The King's Prophecy: Book 1: The Amulet (Volume 1) Paperback – May 29, 2016

Let it be noted I found the book because of Twitter. I follow a few bots on there that advertise and promote books that are self-published. The King's Prophecy: The Amulet popped up among the tweets in my feed and I followed the provided link to the Amazon page to read the book's summary. Said summary made the book sound pretty interesting and I was sold enough to buy a [printed] copy. I got excited to read it, hoping I'd found a self-published diamond-in-the-rough.To say I've been let down and disappointed is a rather egregious understatement.As I write this review, there are currently [8] reviews for this book on Amazon, all of which rate it at 5 stars. I've been hesitant to post my own review because I'm very critical and I don't want to dissuade the author's creative motivation, but I feel that there are several problems with this novel that need to be properly addressed. Let me begin first with the most glaringly obvious issue.This book needs a professional editor, and BADLY at that. There are so many spelling, formatting, and grammatical errors littered throughout this book it becomes an eyesore and it can seriously disrupt the entire read. There are quotations ending and beginning sentences that aren't dialogue; many times punctuation of any sort, especially the ending of speech tags, is either used incorrectly or is absent altogether. Several instances occur where the wrong word is used in a context. (Ex: "they're" used in a sentence where the context requires the word "their".) Additional examples of problems are listed below with excerpts for proof.1. Sometimes there are sentences in a paragraph that could have been combined to make a compound sentence that would enrich the read and make it flow more naturally, but instead were kept separate thoughts in simple, choppy sentences. --> EXCERPT <-- Jason held his staff at his side. His fingers tightened their grip. He readied to defend his position. Unable to refrain any longer, Jason lifted the rod above his head. The knight pointed his sword at Jason and charged. Jason knocked down the first three knights. But the next few rode his way and knocked Jason hard to the ground. They converged on Exandra. More knights attacked. Jason searched for Exandra but red flashes of lightning glaring against the knights' snake-skinned armor blinded him. Fire and smoke distorted their view.— chapter 15, page 143, entire second paragraph -> END EXCERPT <-- While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it makes the writing seem juvenile. The sentences are so short and simple they read like a first-grader's writing exercises.2. There are instances in which an idea is repeated in the sentence immediately following the one where it was first stated. --> EXCERPT <-- [...] Their emeralds began to glow. The reflection spread out across the moat. The black water turned to a deep emerald hue. Seeing the change, Exandra was fearful. Afraid she would activate the emerald, release demons of her past she shivered and moaned.— chapter 11, page 99, last three sentences of second paragraph and first two sentences of third paragraph --> END EXCERPT <-- Even if we assume that the emeralds weren't actually activated in the previous paragraph despite the fact they're said to be glowing, the following paragraph still opens with the idea Exandra is afraid repeating itself after it's already been stated in the first sentence.3. There are sentences where punctuation, specifically commas, should be used to prevent grammatical awkwardness but aren't. --> EXCERPT <-- He called out to Exandra relieved by her gentle voice.— chapter 8, page 71, last sentence in third paragraph --> END EXCERPT <--4. There are also sentences where the opposite issue to the one mentioned above occurs and commas are present where they probably shouldn't be. --> EXCERPT <-- Exandra fell first to keep from getting hit, surprised how fast she moved Gareth fell next to her as he rolled on the ground.— chapter 14, page 129, second-to-last sentence in first paragraph --> END EXCERPT <-- The positioning of this comma in a run-on sentence (and yes, this book is quite guilty of run-ons all over the place too,) is awkward. It begs the question who is surprised by how fast Exandra was: Exandra herself or Gareth?5. Additional problems include italics and margin formatting. The author uses italics to indicate character thought, but there are often times mid-paragraph where words are abruptly italicized until the end of the sentence despite not being denoted as thoughts. The margins for the book will also alter and shift for entire paragraphs, as though the margin bar was moved further inward while typing. This leads to some pages where the margins are equal from page to page, and others where the paragraphs look like they're trying to evade the margins by an entire inch.And this is all merely the technical aspects concerning final editing and proofreading. Let us now examine the issues with the story itself.The book opens with a prologue that gives the backstory mentioned in the cover summary about the Black Knights attacking the village. This is to provide us with set-up for the plot itself in regards to the protagonists' shared motivation. However, there is little additional plot build-up in the following [10] chapters that wasn't already mentioned or could be derived from the summary. New information regarding the protagonists' goals, their individual histories, and where the plot itself is going is given to the reader sparsely and without any cohesion. The author makes attempts at world-building through random info dumps (usually with character Exandra acting as the info plug for the audience,) but these fall flat and disrupt the narrative rather than enriching it. To make matters worse, the pacing is so confusing and hardly cohesive or well-explained that it took me until chapter 12 to actually get a grasp on what was occurring as to where the plot [and the characters!] were headed.Readers should not have to make guesses and assumptions about story progression or the plot that frequently.Another issue is the hook. On average, most fiction stories with a vast scope and multi-chapter narrative ought to hook the audience around 5 to 7 chapters in. Personally I believe an excellent story should hook the reader by the third chapter at the very least. The King's Prophecy: The Amulet does not do either. If our hook is meant to be the aforementioned theme of the characters using their amulets to meet their destiny and break a curse, this is not a hook. It is a simple restatement of what we already know from the cover summary. The actual hook takes form in the question later posed concerning which of the four protagonists might wind up betraying the others: Exandra or Gareth. Even this still takes roughly 13 to 15 chapters into the book to be given to the reader though.Individual characterization is stilted and shafted to the point it is almost nonexistent. All four protagonists tend to carry the same basic traits of fear, anger, and cocky ambition masquerading as confidence at nearly all times. One good point is that the latter trait tends to manifest differently in each character, but it makes nearly all the interactions between the protagonists turn quickly repetitive and stale. Character development itself also suffers greatly, with the protagonists' development (both as individuals AND as a group) being circular and taking regressive backslides.Yet another issue is the self-narration by the characters. This is a prevalent trope used in many 80s cartoons like Thundercats, Captain Planet, and He-Man. In The King's Prophecy: The Amulet, the same is true of the protagonist characters. There are several instances of one or more of the four openly narrating what is happening and what they were doing in a blunt, clinical fashion rather than actually discovering and realizing what happens and allowing the reader to discover or realize these things with them. Yet again this disrupts any natural flow of the narrative and is belittling to the audience on top of it. It is not helped by the fact that the protagonists seem to miraculously overcome powerful obstacles so often it feels like they really aren't faced with any true challenges.Dialogue is a huge problem. Nearly every word of dialogue in this book exchanged between all the characters sounds bland to the point of being wooden and robotic. There is very little, if any, real emotion or thought behind character voices and the words they speak to one another. And that brings me to my biggest issue with this book: emotion.The author has no concept of the writing technique "show, don't tell," and this is clearest in the lack of genuine emotion in this book. Many emotions are repetitive (such as hatred, anger, annoyance and fear) and are almost always simply stated. Ex: This character thought of that past event and was angry. [End thought, continue with the next sentence describing character pulling out a weapon to fight.]There is little given in terms of character emotion. We are simply told "this character feels this emotion" and it is left at that, but we aren't actually shown the emotions in any way that allows us as the audience to sympathize with the characters, let alone possibly empathize with them. There is no real emotional depth or substance to this book and its characters or situations. A good story should provoke emotions in its audience. "No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader; No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader." This is another lesson this author could benefit from, because reading this book sparks no powerful emotional response from the reader.TL;DR? This book REALLY needs either a professional editor or at the very least, a qualified, unbiased Beta-reader. The author could benefit and improve if he were to get a writing coach and possibly attend several creative writing workshops and apply what he is taught. A possible revision of this first novel would really help in taking him farther as a writer. And he also needs more honest, in-depth reviews to help him understand what aspects of his writing need to be improved.Final thoughts? I'm disappointed, yes. But this is a first novel and there is always room for improvement. I would like to see Stahl improve and really flesh out his writing and this series, even if he doesn't do a revised version of this first book. I hope to read the rest of the series more so to see how he improves and grows as a writer rather than out of any true interest presently in where he's taking the story itself.

