The Art of Prophecy (2022)
Author: Wesley Chu
Format: Audiobook (Narrator: Natalie Naudus)
The Art of Prophecy is a wuxia-inspired fantasy set in an alt-China world that features a centralized imperial Jun1 realm surrounded by various ‘barbarians’, most notably the Katuya2 steppe tribes who live in the ‘grass sea’ and live on roaming mechanical cities. However, instead of following the prophesied hero (Wen Jian) as he grows to fulfill the prophecy, the novel follows Wen Jian after he discovers that the prophecy is broken. Instead of being killed by him, the prophesied (spoiled rich brat) hero, some random soldier kills the Eternal Khan of the Katuya on a raiding mission. Wen Jian spends the rest of the book trying to escape being quietly eliminated by the powers that be while learning to (1) actually properly learn war arts (2) not get himself killed by being an annoying brat to anyone he meets. The novel follows a couple of perspectives - Wen Jian himself; Ling Taishi, his reluctant master/mentor/saviour; Sali, a high-ranking Katuia warrior who tries to save the remnants of her city from Jun servitude after the fall of the Khan; and Qisami3, a more-than-slightly deranged assassin who’s chasing Wen Jian for the bounty on his head.
The story itself is a fun wuxia parody / romp through the world that really doesn’t take itself too seriously, though it doesn’t really do much active plot advancement - the focus is much more on character development and world building. Chu executes writing multiple sympathetic perspectives from actively oppositional perspectives quite well, though I’m sure eventually all of the main POV characters will somehow become aligned towards the same goal later in the series. There is a running theme of highly competent women (see all the non-Wen Jian POVs) contrasted with basically all the men, which is fun though also explicitly commented on a bit awkwardly at times.
The narration of the audiobook itself was actively enjoyable as well. I’m prettyy sure I’ve listened to something narrated by Natalie Naudus before but for the life of me can’t figure out what.