Prophecy of the Sisters -- Michelle Zink

New York State, 1890.  Lia is aware that she and her twin sister, Alice, have never been particularly close.  But it isn't until after being orphaned by the sudden death of their father that Lia realizes their relationship is actually less complicated than that:  they are enemies.

Because of a centuries-old prophecy, they will stand on opposite sides of a battle for the world itself -- if, that is, Lia is able to figure out what the prophecy of the sisters actually entails, and what part she is supposed to play in it...

From Prophecy of the Sisters:

...I have reasons of my own for wanting to know more.

It cannot be chance alone that Father was found dead on the floor of the Dark Room, or that shortly thereafter I discovered the mark, observed my sister in her eerie ritual, and was given this strange, lost book.  I cannot be sure what it all means or how these events work in concert, but I'm certain they do.

To put it simply, I found this book frustrating. 

To expand on that:  On the one hand, I very much enjoyed the setting -- while the year, 1890, placed us at the tail end of the Victorian Era (like many other paranormal historicals), the author set this one in the United States, which made it feel fresh.  There were some really genuinely classic Gothic creepy moments, a wonderfully thrilling and suspenseful showdown scene at the riverfront, and, while the idea of an Object of Evil Returning Again and Again Despite the Heroine's Attempts to Rid Herself Of It is not a new one, Lia's experiences with the medallion were, I thought, very effective.  And, though Alice didn't get much screen time, on occasion, small details about her behavior gave me the screaming willies:

"Miss Gray would not approve."  Alice's voice greets me as I close the door, but it is not the new, hard Alice I have come to watch with guarded eyes.  Her voice is playful, her figure a dim outline on the stairs.  She sits carelessly on the steps, leaning her body back to rest on her elbows.

It's the image in my mind of this supposedly proper Gilded Age rich girl lolling on the steps -- it seems wrong in every way, and so, to me, suggested that Alice might be losing her humanity.  (It's possible that I read far too much into that passage, but that's where I went with it!)

My frustrations lay in a few places.  While I understand that Lia's search for the truth of her situation and her investigation into the prophecy were both major elements of the plotting and necessitated a decent amount of explanation, I did feel that the characters spent an inordinate amount of time discussing said subjects.  And that that many of the conversations in which Lia and the others try unravel the mysteries often felt unrealistic and like they were supposed to be informing the reader, rather than like they were actually talking to each other.  (Does that make sense?  Basically, I felt like there was a lot of expository dialogue.)

I also felt, maybe because of my problems with the dialogue, that I never got to know the characters, and that I was told things about them, rather than shown:

Sonia rises, holding her fingertips to her brow in frustration.  "Even if we have all the keys, we do not know how to end the prophecy."

I meet Luisa's gaze from across the room.  We are accustomed to Sonia's calm demeanor.  Neither of us knows what to say in the face of her unexpected despair.

I used that passage to illustrate the tell/show issue, because, well, if Lia hadn't told me that Sonia was despairing, there's no way I'd have picked up on it.

There was also a plot point that hinged on an "old Druid text" that happens to be located in the local library's hidden collection on sorcery -- and, totally overlooking the mostly-unknown three-story collection of books on sorcery in a random upper New York State library -- I was always under the impression that the Druids were an oral culture.  But I don't know much about the subject, and I certainly could be wrong.  It just jumped out at me as sounding off.  But hey, maybe I'm the one who's off.

I did feel, right towards the end -- due to the showdown I mentioned, and to the increased number of interactions between Lia and Alice -- more invested in the story.  But then, when I realized that I was going to get no satisfaction -- that this is the first in a series -- I literally shrieked.

So.  While there were certainly some positives, for me, they didn't counteract my frustrations.  I do think that if you're a fan of the Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy, you should definitely give this one a try at some point -- while I'm all issue-ridden, Prophecy of the Sisters did get a starred review from Booklist and rave reviews all over the blogosphere.

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Book source:  My local library.

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I read this for the R.I.P. IV challenge.