Cloud Prophet Trilogy: Anathema, Oubliette & Severed

Cloud Prophet Trilogy #1-3

by Megg Jensen

From USA Today bestselling author Megg Jensen!

***OVER 300 COMBINED REVIEWS ON THE INDIVIDUAL NOVELS***

Join Reychel on her full journey in this compilation of all three novels in the bestselling Cloud Prophet Trilogy!

Anathema (released February 2011):

Reychel is a slave girl surrounded by magic, lies and manipulation. Her best friend disappears in the middle of the night leaving Reychel to face her fifteenth birthday, the day her master burns his brand into the back of her bald head, alone. She's sheltered from the outside world and doesn't have any hope for escape, but when people desperate for freedom ask for her help can Reychel learn to believe in herself?

Oubliette (released June 2011):

Reychel thought she was finally free. She was wrong.

Everyone saw her gift of prophecy as a blessing, but her gift is uncontrollable. No one alive can teach her to manipulate her unique gift and the answers she needs lie buried within a madman’s journals.

She’s thrust in the midst of a brewing war and the only uniting factor for her people is their belief in the Prophet. Will Reychel learn to control her gift or will she be forced to deliver a false prophecy that could lead her people into a violent war?

Severed (released November 2011):

Reychel knows her gift of prophecy will lead to madness and now she is at her most vulnerable. The enemy army will attempt to sever her from everything she's ever known: her homeland, her friends, Mark, and her gift. Even at her weakest, she refuses to give up on her desire to end the war between the Malborn and the Serenians. Reychel would do anything, even come back from the dead, to conquer the enemy and reunite with Mark.

The Initiate - a novelette bridging the Cloud Prophet Trilogy and The Swarm Trilogy

Cloud Prophet Trilogy:
Anathema
Oubliette
Severed

Pick up the story 20 years later with:

The Swarm Trilogy:
Sleepers
Afterlife
The Sundering

Genres: Fantasy

545 pages, ebook

First published November 22, 2011

About the author

Megg Jensen is a two-time USA Today bestselling author of epic fantasy.

No stranger to top ten lists on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the iBookstore, Megg's novels have garnered millions of downloads, attracting fans from all over the world.

She lives in Chicago with her husband, kids, and two insane miniature schnauzers.

Reviews

[Férial]

I won't rate this trilogy. It was just not for me. Young teenagers might love it but I'm not a young teenager anymore.

[Fiona Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say but wow. A world of summer and winter, people's subjugate by the people who conquered them. The Prophet who is to lead the from their subjugation has been awaited for seven generations. The time has finally arrived but the life of a Prophet is not as simple as is seems. A great read as always.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a decent series. the end is kind of an end but not really. i was hoping for a happier ending although it could have been worse.

some swearing. some passionate kissing. possible sex outside of marriage from side characters but not specific.

[Lissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read the first book of the trilogy I went ahead and bought the rest of the trilogy and I can say the adventure continued and I wasn't disappointed. Kept me reading until the end.

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased these books individually and have read the entire trilogy as well as the series that follows.

Anathema:
I picked this book up from my local book store on Friday afternoon, started reading it later that evening and barely put it down until I finished.
I fell in love with the concept of this story and Megg's writing when I read the first chapter on the web. I knew from that point I just had to find out more about Reychel's story. I read just about anything, but I love YA fantasy and this story didn't disappoint.
Reychel had been a slave for most of her life. She felt as if she was nothing special and had only one true friend. When she woke up on her 15th birthday she discovered that even that friend was gone. She knew that her 15th birthday would be a turning point in her life, but little did she know that it would turn out the way that it did.
Reychel comes a long way in this first installment of Megg Jensen's Cloud Prophet Trilogy, and she obviously has a long way to go. The story is fast paced and just right for a weekend read (unless you are like me and just can't put it down.) There is romance, betrayal, magic, suspense and quite a bit of mystery as Reychel begins to realize things about herself that she never would have imagined.
I have Oubliette ready and waiting to read, and if you are planning on reading Anathema, I would suggest doing the same. The end of this first installment doesn't leave you hanging desperately, but you are definitely going to want to know what happens next.

