This was a delight. Feels like an episode of the X Files in terms of mashing up sci-fi with spy novel (and some will-they-or-won't-they). Has some really powerful thoughts about nostalgia as tool and weapon, using it in delightfully eerie ways. There are bits of this that feel like a fanfic someone's filed the serial number off of, but kudos to them for realizing it was its own whole story. It's a skosh baggy in the middle, but once the final act of the book kicks off, I sped all the way to the finish and was delighted with the end.

A very interesting book and I And how the author had different themes going throughout this book. You meet a man named adam who was very strange in this book. He had a very troubling pass because of his father, and he was also gay. His friend r His friend named r a Oh. They started to connect in this book and because their shared history in the military. A lot of different things were going on with labs and stuff like that. And we'll find out what the prophecy meant. Because it was a very strange thing they did in these labs. Because of this lab, who was run by. By a woman. These 2 had a great adventure together. And they were trying to figure out who murdered somebody in this book, so they had to go a lot of backtracking.. It was interesting how the military got involved in this because they actually do. It has a really weird ending. And I think this really explains how the book came together. But explains how the book all came together.

DNF at 20%.

This book is so confusing. I love spy stories but the writing in this book just didn't click with me. I also don't do well with slow pacing. I'm sure this book has an audience, it's just not me.

PROPHET by Helen Macdonald and Sin Blaché is a meticulously crafted sci-fi thriller that never fully pulled me into its story. As much as I wanted to like this book (I was excited to read it, having loved Macdonald's nonfiction), I found the book ultimately overwrought - each sentence was a labor to get through. The characters were equally difficult, including at least one choice of a POV character that I found difficult to read. Fans of Macdonald, or those willing to wade through the prose, will find an entertaining story.

A sci-fi thriller mystery with X-Files vibes and a queer romance, Prophet raises interesting questions about nostalgia.

This book is so hard to review because there are some things about it that are superb, but they are surrounded by distanced prose and a somewhat meandering plotline.

The aspect that really kept me reading was the romance subplot. This part of the novel is excellent in that it really keeps you on your toes. I loved the dynamic between the characters, the history they had together, the way the novel throws red herrings at you near the start regarding their love lives, and the passages of longing and care. I also liked the juxtaposition that these tough-as-nails military dudes are afraid to take risks in this aspect of their lives. I also love a chaotic + lawful / sunshine + grumpy dynamic. I shipped them so hard.

The concept behind the novel is also really interesting. Along with the kind of classic X-Files feel of the mystery, it also seems to be raising a point about how clinging to nostalgia can be harmful. Yet, while Prophet has a very strong start, it starts to peter off in the middle and then ends in a way I didn’t find satisfying.

The prose also didn’t really work for me. It kept me at a distance, and I often found there were long stretches that didn’t really say or do anything and then a few pages that went by too fast. The prose might work for some readers, but it just didn’t mesh with me.

Yet, it was an interesting and complex sci-fi with a very robust love story. People who like the slower sci-fi thrillers, like Crighton’s Sphere, might enjoy this.

Helen Macdonald (H Is for Hawk) and Sin Blaché, making their debut, have teamed up to offer readers a tightly paced, genre-bending tale in Prophet, which imagines the weaponization of nostalgia--and the surreal, horrific threat that poses to the modern world.

A diner has appeared in the middle of a British field. Except it's not a real diner--it's more like the memory of one, with the scent of coffee but no coffee makers, a bright neon sign not powered by electricity. Other objects, too, have popped into existence without explanation: a Scrabble box that's solid all the way through (with no interior), a rotting bouquet of roses, a teddy bear, a cassette tape. Despite the seeming innocence of the objects themselves, they turn out to be gravely dangerous to those from whose memories they have sprouted--turning nostalgia into a harmful weapon, one requiring careful investigation and containment. The U.S. military brings in two pros to peel back the layers of this "bizarro nightmare": Sunil Rao, "a savant with an attitude problem," inexplicably able to detect the truth around him with near infallibility, and Adam Rubenstein, an American sergeant "unremarkable to the point of invisibility," quietly dangerous and assigned to keep danger-seeking Rao alive as they hunt down the ever-morphing substance known as Prophet.

Prophet is slow to build at first, and a bit confusing at times--a result not of poor writing or worldbuilding, but of the sheer absurd horror of a world shaped by Prophet and the dangers it presents to those who encounter it. ("It just feels as if none of [the words] are working properly. None of them are talking about what's there.") As Rao and Adam work to open their minds to the impossible reality of their situation, Macdonald and Blaché invite readers to do the same, starting with an expanded understanding of the concept of nostalgia, and the not-so-subtle tactics of the power-hungry intent on capitalizing on that: "[Nostalgia] is emotional and psychological, but it's also political. Highly manipulatable, either politically or in the marketplace."

