TO CHASE A PROPHECY

A young woman finds out that she’s a child of prophecy in M.Z.’s SF/fantasy series-starter.

Project S-001 has been in training her whole life to reach her full potential. She’s been kept apart from everyone but her trainer (Ethan), her commander (Siren), and various other soldiers she meets only long enough to best them in sparring matches. All she knows of the world is what little information they give her—mostly battle plans and details about the weapons she’s been trained to use. Siren may refer to her only as “it,” “Monster,” or “the Project,” but Ethan has been more forthcoming, revealing that her real name is Astra. Now 18, Astra is ready to enter battle and take command, just as Siren has promised her, but first she must complete another trial—the last and most dangerous one. When Astra prevails, it’s not the glorious ending that Siren wanted, and the aftermath has the teen questioning everything even more. Ethan finally comes clean about all he’s had to hide from her: Astra, who has a healing ability and an affinity for water, isn’t in fact the monster she was always told she was. She’s one of the Vismunds from another realm, and one of the prophesied seven immortal warriors who are meant to save Interrea, her home—that is, if she can escape the facility, evade all the forces that will chase her, and make it back there somehow. In this SF/fantasy novel for teens and young adults, M.Z. engagingly writes of a world at war, and of a young woman who’s desperate to find her place in it. The author does a good job in this introductory volume of slowly opening up the complex world outside Astra’s training facility—just a little at a time, with the protagonist forced to learn about it herself. She clearly doesn’t know whom she can trust, or even much about the place she’s supposed to save, but this intrigue, and a number of good twists, will keep readers engaged until the next series entry, which is planned for publication in 2027.

A compelling first installment that slowly reveals its mysteries.