The Prophet of Panamindorah, Book One: Fauns and Filinians

Prophet of Panamindorah #1

by Abigail Hilton

Corry showed up at the orphanage two years ago, wearing strange clothes and speaking a language no one recognized. Corry can remember snippets of another life, but no matter how hard he tries to remember, it just keeps slipping away. Then one day, he meets a fauness in an orange grove. She’s from a world called Panamindorah, and he can understand her language. This is Book 1 of 3.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Ebooks, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Animals

Nook

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Abigail Hilton writes fantasy books, including Hunters Universe, Pirates of Wefrivain, The Prophet of Panamindorah, and the Eve and Malachi Series.

She also publishes under A. H. Lee, including The Incubus Series and The Knight and the Necromancer.

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lighthearted and interesting mostly YA story.

[Savannah Latham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great YA novel

[Maki ⌒☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't manage to get as hooked into Fauns and Filinians as I did the Cowry Catcher series. Probably because Cowry Catcher had pirates. And Silveo.

Prophet has a slightly different cast of shelts and beasts than Cowry Catchers did, mostly due to the stories taking place in very different parts and times of Panamindorah. It was weird only hearing grishnards mentioned in passing, though I loved the image of deer mounts! It was also nice to actually see wolflings, and a cast of filinians (talking cats - cat shelts are extinct at this point).

I was a tad confused about the timeline between the two series at first. Cowry Catchers clearly has cat shelts, but wolflings are extinct, while in Prophet, the exact opposite is true. Morchella is also there, and the grishnard reference was to the war fought with the fauns, so I was able to conclude that Prophecy takes place before Cowry Catchers. (I was also probably told that already, and just forgot. @_@)

Apparently Earth exists, and there's been at least some degree of contact between the real world and Panamindorah. That was a little strange. I mean, it makes sense. Centaurs, satyrs, fauns...that sort of thing being mythological creatures on Earth and all. It was just a bit weird to start off on Earth and suddenly be introduced to Panamindorah. Then again, this is the first Panamindorah book, so it makes sense that there would need to be some sort of transition from normalcy, and a "human" character the reader can relate to, before jumping right into this world that requires you to look up various terms to figure out what exactly is going on.

As for the characters...Syrill was fun, but Corry was a bit boring. I'm sure he'll get more interesting once he finally remembers who or what he was. I also enjoyed Laylan and Shyshax. But then, I'm *always* prejudiced towards foxes. I was also getting interested in Char's story, which was told in bits and pieces before taking a back seat to the main plot entirely. I want to know more about Char! I guess I'll have to wait till I get paid, and can buy more books.

And The Prince's Magical Gallows? So much fun.

I do have to wonder why Corry never uses his vibration-hearing powers after he gets back to Panamindorah. They probably would have been very useful at several points in the story.

I also note that the tradition of ending every book in a terrible cliffhanger was started early on. Once more, I tip my hat to you, oh Queen of Cliffhangers. *bows*

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, and its two sequels, are a good listen. The world of Panamindorah has a distinct personality and feels like a real place being described to you; a feat so many fantasy novels fail at. The reading is clear and audible. Only a couple sound effects are used, and those are subtle enough that the book doesn't sound like a bad radio drama.
In my opinion, the plot doesn't seem like it's going anywhere until the second book, and none of the characters are really three dimensional until then. This is not to say the first book is uninteresting, but that it gets better from there.

My one real criticism is that the main character, Corry, never seems as real as the characters surrounding him. His emotions seem muted, absent, or inexplicable until the very end of the trilogy. Fortunately, other characters get a lot of screen time and are real enough to make up for Corry.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Narnia or Harry Potter; so, most of the known world.

[Lilyana Bone · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ideas here are interesting and I was amazed by the level the author goes to in establishing waring creatures and societies with deep seeded hate and history. But this is also her down fall in my opinion. There are to many names to remember and I had to keep referring to the authors website to recall what shelts were what. The character list I found helpful but felt that is an issue I should not need to refer to a character list.
Then the end was horrible more like a chapter cliff hanger. I now feel forced to go on to book two because I have invested so much and finally figured out a bit of what is going on and the character is hanging on a precipice and I have to now what happens.

[Jason Kivela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone that likes high-fantasy should listen to The Prophet of Panamindorah. There are three books, all free. While the summary makes it sound like it's your typical "kid falls into a fantasy world" kinda of story, it ends up being more focused on the politics and events of a war between the races. Yet with a lot of action. Very well done, and a good original world. There is enough classical fantasy elements that people can understand, but enough new races and world rules that it's interesting.

[Brenda . · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was good and sometimes during the book I was really engrossed but for me there seemed to be a lot of confusion on who was what and what was who. I don't feel the explanations of "shelts", wood fauns, and almost any of the characters were not explained efficiently enough to have a grasp on who and what the characters were without constantly trying to refer to certain portions of the book. Overall (if you can ignore your confusion) I did like the book.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This solo read podio book is highly entertaining. I'm listening after first being introduced to the Guild of the Cowry Catchers. You should listen to this. Find it on podiobooks.com, itunes, or the authors website.

[Miramira Endevall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm interested to see where this series goes, but I will say that there are entirely too many unanswered (yet obvious) questions at the end of this Act I. However, this is one of the better first-time-author books I've encountered and I've a sneaking suspicion it's going to keep getting better.

[DDog · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it and I will definitely read more from this author.

[Sandra Mckenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Writer, wonderful stories.. All of them.

[Rasma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was transported to another world, a world not even I understood fully! I am curious what happens next! I was left with a cliff hanger quite literally!