4.5 stars



Off the bat, I gotta say: this book was not perfect, but it held me by the throat for its entirety, and I could BARELY put it down!!!!

I really love character-focused scifi, and boy did this book deliver on that front! The authors tell the story in such a way that the mystery is just as much a focus as the main characters' relationship. And in order for both of those to work, they craft the narrative in ways that build both equally strongly.

In the vein of things that (in retrospect) could have been done better: my main criticism is that the 2nd half of the book felt a bit more stagnant. It could probably have had a bit tighter of an edit in the 2nd half, but again, this is an issue that did not effect my enjoyment while reading. I also wish the ending had been a little more complicated.

All that being said-- I LOVED this book!! Definitely will be recommending a purchase at my library, and will be buying my own too.

This one just wasn’t for me. I tried, but it was too dang weird. I didn’t post a rating on Goodreads, bc I don’t think it’s fair to rate a book that I didn’t finish.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Honestly it was just pretty boring for me. It had a really interesting concept, but it dragged on for way too long. So much of the Rao/Adam banter was back and forth and very repetitive. I finished feeling confused but glad to be done.

I really enjoyed the suspense and intrigue of central mystery and how it was deepened by the complex dynamic between the two main characters. It has a very X-Files vibe, complete with a great will they, won't they romance. And while I was absolutely invested in the story, there were times when it meandered a bit too much or I felt some aspects of the world and plot could have been better developed.

Unfortunately this book didn’t work for me and was a DNF but I am sure other readers will feel differently! Thank you for the ARC!

I'm not sure I got a hundred percent on board with this book, but it was a really wild ride. I loved the inventiveness of the world and the characters, and they were purely stereotypes. I think this is unique, but I would hand it to weird fiction lovers and those who are happy to take their sci fi with a healthy dose of open-minded willingness to really go there. A good fit for fans of Malka Older, though it is Earth-based rather than space!

This was such an unique read! I was hooked from the beginning, and thoroughly enjoyed the story, the characters, and the ending. It got weirder and weirder as it went, but slowly enough that as the reader I was like ok, let’s do this!
I enjoyed the characters, the way their personalities are peeled back more and more as you go, and the jumping back in time to one of their childhoods. I loved the banter, the irreverent humor used as a mask by Rao. I’m not often a fan of stories the revolve around people who happen to be the smartest and the most talented and the best at everything; I like to see humanity. I thought the flaws and humanity of Sunil Rao’s character really balanced his identic memory and language skills and added depth, and really made the story better. Similar with Colonel Adam Rubenstein, incredible badass and lethal weapon with a troubled past. It felt like a movie I’d enjoy watching.
The plot was pretty amazing, and came together so well. I loved the inclusion of some concepts of reality and energy, and the way a perfect memory comes into play.

The dynamic between the characters had me yelling at them OMG JUST KISS, they were driving me mad. Do they? Don’t they? I won’t spoil anything here.

A few things irked me a bit, including the lack of commas in many places where the meaning of a sentence became ambiguous without them. I’m not a stickler for grammar, language evolves and that’s beautiful. But in this case it really threw of the flow of reading for me a number of times, because I a had to reread to make sure I understood. I read a lot of books out of the UK and other parts of the world and I don’t think this is a regional thing, but if so I will stand corrected and attempt to get familiar.

One character also annoyed me a bit, felt a bit convenient to include yet another super exceptional outlier, this one a clear “baddie” to play foil to the “good guys”. But overall it worked, it was fun, I ended up not wanting to put it down, and it was fairly smart but also still a brain break for me somehow; I was able to read it while super exhausted and still enjoy.

I didn’t look up the authors until afterwards, and now knowing that this was written remotely by two writers who met on Twitter definitely makes it cooler.

I think I’m a 4/5, but it’s one of those “oh yes I’d crush another like this” 4s; maybe it’s 4.25. I’ve recommended to a few folks already - and now I’m recommending to you all! If you like the keywords check it out: sci-fi, thriller, suspense, queer, witty banter, weird stuff, will-they-won’t-they, spies, concept of nostalgia used in a creepy but very cool way

This book was very good! It’s definitely an interesting concept, very unique and not anything I’d encountered before. I did Get a little bored in the middle, it’s very long and could’ve possibly been shorter. The ending was great, made up for some of it it!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Prophet is an interesting cross between sci-fi and spy drama meets a fun writing vibe. The pacing was off at times, but I loved how diverse the cast of characters was. This had an almost X-Files kind of file throughout.