While fantastical, this framing feels eerily similar to many 21st-century political conversations, making Prophet as much a work of science fiction as a prophetic what-if tale. Within this construct, Macdonald and Blaché have created not just unlikely heroes, but an unexpected queer romance, complete with absolutely pitch-perfect banter between Adam and Rao across every page. As the two seek a kind of peace--for themselves and for the world they know--amid the warring forces of hope for the future, love in the present, and a burning sense of nostalgia around them for the perceived safety of the past, Prophet proves a beautiful, tense, strange, and heartfelt first collaboration from a duo not to be missed. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer

Shelf Talker: A beautiful, tense, and heartfelt novel imagines the weaponization of nostalgia, as an unlikely pair must fight to protect themselves--and the world they know--from memories made deadly.

This is a tough one to review. The concepts and execution are superbly crafted and there were many times I was completely enthralled. Wonderful characters and atmosphere light up the page and I was happy to be spending time there with them. Then at times my eyes became glossy and I missed things and had to reread and became annoyed and let out a very heavy dramatic sigh. This could be due to the length - it is too too long. Still for those that enjoy a cool sci-fi thriller, you can’t go all the way wrong here.

i just could not get engrossed in this book, it was a miss for me

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the review copy.

PROPHET is a high-concept novel that seizes on the fundamentally human element of memory and makes it the very real, very tangible center of a larger conspiracy. The metaphysical implications for the conceit are incredibly fascinating, with an infinite number of possibilities even though some are more viable than others. The concept is a difficult one to pull off in a feasible manner, but the characters of Sunil and Adam, and their relationship, help ground the story beautifully. The ambition and imagination of PROPHET should be admired -- ultimately we could all use more daring storytelling in our lives.

A mysterious substance called Prophet has people manifesting nostalgic items, but those items are killing them. A really fascinating exploration of government intrigue and love among spies.

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC!

Unfortunately a DNF, I just couldn't get into the story! I will try again when I have the time, the premise was interesting enough but I just couldn't focus on the plot. I do love Helen Macdonald, so I will prevail!

A unique psychological thriller that raises pertinent questions about truth and nostalgia, and how we respond to both. The characters are fully-realized and truly seem to inhabit the world through which they move, and even when they made flawed decisions, I was cheering for them. I love the authors' use of language, which kept me thinking (and checking my dictionary).

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Grove Atlantic for an advanced copy of this new science fiction techno-thriller about how anything can be made to be a weapon today, even our own happy memories from the past.

As the world continues its successful downward slide in weirder thinking and actions, is it a wonder why so many people seem to be well childlike. Adults argueing about cartoons, comic books and animation movies, telling creators that you don't understand the characters, carrying on boycotts for destroying their youth, and spending more time fixated on the past than the future that is coming at us like a bus that can't go under 55 miles an hour or it explodes. Cultural references have become the new way of sharing and showing others what we are like. That childhood show is the only thing that hasn't failed us, while everything else has. People today hold on to those moments from forty, thirty, twenty, ten years ago, screaming that their childhood is ruined because a woman is in the movie, or even worse a minority. Nostalgia along with everything else in this century is a cudgel used to smash anything that ruins a person's idea of the past. Maybe it is social media, maybe it is the hellscape that is the world. Or maybe somehow, someway or own nostalgia is being weaponized, but not in a way that people expected. Prophet by Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk, and first time writer Sin Blaché deals with the weaponizing of a person's past, dredging trauma for ammunition, but finding results that nobody expected.

Strange objects begin to appear on an American military base in England. Toys, radios all old, not working right appear, along with a body that is horribly burned. Outside the base is a found an American diner, complete with plates, mugs, jukeboxes with Sinatra, lit, but without power. And people are getting scared. Sunil Rao is a man of many problems, one of them being that he can tell the truth from falsehood in anything. Person, words, objects. Rao's work for the government got him in trouble, this might give him a chance to free himself. Rao is partnered with Adam Rubenstein, a supersoldier of sorts, and the one person that Rao can not seem to read. Adam has his own problems, and what is happening is really getting to him. Bodies are starting to pile up, people are disappearing, and their every move seems to be watched. And both their pasts are coming up from behind.

A very different kind of book. A mix of Michael Crichton, X-Files of course, a lot of poetry, romance, psychedelic, and of course nostalgia. The book takes a while to get into the plot, there is a lot of flashbacks to our leads first meeting, their youth, internal monologues, but at the half way point the book starts flying along. The writing is very good a mix of detachment and poetry, especially with both characters dealing with their pasts, as neither one of these men like themselves much, but do like each other. Things unfold carefully, sometimes hidden in comments, but the plot really does stay together. The flashbacks might be a little jarring, but they work, and as the book is about making what one considers safe real, fits with the story. Not the book I expected, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Fans of Philip K. Dick will get this, along with readers of Jonathan Carroll and Steve Erickson. Also comic book readers will enjoy some of the imagery, especially readers of the Department of Truth by James Tynion IV. A different kind of science fiction story, and a different kind of thriller, one that makes one think quite a lot.

This is a VERY plot driven book. I found myself skipping dialogue and some descriptive scenes to know what happens. So one on the one hand, the storyline is interesting and compelling (until it jumps the shark at the end). On the other hand, the character development and dialogue felt weak and one-dimensional.