It's a proper edge of the seat adventure, not knowing what's going to pop up, full of excitement and twists brilliant thanks for the adventure Ricky Stahl, i couldn't put the book down, and it's been many years since a book has gripped me so, iam so looking forward to the others thanks

Peter Corrigan - From the moment I read the first page I was hooked! A fantastic story with brilliant imagination from the author Ricky Stahi. If you like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, you are going to really enjoy this book. It tells the story of 4 cousins seeking revenge against the Black Knights but with so many twists and turns I had no idea how the story would end. Or has it???Katie Corrian - Brilliant! Couldn't put it down!I was thoroughly into the story from the beginning and really enjoyed the characters and their journey throughout the book.

There are no fat little hobbits, and it isn't middle earth, but Ricky Stahl creates his own Tolkien like world set in a mythical version of the British Isles. The King's Prophesy - Book 1 The Amulet follows four cousins who battle supernatural black knights and their demonic "staglons" (stallion/dragon half breeds) on a mission to save the world. Stahl's imagination infuses the book with wonders, right up to the stunning end.

Book one in this young adult series is a very compelling read. The characters are well-developed, the premise is unique, and we are left wanting to know more about what will happen to the young heroes. The only thing I would suggest to the author is doing a very thorough edit of future books for punctuation and spelling.

A book that is full of twists and turns from an author with a unique and creative imagination. An intriguing plot that includes battles with Knights and Griffins and many others. The book also explores love and friendships as the four youngsters seek to avenge their families. A compelling read.

I have never been a fan of the fantasy genre but The KIng's Prophecy grabbed my attention right at the prologue and held me through the very last chapter. An imaginative and suspenseful page turner that leaves you in eager anticipation for the next book in the series.

This was an absolutely great read. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book, and as a lover of the fantasy genre, this was another great addition to my collection of these kinds of books. The story line goes in a different direction than most of these kinds of books. The characters feel well thought out and, in my opinion, are able to be connected to, which gives you a better feeling of being in the story. This is definitely one of my favorite books that I have picked up, and I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the next book. Anyone in love with the fantasy genre will love this, and even if you aren't a fan of this genre, this is a great book to get you in to it. That being said, as someone has already mentioned in a previous review, there are a few typos/grammatical errors in the book, however they do not take away from the experience of the story. So, overall, this was an amazing book and I am glad that I read it. Anxiously awaiting the next book!