Prophet is a very creative look at the power of truth as it connects the mind to the real world. A no-nonsense, military-grade, strong silent type detective is paired with his apparent foil -- a hard-partying man with an innate ability to determine if statements are true or not. They need to investigate the sudden mysterious appearance of numerous nostalgic objects -- including a diner! -- and disappearances of several people.

Their evolving partnership and investigation takes many twists and turns, from mysterious past and compounds with evolving effects on people and murky research purposes.

This is a very entertaining and engaging novel, though there was also definitely some repetition in some of the stages - but excellent mix of characters and situations.

to be brutally honest i am amazed that this was published...the storytelling is trying to go for an erin morgenstern/neil gaiman vibe but something is off. i'm just not buying into it (be it the characters, the world-building, or the dialogues). it reminds me of that time i had to write a fantasy short story for a creative writing class and it sucked so bad because it wasn't a genre i was familiar or good at. but as we all know, ymmv so give don't let my vague review put you off from giving prophet a shot.

I ended up DNF'ing this book at 4%. While the concept is very intriguing I couldn't quite grasp the world the authors were building. I didn't realize it was a sci-fi style thriller which is not something I usually enjoy.
Also reading other reviews made me realize I didn't want to commit to the sheer size and heft of the story.
Thank you for the opportunity to try though.

There is a love story hiding beneath the surface of this book. Blink and you’ll miss it. The plot here was insane at times and despite some apprehension at first I ended up enjoying the story as a whole. Lots of conspiracy, government agencies from multiple countries, spying, big corporation evil doers etc. This story has it all. And right at the center the enemy turns out to have weapon used nostalgia. Yes you read that right. Weaponized nostalgia.

It’s terribly hard to review this without spoilers, so I’ll leave it at that. Enjoy.

When I first read the summary for this book, I was really excited to dive right into it. It wasn't what I was expecting.

I had a much harder time really getting into the story and I had to stop every now and then and start over before I finally found the right time to truly sink myself into it. The early chapters felt slow even though there were things happening on page. It was like watching a show on TV on autopilot and having what is going on not sink it. I did like the characters although it was harder to get a grasp on who they truly were.

It was much later on when the plot, the characters and the world truly gelled together and I found myself enjoying this book. The concept was great however the execution needed some work. The main characters were the shining parts of this story. There were some exciting and emotional moments but they were so few that generally it felt like a chore finishing this book.

Overall a decent read once it found is stride.

3 stars out of 5 stars.

"A medical student called Johannes Hofer coined a term for it: 'nostalgia.' It was a kind of homesickness. From the Greek 'nostos,' meaning a return to home, and 'algos,' meaning -"
"Pain," Rao says.

Despite being described as a thriller, Prophet was an incredibly boring book. When I first came across the premise I was very excited to get my hands on this debut, as Prophet sounded like it was going to be an emotionally charged narrative centered on memory and nostalgia. I should have known this wasn't going to be my cup of tea when I saw it more recently described somewhere as "Barbie meets Oppenheimer"...what??? I think my biggest issue with Prophet was that it is very obvious from how surface level the sci fi elements are and how depthless the plot is that everything is just set dressing for the romance. I felt like the authors definitely cared most about developing the relationship between the two main characters. Which is fine except that, even by the end of the book, Adam and Rao are about as interesting as a sack of potatoes. The authors failed at breathing any sort of life into these men. Rao's personality consists of being effusive + self destructive and calling people "love." He reminded me a bit of those old bisexual stereotypes, which is not a good thing. Adam is repressed and that's it. The sarcastic banter between these two were just very cringe and also of course they both have such tragic histories.

Additionally, the narrative structure of Prophet was a huge mess, and the pacing was horrendous. By the time I got to the halfway mark I felt like we had not gotten anywhere in terms of the plot. There were so many portions of this book that could have been condensed or cut and really nothing would have been lost. In the first half of Prophet chapters would alternate between either an extended view of one of our protagonist's childhood or our main characters' time together in Afghanistan. The flashbacks heavily distracted rather than added to the main mystery, and these chapters were kind of dropped halfway through without leading anywhere significant. This is also very nitpicky and specific, but I didn't like the way the dialogue was presented. There would be whole stretches of quotes from character without any breaks in between so that sometimes we're just reading a whole page of just quotes that's meant to be a back-and-forth conversation between the characters. It all just read like amateurish writing.

