age group. (...)This book was worth my time. I enjoyed the plot and the development of the characters. However, I thought that the vocabulary choices could have been a little different. If you have a child that likes adventure or fantasy, this would be a good choice. Perhaps the simple story would even appeal to an adult?s taste. Whatever the case, it is worth it to make a young girl?s dream come true.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cheers to Flavia!!, December 18, 2004

By 

E.B. Olsen (Houston, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Prophecy of the Stones: A Novel (Hardcover)

I was surprised to see how harsh many people were when reviewing this book. As repeated many times, you do have to take in to account that Flavia was only 13 when she wrote this AND she wrote it over a 6 month period.

But, what most people have overlooked is that this book speaks of universal truth and is put on paper in a very simple manner. That's a good thing when speaking of universal truth to a young audience (this book is intended for teens). The reason behind writing is to write for MEANING. Flavia did this and she did it well. No, she doesn't have the complexity of Tolkien, but to even begin to compare ANYONE to Tolkien is unfair and uncalled for, especially a 13 year old.

Some of the critics failed to see the deeper meaning behind what Bujor was writing about. For example, one person criticized Bujor for not saying what Joa was dying of on her deathbed. But, in the other realm, they should of learned through reading that death itself is unimportant. What the girl was dying of was insignficant.

Some people said she wasn't even funny, but yet compare her to Tolkien. And Tolkien was funny?

The book is simple on the surface, but speaks a very deep truth that can't be spoken of here or it will wreck the book for you.

I'll be looking for her future novels and watching her as she grows in her writing.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not even worth one star!, February 21, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Prophecy of the Stones: A Novel (Hardcover)

I bought this book because I heard great things about it, and I was interested in what a teen writer had to offer. Now I really regret wasting my money on it.

The setting and the world itself isn't described accurately enough. It seems to be a medieval-type land, but one of the girls has a watch.

Death on strike? Death as a chubby woman weeping over ruptured self-esteem? It was original, I'll give her that, but...it just made me want to bang my head against a wall.

The romance was incredibly quick. Adrien barely noticed Opal, never exchanged two words, until she sacrifes herself. "Adrien realized he'd been blind. He loved Opal." Love at first sight only works in a Disney movie. It seems Flavia just didn't want to take the time to develop their romance or make them get to know each other before they proclaim love. And Amber and Elydor falling in love at eye contact? PLEASE. No more of that.

The plot holes. It's never explained why Jean Losserand was thrilled that Amber was alive, or how he knew her; it's never explained what Oonagh was or how she came to be; it's never explained what Joa is dying of; the ending was rushed and left no explanation. Why was Opal so distant in the first place? And the author was undoubtedly making things up as she went along. She suddenly decided to have the old woman play an important role. She suddenly decided to have Jade be skilled in swordsmanship. She suddenly threw in Ghibduls and a magic horse for the heck of it, both of which don't play an important role. She suddenly decided to have a mermaid help Elyador, though it's never explained how or why she gave him the casket. What about the mysterious horseman?

The characters. I very much liked Amber and Opal - Amber especially, because she's such a sweetheart - but Jade...Jade remained conceited, even though she came to care for "inferior peasants". Jade did have some admirable qualities, and she was insecure deep down, but I just wanted to slap her most of the time. None of the characters were developed beyond their one-dimensional (mostly) personalities. I related to Amber and Opal, but that's about it. All the rest of the characters barely appear. At the end I felt cheated, like the book was incomplete. Amber became braver, Opal became less introverted, Jade broadened her emotional range just a little bit, but character development was overall incredibly weak. Flavia wanted to make Jade the most flawed character and ended up taking those flaws to excess. Like her needless hatred of Opal - WHY? She hated her for no reason and couldn't feel real sorrow over her momentary death. Elforys was incredibly harsh and disloyal to Elyador, blaming him for something in the past when he was obvious not the person he used to be.

The plots were all cliches, every one. Armies of Light and Darkness - done, in Sailor Moon and Digimon. Magical creatures seeking their own peaceful land away from mankind's destruction? Done, in Wolf's Rain (fabulous series, by the way), Halloweentown movies, and countless books and fairy tales that would take forever to name. Constantly bickering protagonists? Done, in Sailor Moon, Digimon, and Totally Spies. These are just some of the several places she got her ideas.

The hype is only because the author is so young. So what? Age has nothing to do with the quality of the book. A teen author may be brilliant or decent or terrible - beyond terrible, in this case. The book did have a deeper meaning to it, but one that's been done so many times before. And the way she presented it was so incredibly corny I was wincing in some parts. The near-sacrifice at the end was poorly done, and the prophecy was weak and short. The happy ending was painfully predictable. All in all, an unbelievably poor effort.

Recommended Books: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Eragon (now there's a good teen author), Elsewhere, Wolf Moon