I loved the idea of this sci-fi novel but was expecting a different style. "Prophet" is very high-octane and feels ripe for a movie adaptation. Enjoyable but feels a little insubstantial.

What if The X Files and Sherlock Holmes and Annihilation had a perfect, beautiful book baby? I have excellent news that this is no longer just a hypothesis, but fully realized in "Prophet" by Sin Blaché and Helen Macdonald.

I started this book on a late, crowded flight and was instantly immersed. I've never been able to so clearly visualize the world and characters from a novel before, both to my adoration and horror in the case of this story. Blaché and Macdonald are a killer duo in their descriptions of the characters' actions and inner workings, letting you really get under their skin.

It's so weird and gross and lovely and upon finishing it I'm absolutely devastated in the best way possible. Extremely excited to yell about this book to everyone I know and thrilled to add two stellar authors to my "read everything by them" list.

CW for drug/alcohol abuse, body horror, torture, attempted suicide (off-page, historical), conversion therapy (off-page, historical).

Biggest thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the digital ARC!

Prophet gives you your heart's desire but for a price. As military investigators begin to discover disquieting information about Prophet, they are drawn further into the secrets their superiors are using them to uncover. What they discover about Prophet is disquieting; what they discover about each other is life changing. Compelling story and well written, this novel leaves its readers a lot to think about.

There are some books that I am so into I don't care how they end because I love the reading experience so much. Prophet is one of those books. I fell in love with Rao and Adam, the world Macdonald and Blache created was so three-dimensional I wanted to stay forever. The plot is a wild ride that I thoroughly enjoyed. There are many themes to unpack. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

Rao and Adam are unlikely partners forced together again for a mysterious mission. Rao’s talent of spotting fakes and knowing when people are lying is a tool governments long to use, and Adam has been his most successful handler for years. This novel unpacks their relationship, past, and current mission, which involves memories and nostalgia in dangerous ways.

Thank you, NetGalley and grove press, for the copy.

I received an ARC of this book from Grove Atlantic in exchange for an honest review. This review will not contain any spoilers.

My prior experience with Helen Macdonald was limited to her nature writing (I loved Vesper Flights) but when I saw she was co-writing a thriller with science-fiction elements, I thought it would be worth a look. Especially in its opening section, Prophet delivers several moments that recall Macdonald's careful attention to the natural world and gift for writing characters who are, via observation, trying to piece together a framework through which to understand it. Towards the end, several moments of near-horror recall her story "Deer in the Headlights," which uses that same precise prose to great effect in showing us a world that is subtly wrong in unsettling ways. At various points in the book, characters are able to spontaneously generate objects and scenes with nostalgic value--from teddy bears to 1950s diners to arcade games--and these are described with the same detail as the mountain landscapes and carefully spotted birds in Vesper Flights. As those objects change from curiosities to ominous portents to active threats, the prose shifts accordingly, always imbuing the scene with a strong sense of mood. In the middle, and then again at the very end, though, Prophet spends a little too much time on the thriller elements and less on its characters and the unreal aspects of its world. Perhaps it's because I'm not naturally a thriller reader (though I did enjoy plenty of Michael Crighton's work when I was younger), but I found this choice less appealing and thought it made the novel feel less unique. Still, Prophet does a great job of bridging genres and asking interesting questions about truth, a subject which is often at the center of spy thrillers but rarely placed in explicit focus as it is here. Rao and Rubinstein's conversations about what can and cannot be truth-tested are peppered with both philosophical digressions and personal history and were some of my favorite parts of the book to read. The extended discussions of nostalgia and how it links to the unique ways these two characters' memories work was also a highlight--the questions around whether Rao's eidetic memory prevents him from feeling nostalgia was perhaps my favorite passage, and features one especially striking line that I've found myself mulling over even at a few week's remove. It may not be squarely in line with the kind of books I usually read, but despite its weak points I found Prophet to be intense and visceral in much the same way as Macdonald's nature work. Sin Blaché is not a name on my radar, but after this work I'm curious to see what else they've written and to revisit Prophet with a better understanding of what each author brought to the table.

Four out of five stars. A strong beginning that ends up with a more conventional ending, but still full of sharp and thoughtful prose.

Prophet was a bit of a wild ride. Overall it was an enjoyable read, although it went slightly off the rails in the last hundred pages in terms of world building.

Sunil Rao is more than just a human like detector, he has the ability to objectively determine the truth about everything in the world other than soldier Adam Rubenstein. Adam, who previously worked with Rao in Kabul, is paired up with him again as the two investigate a death on base that coincides with the appearance of an entire classic American diner.

Rao and Adam's relationship is dazzling. It continues to blossom over the course of the book and their rapport and dynamic is magnetic. Definitely the highlight of the book.

The mystery around prophet is really interesting and a catchy premise. MacDonald and Blanche spend the first two thirds of the book developing the mystery and world of prophet which just morphs and throws a bunch of that world building out the window as the book concludes.

Lots of really solid elements but a bit of a muddled ending.