I was pretty into this one until the end. I still like it as a solid fantasy/mystery option, especially for our younger readers leveling up from "Percy Jackson" and "So You Want to Be a Wizard." It's pretty PG and I like the focus of the friendship, mystery solving aspects and the pacing of the story was nice and quick. The end wrapped up a little too neat and quick for me with several very clunky metaphors and some unresolved family issues on Callum's side of things.

I loved this one. I did not want to stop reading. I wanted to know who had killed Sorcerer Solomon. Everyone had motive. I love a fantasy murder mystery. Tabatha has to prove her innocence when she becomes a top suspect in her boss's murder. Solving a murder is very challenging when the main suspects are mostly his family. Can she trust anyone? I will definitely be reading more my this author. Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Sorcerer Solomon dies leaving the only clue as to what happened in a note that says, "I shall die at the hands of my best beloved." Tabatha, Sorcerer Solomon's apprentice teams up with one of his sons, Callum, to solve his murder.

We also have the drama between the sorcerer's first and second wives plus his other children. They all want to be the one to inherit his legacy and sorcery.

I enjoyed the fantasy elements while still be grounded in the "real world." The magic system was easy to follow and the murder investigation had me guessing until the end. We even get a hint of romance in this fun YA read.

Loved this and recommend it!

2.5 stars!

For reference, I absolutely love Knives Out. If I see Knives Out as a comp I'm immediately reading the book. Unfortunately, this really just didn't work for me. The murder mystery plot really lacked, and I felt like I knew immediately who it was to the point where I was like why don't you know who it is Tabitha??? I also felt like the ending was jarring and there was really no world building.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3 Stars

These Deadly Prophecies is an enjoyable read for fans of YA fantasy and supernatural thrillers. Andrea Tang has crafted a world that is both captivating and dangerous, with a storyline that keeps readers guessing. Despite its flaws in pacing and some clichéd character dynamics, the book offers a solid adventure with enough intrigue to keep readers invested. It’s a good pick for those looking for an entertaining escape into a realm of magic and prophecy, even if it doesn’t break new ground in the genre.

I thought this very unique and interesting. I was super into the plot from the beginning. I love a book that has me guessing how things will turn out. I also really like the sorcerer aspect of it. Just such a fun and easy read.

This story was so cool. I listened to it on audio and it was a great way to read this book. I loved the characters and all of the twists and turns. The magic system in this is really cool. I liked how the entire world knew about magic and it was just a part of life. I loved the story and I thought it was so cool. I liked the mystery in this story. The only thing that kept this from being a 5 star read is because I could so easily guess who did it.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

<i>I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I'd love to read a story that's part <i>Knives Out</i> and part magic.

This is not that story. Sure, it's a mystery full of family drama and there are some magical elements but it's nowhere near the same vibe. I was pretty disappointed.

The world building and emotional life are completely lacking here. The pacing is quick but only because so much happens . . . while at the same time it feels like nothing happens. I had no sense of where this took place. A suburb? How much of a suburb? A city-leaning one or a rural-leaning one? It's so vague that when Tabatha referred to her clothes as "joggers", I almost thought this could be set in the UK.

The magic system is barely explained and we hardly see it. It was more for convenience than anything else. Magic keeps the story moving but doesn't add to it. It's poorly thought-out and I felt a bit cheated.

The story feels very one note. We don't see the characters emotional lives at all. Yes, this is told from Tabatha's PoV but surely she'd have feelings about what she saw, about her mentor being murdered? We get so much of her internal ramblings but it hardly ever touches on her reactions to the events. And Callum wouldn't be able to hide all his feelings, either. They're supposed to be teenagers! And the ending would've had more of an impact had the emotional groundwork been laid out. As it exists, the end felt preachy and cliche.

Finally, the sense of time is wonky. I often had no idea how much time had (or hadn't) passed from one chapter to the next. And is it summer break for Tabatha and Callum or are they also going to school while all this happens? It's very disorienting.

I won't be recommending this one, unfortunately.

Tabitha is still in high school but she is a sorcerer's apprentice, a sorcerer know for his rare talent of fortune telling. One day Tabitha goes to work, only to find out the sorcerer has been murdered. She works with the sorcerers sonto investigate the mysterious death, and to hopefully avoid being blamed for it herself....

I thought this book was so interesting and unique! It is a great YA that I recommend to anyone who wants to read fast paced, low-key fantasy/magical story. I thought the way the book was told was captivating, and I loved throwing myself into this one. Overall, a fun impressive read.

Read if you enjoy:
• family drama
• fantasy
• fast paced
• sorcerer
• magical realism
• murder mystery

Tabatha’s mother tries to steer her toward a safe career choice – maybe a computer programmer or attorney – but Tabatha has her sights set on becoming a sorcerer. She’s incredibly excited when she secures an apprenticeship with the world famous Sorcerer Solomon. Unfortunately, Solomon’s prediction of his own savage death comes true, leaving Tabatha and Solomon’s family under suspicion. And everyone seems to have a motive.

