Cover Image: Foretold

Foretold

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Member Reviews

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoyed the way the author incorporated OCD in this story. It was done in a way to showcase how much it can really effect someone's everyday life without putting the sole focus on the disorder which I think is the way everything should be written.

I also really enjoyed the world and the concept behind having a secret school for seers. It was interesting to read as its not like many Fantasy books I've read before so it was a nice change. I enjoyed uncovering the mysteries of this world and seeing how Cass tries to fit in it.

I love how Cass would do anything to protect the ones she cares about. However, the romance in here didn't really make sense to me. I enjoyed seeing how fierce Cass was in this and I loved watching her self confidence grown the more she learnt about herself.

I enjoyed this for the most part but I don't know if I will be continuing with the series.

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I got approved for this a long time ago and when I finally got around to it I think it's not for me. The YA genre is just kind of falling off for me. While I appreciate the rep in the book which I love to see more in books, the writing just didnt work for me. Thank you for the early acsess to the title though.

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I didn't finish, I don't want to stay DNF because I would like to return to it one day, but right now, I cannot give it a chance.

Has a plot I'm interested in, and the author's own experience mirrors in it; very much intrigues me, but I just couldn't get into it.

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I'm sorry to say I dnf this one. I started it, lost interest, left it, came back to it and ultimately it just wasn't grabbing me. Maybe I'll have another go at some point.

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Thank you to Netgalley and Uproar Books for sending me a copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

From the very start, this is such a good book for OCD representation and how it can affect a person's daily life, their future, and everything in between. I loved the way that everything was so well integrated and really helped you get to know Cass and grow to love her.

The romance fell a bit short for me at times, but I did love the way that Cass is so motivated to protect those she loves and the way that she will sacrifice anything for them. She is so fierce in so many ways, and I loved watching her grow and really become more self-confident and learn about herself. She's such a fun character to watch!

I also really loved the world that's created and thought it was so interesting. It's unlike so much of fantasy that I've read before, and I really enjoyed learning more about the mysteries of the world and the way Cass fits into it.

I would love to read more in this world for sure, and I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for disability rep in fantasy!

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

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I really enjoyed the concept of this book, but the pacing was off and I struggled when I tried to read it to the point where I ended up DNR-ing it. I’d like to maybe go back in the future and try again but for now, I don’t think this book is for me.

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Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book. I completed this title awhile ago, and while trying to clear out my shelf, I realized that I never wrote up a review for it here.

I think the main reason I skipped reviewing this initially was because I was trying to avoid reviewing books I did not enjoy. And for me personally, this book falls into that category. I will admit that I requested this solely because the cover was gorgeous and the premise sounded interesting enough, and even rereading it to make sure I remember well enough what I thought, it does actually sound okay... But it isn't.

Let's start with pacing. I think this book suffers from some major issues with pacing. For the entire first quarter of the book, NOTHING happens. Absolutely nothing. It could have been all cut out for all I care. Because then there is this ending that felt SO abrupt and rushed... It made no sense.

Next there was a magic system (if you can call it that) that is not fleshed out enough in the slightest. The world building is virtually nonexistent and I think that is another one of the biggest downfalls for me personally as a reader. To make so many characters that I could care less about, and then to have a world in which I also am not invested, made it so hard for me to pick this up and continue reading. I should have DNF'ed. I think if I would have read this as a teenager maybe I would have liked this more... Maybe. But this was definitely not my thing last year, and I think if I tried to read it again today, I would only dislike it more.

I am also the biggest hater of love triangles around. I mean, maybe there are some exceptions where it can work for me, but this was not it. And we all know, for all of my other reviews that insta-love instantly puts me off any relationship and all but guarantees that I am not going to have a good time. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened here.

I am going to remove this book from my Goodreads and only keep a review here since even now, I hate to have such a negative review posted when there are probably people on the younger end of young adult who could connect with and enjoy this a lot more than I did.

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I struggled with this for a large portion and I kept putting it down, the pacing was off , too much information thrown at you and even with that the magic system didn't make sense. Not for me sadly

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy in return for an honest opinion

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I enjoyed this, but I struggled to get into it, The premise was there, but I wanted a little more from it,

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TL; DR - I loved the concept, and this book had potential, but the execution was just not it.

(some SUPER SLIGHT spoilers ahead - read at your own risk)

The concept -- an urban fantasy in which scrying (aka seeing the future, hence the ability to change it) is possible, yet hidden

Cassandra thinks she's crazy. She sees a boy die when he doesn't, but she convinces herself that she's simply experiencing hallucinations. That is, until her aunt introduces her to the Scryers.

In order to understand her abilities and find a way to save the boy (Colin, her super cute next door neighbour that she's fallen in love with in two seconds flat), Cass lives in the hidden Scryers compound, makes new friends, and trains with her mentor, Pict.

This was a very interesting take on the magic school trope, as the "school" is located within a wider community compound with many different branches, meaning that the students could interact with many others within the Scryers community.

I also really appreciated the OCD representation within the story. This book showed a far more accurate representation than I've ever seen before, especially within the fantasy genre.

But now for the things I didn't like so much (some of which you may have figured out already):

This book was super heavily focused on the instalove between Cass and Colin. She sees him die, has a two second conversation with him outside their houses, then from that moment on, he's all she thinks about. She spent maybe two weeks hanging out with him before she moved to the Scryers compound. She barely knew him.

