Prophase: A Present Tale by M. Street

Title: Prophase: A Present Tale
Author: M. Street
Genres: YA fiction; low fantasy
Pages: 334
Year of Publication: 2014
Series: The Mitosis Series
Links: Amazon, Goodreads

Summary

Piper Walker is a high school senior from Wisconsin. She’s lost her mother and has taken on a motherly role for her younger brother to make up for her alcoholic father. Despite the hardship in her life, Piper has a tight group of friends that keep her sane including her best friend, Lisa, and her boyfriend, Chris. Everything in Piper’s life is at least semi-ordinary until a car crash awakens Piper’s unknown powers. Now Piper’s life is full of metallic light and danger as she uncovers a new world that is equally wonderful and dangerous.

Review

I was excited when I realized that Prophase was based in the Midwest, which doesn’t appear much in books I’ve read. Unfortunately, I didn’t love the story as much as I’d hoped.

Prophase has a strong start with vivid descriptions that caught my attention. Piper was easy to love, and her relationship with her brother was one of the highlights of the book for me. Unfortunately, the likable characters were also a disappointment. My favorite part of reading a story is getting to know characters–flaws and everything. I love the depth, and I love the love-hate relationship you can have with the best characters. In Prophase it is very easy to put characters into the categories of “good” and “bad”.

The lack of dynamic characters also made the love interest hard for me to connect with. I do not like the “insta-love” trope in general, and this story was not an exception. The immediate connection between love interests did spare me from unnecessary drama, but it also made the romance feel forced. I think the story would have been better if it had instead focused more on Piper’s family and friendships.

Although Prophase wasn’t my favorite story, the interesting world introduced when Piper uncovers her powers kept me reading. I rate this book a 2 out of 5 stars and would recommend it to someone who likes fantasy that focuses on world-building.

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