I really wanted to find any reasons to rate this book higher but I just could not think of a single aspect of Prophet that I enjoyed. If you're looking to read an engaging sci fi this is definitely not it, and I can't even recommend it to people looking for a decent romance.

Sunil Rao is able to tell instantly whether an object is real or fake or whether a statement is a truth or a lie. Adam Rubenstein is an intelligence officer who was partnered with Rao on an op in Kabul, that ended up with Rao in prison. Adam is the only person Rao has met that he can't get a read on and can't tell when he's lying. This caused them to be somewhat adversarial at first, though their relationship improves. Because of Rao's talents, he's been asked to investigate a strange phenomenon where objects from the past are spontaneously being created. He ends up partnered with Adam once again and together they discover a top secret project called EOS Prophet that targets people's fondest memories and weaponizes them. Between the two of them they discover they don't react to Prophet like the other test subjects and this gives them the opportunity to save victims of Prophet and to potentially stop it all together. Overall, an interesting sci-fi mystery that focuses on memory and how it can manifest, as well as on the growing relationship between Rao and Adam.

An American diner appears in a British field. A memory come to being, as many more start to, and then the deaths follow. Prophet weaponizes the past, but no one knows how or why. Sunil Rao, who is what you'd call the unlikely choice for such a serious job is brought in for his unique ability to tell truth from lies in everything, even objects, in the present and the past. He is paired with military man Adam Rubenstein, who recommended him, someone he shares a troublesome past with. Mess and order working together so we can have a future.

Jumps right into the story with a nice way to introduce the protagonist. Different POVs pop in piquing your curiosity, amping up the mystery, making you want to figure it out as the story unfolds and clues are given.

A testament to evocative writing are the tiny details not only of the environment but of human behavior that are unexpected yet so natural, putting you in the setting of each scene. Showing us how imperfect humanity is, how flawed, how rich our life is in 'shit happens' as mentioned in the book. Philosophical ambiance and a 'the truth is blunt' quality tinge the narrative, along with Rao's sarcastic flair. A sarcastic flair that adds a bit of humor and cuts through the inevitable scary of sci-fi.

I like how Rao's ability is shown. How the author conveys the odd couple chemistry between Rao & Adam, their in-your-face attitude towards each other. Their antithesis is a source of enjoyment. There are trips down memory lane, flashbacks if you will, done properly. A heart-squeezing parallel storyline has me deeply intrigued, even though it seems mundane on the surface in regards to the main story. The way it crashes into the main story is heart-wrenching and ingenious. So many deep, enveloping thoughts in this book that stir emotions.

Does the back and forth between present and past and between POVs get whiplash? I thought it would but it didn't. There were times when I wished the authors wouldn't cut away from a scene, though I realize it just amps up my intrigue. The buildup to the finale is amazing.

The book is deeply rooted in the meaning of reality, of existence, the power of memories and our relationship with thought. Our relationship with the truth. With the props of a phenomenal sci-fi thriller, this is conspiracy theory heaven, cinematic bliss, a thinking man's fantastical journey with a seasoning of intense feelings.

I absolutely loved this one. It’s a sort of creepy sci-fi spy thriller mixed up with a satisfying, banter-filled, slow burn romance. Overall, an absolutely wild and fun ride.

This book is that perfect note of sci-fi lite, where it’s mostly set in our world, but something slightly strange is going on. The slightly strange being a new mysterious infectious agent called Prophet that causes people to manifest nostalgic items from their past (think GI Joe dolls or entire classic diners) and then kills them with it. The only people that could maybe save the world are Adam, a surly American military officer, and Rao, a sort of ex-MI6 spy who also functions as a human lie detector. Of course they have a sorted past, the likes of which is slowly revealed through flashbacks, but they are probably also inevitable if they can just save the world first.

Admittedly this did take me a little bit to get into because the early jumps from past to present were a little confusing but once this took off I found it impossible to put down. The plot is rather relentless and the stakes keep ramping up as Prophet continues to spread and evolve. And the ending! Absolute perfection.

Clearly I highly recommend this one. I’m still on the fence on whether this should be the start of a series or just remain a perfect standalone, but it is such an exciting and unique novel from this new writing duo. I’d love to see what they’d write next together.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Who else played and loved 2019 Game of the Year <em>Control</em>? 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.