Even worse, once she gets to the compound, she essentially ends up in a love triangle with Colin (who she barely communicates with and sees even less) and a (highly popular) Scryer boy (who she sees nearly every day) which undermines her entire motivation for saving Colin!

I liked Cass's entry into the magical world of the Scryers, and how much of the world wasn't immediately explained (which avoided an info dump) - yet even much later in the book I was struggling to understand the worldbuilding.

Another unfortunate element was that Cass was immediately accepting of everything, even things that aren't explained or that give her a perfect excuse to change her mind. For example, once Pict (arguably the highest regarded Scryer in history) tells her that her prediction of Colin's death was inaccurate and unreliable (due to her minimal initial ability, and the lack of an interpretive medium such as a mirror or water), she sticks to her initial conviction that it was a prediction because that's what her aunt had implied before Cass went to the compound.

I have come to realise that I love a gruff mentor character (in this case, Pict), but unfortunately we barely saw him, despite Cass having daily training sessions with him. He was more of a concept or entity than a present character.

So yes, this book was a fabulous idea, but had some unfortunate errors in its execution that meant I was struggling through it, especially towards the end.

That being said, thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read an Advance Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review. I am very grateful to have had this opportunity.

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I had really high hopes for this novel, and while it didn't completely fall flat, I did struggle to get through a fair portion of the beginning. I didn't feel like it was going anywhere, and I kept putting it aside because I was quite bored. The pacing was off almost throughout the entire book. The beginning and middle were slow which led to the ending feeling rushed. There was also quite a bit of info dumping, but even then the magic didn't really make sense. It felt like there were a lot of ideas in this book, but none of the follow through.

Cassandra as a protagonist was similar to many other YA protagonists. There was nothing to set her apart - even seeing death before it happens. Colin, the boy next door who Cassandra "sees" dying in the near future, is a fine character. Neither good, nor bad. Just meh. I am not a fan of anything close to insta-love, so the romance in this book was not for me. It was also hard to root for anyone when no one really stood out.

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I enjoyed this book to some extent, at first I wasn't really invested it dragged on a bit but then about 1/3 through the book I began to like it more.
What i liked best was the whole friendship plot and some of the aspects of the romance.
It was lacking a bit in world building and the plot wasn't fantastic compared to some othet fantasy book with a bit more plot twists and such.
I was a bit confused by the magic system, it could've been explained better and some parts were a bit predictable.
I would reccomend this book to young teenagers and people getting into fantasy.

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This is exactly the kind of book you stay up late for, seriously!!!!
I loved the first-person narration, which allowed the reader to truly relate to the MC. Cassandra has experienced so much loss and grief in her life, that it serves as a comfort to readers who have felt similarly. I believe that the romantic aspects of this book will be further fleshed out in the next book of the trilogy but I would warn potential readers that this is not a romance novel. This book read a little young for my liking (at 22) but I do believe if I had read this earlier in life it would have made it on my all-time favorites list!

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Great book, love this author and how they can keep my attention to the end! The plot is well developed, characters are believable and they obviously paid attention to detail to make the story worth your time to read.

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FORETOLD is a beautifully told YA fantasy that focuses on Cassandra. Cassandra struggles from OCD and sees visions. Usually, they’re fictional, just something her OCD was making up. But when she sees her new neighbour die right in front of her—only, he didn’t die—she knew they were no longer simply fictional. She’s brought into the world of scrying, a hidden organisation of people who can predict the future and use it to shape their own lives. She embarks on a journey to figure out a way to save her neighbour—Colin’s—life. But she soon realises that even surrounded by people who can predict the future, there are some things you can’t predict.

FORETOLD is a story that pulled me in from the beginning. It’s intriguing, leading you into the action and adventure practically straight from the beginning. The characters are well thought out and interesting, with Cassie having a depth to her that’s often difficult to get right. I loved the side characters and how Regan seemed to fall for someone new almost every day. That made me laugh every so often. I loved how Griffin became apart of their group, despite Regan’s initial protests. Cassandra’s character development felt real and important to me, how she grew as she learned more about herself and about this side of herself that she hadn’t known existed.

The only issue I have with this book is that the language got a bit hard to follow, but that could have just been me. I don’t read all that many fantasy books so I’m not quite yet attuned to taking a fantasy related word I’m unfamiliar with and sticking it in my brain so I can remember for when I next come across that word.

Other than that, I genuinely did enjoy this and I’m eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.

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This is definitely meant for a young audience. As someone who isn't I can't say anything bad or negative about this book. I will be buying for my young daughter to read and give me her opinion. There is some deep subject matter here but I feel like it only skims the surface

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Such a great book! I enjoyed reading this one so much! I highly recommend this book. Side note: the cover!!!!

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Foretold is mesmerizing. I felt SO connected to Cass with her OCD and anxiety - add to that the ability to see someone's death and not being able to stop it. When she sees her neighbor's future demise, she resolves herself to save him at any cost. As she joins a secret society and becomes embroiled in their magics she learns there is a price to pay to rewrite the future. Excellent read. Highly recommend.

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this one took a bit to get invested, but once it started picking up the motion didn't stop! I wish there was more build up between the love interests, but otherwise this was good. and the cover is incredible!!

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