With an ex-wife, a current wife, three children, an ex-apprentice, and Tabatha, there’s no shortage of murder suspects. Each character is well-developed and has their own reasons for wanting to be the heir to the estate. Besides the money and property, it also includes Solomon’s highly valuable magical materials. I enjoyed the dynamic between Tabatha and Callum. They aren’t really friends and don’t hang out in the same groups at school, and each has their suspicions about the other being involved in Solomon’s death. Despite that lack of trust, they work together to find the murderer, and I snickered at their fun banter along the way.

The author tosses in several red herrings to mislead the reader, and by the end I wondered if I’d seriously misjudged a character. I like it when that happens. At under three hundred pages, this is a relatively quick read, but pacing seems a little uneven at times. It was the comp titles and cover that drew me to this book. The parallels between the comp titles of Knives Out and The Inheritance Games (two of my favorites) are evident, but those powerhouse titles also set pretty high expectations for this novel.

Recommended for readers who enjoy murder mysteries set in a magical world, a long list of suspects with plenty of red herrings, and dysfunctional families.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Andrea Tang, and Penguin Young Readers Group: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This didn't work for me. I was really intrigued by the premise of a fortune-hunting, investigative mystery mixed with sorcery, but none of it was quite well done. My biggest issue with the book is the lack of world-building. The world these characters are in is not established at all, which makes it really confusing to follow along with. It seems like modern day with magic, but the principles of the magic are not explained whatsoever.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I’m not a huge YA fantasy fan but this book definitely held my attention and I found myself being transported into the story. I would love to read more about these characters.

I truly enjoyed this book! It was a fun urban fantasy/ mystery mash up, and it kept me hooked until the end! I did not see the ending coming! I couldn't stop reading once I started it! I was definitely invested in the story and seeing how the mystery was resolved. I felt the narration was genuine. I definitely agree that it's Knives Out meets Inheritance Games with magic, and I'd add Nancy Drew in there as well.

Tabatha was a great main character, and I really liked Callum and Felix. I loved how Tabatha was committed to choosing her own path, and I appreciated how she stuck to that. I'd like to see more with these characters and where their story takes them, even though the story wrapped up nicely here.

I'd certainly recommend this book!

This is an entertaining murder mystery. Tabitha is apprenticed to a great sorcerer who specializes in prophecy. He prophesizes that he will be killed by his best beloved. It's all fun and games until it actually happens, and she must team up with his son, Callum, to uncover what actually happened.

If you are looking for a fun, quick read, These Deadly Prophecies will do that for you.

Tabatha is an apprentice under the world's most famous sorcerer, Solomon. When he foretells of his death with a prophecy, it now leaves a lot of questions as to who did it. He prophesized that he would be killed by his most beloved. I appreciated the vagueness of this prophecy because in addition to trying to uncover who murdered Solomon, it was also about understanding who or what was his most beloved. The plot is fairly linear and it's easy to read. I didn't feel like there was a lot of character development or growth, but the storyline was fun and fast-paced. I enjoyed Tabatha and Callum's uneasy trust and alliance as they worked to figure out who killed his father. The hints throughout the story that lead to the killer were well thought out and woven into the plot well.

Overall, it's a good book. Not great, but worth giving it a go if you want a quick, fun, murder mystery with a little sorcery.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Net Galley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

These Deadly Prophecies is a twisty, fast paced young adult mystery/thriller. I like that we are thrown in quickly to mystery of who killed Sorcerer Solomon. Once you start you will want to continue the ride to try and solve the mystery. I liked the length of the story. I think it is a good book for reluctant readers. I will be purchasing this for our high school library.

Super interesting mystery/thriller novel that will appeal to both teens and adults!! Interesting plot, but I wished I got more from the overall experience!!

The story was interesting and quick moving. I was invested in the characters and thought they were well developed. Great read!

These Deadly Prophecies was such an amazing book. It definitely helped get me out of a reading slump. It was a fresh, fun, and magical read.

This book follows Tabatha Zeng, an apprentice to one of the world’s most famous sorcerers. One of her most challenging jobs as an apprentice is to solve the murder of her mentor, the Sorcerer Solomon. Sorcerer Solomon predicts his own death and tells Tabatha that when it happens she needs to stick close to his son, Callum.

With both Tabatha and Callum being suspects, the two must learn to trust each other so that they can find the real killer. The more they dig into what happened, the more secrets they bring to life. And that makes trusting each other even harder.

I really loved the world building in this one. Tabatha and Callum were standouts in a sea of eclectic characters. Everyone had their own uniqueness that made everything come together. The magic system is pretty cool too. The different sorcery types were each so different and I really couldn’t decide which one I’d want to be.

I recommend this book for anyone who loves, magical reads, enemies to lovers, and just an overall fun read.