{Review} The Ophelia Prophecy by Sharon Lynn Fisher

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: April 1st, 2014
Finished Date: August 30th, 2014

Publishers: Tor Books 
Genre: Sci Fi, Romance
Source: For Review
Format: Paperback

Pages: 319

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

New sci-fi romance from the RITA Award nominated author of GHOST PLANET!
* * * 
Our world is no longer our own. We engineered a race of superior fighters -- the Manti, mutant humans with insect-like abilities. Twenty-five years ago they all but destroyed us. In Sanctuary, some of us survive. Eking out our existence. Clinging to the past. 

Some of us intend to do more than survive.
* * *
Asha and Pax -- strangers and enemies -- find themselves stranded together on the border of the last human city, neither with a memory of how they got there.

Asha is an archivist working to preserve humanity’s most valuable resource -- information -- viewed as the only means of resurrecting their society.

Pax is Manti, his Scarab ship a menacing presence in the skies over Sanctuary, keeping the last dregs of humanity in check.

Neither of them is really what they seem, and what humanity believes about the Manti is a lie. 

With their hearts and fates on a collision course, they must unlock each other's secrets and forge a bond of trust before a rekindled conflict pushes their two races into repeating the mistakes of the past.

The Review: I enjoyed ‘The Ophelia Prophecy’, I don’t read a lot of sci-fi romance and it did make a nice change.
The story was very imaginative as we read about a world where DNA manipulation has created various mutant humans that have become insect-like and are known as ‘the Manti’ who became stronger and more capable than humans. Humans were all but wiped out by an uprising 25yrs previous and now only pockets of humanity exist. One such place is Sanctuary and where our leading lady is from, Asha is an archivist who stores the information regarding the wars and how things were before the Manti took over, this is valuable information because ideally that is what the humans strive to get back to. When she wakes up on the beach one day with no memory of how she got there, her life is about to change in a big way as she wakes up alongside one of the enemy and he decides to take her prisoner. Pax is Manti, a very important one and he can’t afford to leave this human female where he found her, her missing memories are a problem and she needs to be questioned but what is also troubling is that he feels a connection to her, a mating instinct is evoked and he really doesn’t need that complication on his life – never the less, she must now go to his home.
Over the course of their journey they will face many situations that will force them to believe and trust in each other building a bond in spite of both of their secrets. How far will they go to keep each other safe? Is it possible that a prophecy from long ago could come to pass?
I liked both Asha & Pax’s characters; Asha seems to be fragile and docile in the beginning but we soon find out what she is capable of and Pax seems to be fighting a fate that he doesn’t want and is blindsided by this lady appearing in his life. The   relationship that developed between Asha & Pax was great, the connection was immediate but the relationship was not, it was a slow burning thing that took time to develop and I appreciated that especially considering Pax’s mating instinct had been set off from the start. I always like enemy to lovers stories and these two are so far apart that it’s hard to see how they could come together.
As I mentioned above, I enjoyed this book and thought it was very imaginative. The world building was good and created a realistic future that could be plausible where the tables have definitely turned on humanity. The Manti were described well enough that you could really imagine their features and behaviour which I find to be a plus if an author can do that for me. I liked the characters throughout the whole book, they are diverse and aren’t  just two species of Human & Manti because the Manti had varying mutant levels and some are more human than others so there are a lot of sub groups going on aswell. Obviously Asha and Pax’s relationship isn’t the only thing going on in the book and we find that not only do the humans have a small rebellion but the Manti do too and everyone has a different agenda. When we learn the secrets that everyone has been keeping, especially Asha, the action is brought into the plot and we find out where everyone stands leading to danger, life threatening situations, betrayal & misdirection that built to an exciting conclusion with two lovers from opposing sides that could just change everything. My only grumble is that the ending seemed a bit rushed but it did seem to be left open for a possible sequel. This was very different and original and I enjoyed it a lot. 

3.5 flowers! 

Thank you to Tor Books for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.