Oubliette:
So Oubliette took me a little longer to read than Anathema. It had nothing to do with the story, I think I was just trying to make it last longer.
Megg's second installment of the Cloud Profit trilogy starts off exactly where the last book ended. The action never ebbs and you become wrapped up in Reychel's world immediately.
There are so many twists and turns in Oubliette that it is hard to keep up. Poor Reychel has no idea who she can depend on and the list of people she can actually trust sometimes changes hourly. There are quite a few new characters and also a few from Anathema and all of them have their share of either secrets or surprises to contend with.
Reychel has to learn how to harness her power and to deal with the power of others. She also has to find out the secrets of the last Cloud Profit in time to reveal her own prophesy. Basically she has her hands full in this book.
I honestly love the world and concept that Megg has created. I can't wait for Severed to be released. If you enjoyed Anathema, you will want to read Oubliette.

Severed:
Severed is the final book in Megg Jensen’s Cloud Profit Trilogy. I was sorry to see it end, but Megg managed to bring Reychel’s story to a satisfying close.
I love the Dystopian world that Megg has created for her cast of characters in her Cloud Profit Trilogy. Everything is so intertwined and unique. It was an easy world to get lost in. I don’t think it’s a world I would want to live in, but not many Dystopian worlds are.
Each of Jensen’s characters are strong in their own way. Reychel is probably the most powerful of all, yet she sees herself as the weakest. She has a strong sense of right and wrong and won’t let anyone stand in her way to do what she feels is right. It doesn’t always work to her advantage, but she is also strong enough to live with the consequences of those decisions and move on. The bad guys are really, really bad. Ace is the perfect balance for Krissin and Johna tries to keep everyone on track. There are also some surprising alliances in Severed.
The love that Mark and Reychel share is written beautifully. Their love keeps them going and fighting even when the odds are totally against them. There were times that I wasn’t sure how they were going to get past everything that they were up against. The characters didn’t come through Severed unscathed, but I didn’t expect them to. The hardest battle fought by Reychel in Severed was internal and in the end she came to the only solution she could. I hope other readers enjoy the journey through this trilogy as much as I did. I can’t wait to see what Megg Jensen has in store for us next.

[Rae Sontheyon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cursed Prophet That You Can't Help But Hope Gets Her Happy Ending . . .

This trilogy at first read seems to be just a series of unfortunate events one after another. But here's the thing, Megg Jensen creates this heroine in a world that makes you believe there must be a happy ending at the end, therefore a reader is then compelled to continue till the end. The way the books go there's no stopping after the first or second book, you must finish it all to see how it ends. And not to ruin anything but there is hope that the characters do find peace and a semblance of happiness in the end. But I don't want to spoil anything.

The heroine of the trilogy is introduced as a lowly slave girl named Reychel, who is dreading her fifteenth birthday. For those in her caste, her fifteenth birthday is when her master claims his property by branding them, so they will forever be seen as slaves. After witnessing her best friends ceremony, Reychel knows it will be painful and hopes to get out it but sees no way. However, the whispers of slaves be taken in the night and disappearing without a sound does not appear to just be slave talk or hopeful rumors, when a robbed figure comes to Reychel offering her a way out. Reychel thinking she will go unnoticed like the other who've disappeared before her takes her chance to escape. It's that moment that events begin to unfold as Reychel discovers hidden things about herself, sees what the world outside is like, finds out who to trust, and ultimately unfolds what her destiny is as the cloud prophet.

Overall, I loved this series. I remember reading the first book then going, "What?! Come on!" And then grabbed up the second book, because I just HAD to know what was going to happen to poor Reychel. As a heroine she's complex, ultimately her strongest trait is also her weakest, which is her understanding heart. Reychel to easily forgave enemies and chose to see the good in people, which lead to many a skirmishes and backstabbing. Luckily Reychel had people in her life who truly had her back including her amazing man Mark. Without Mark as Reychel's anchor I'm not sure she would have survived. Anyways just thinking about the last few chapters in Severed makes me want to tear up. The author does a great job in connecting readers with Reychel's plights and one can't help cheering her on hoping she gets that HEA. But you'll have to read and see if it's your idea of a HEA or the perfect HEA for Reychel, I don't want to completely spoil the series for you so you have to read and see.

------Read more of my reviews at: http://heyitwasfree.blogspot.com/------

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this, I really did. I've read the first two books, but it's been two months and I have no desire to read the third one. The plot is solid and interesting, and I can't find fault with it. It's everything I usually look for in a fantasy novel. It's the characters that let me down, more specifically the chemistry between them.
One moment Reychelle is meeting Mark and a few pages later she's confessing that she's in love with him and everyone else is saying they already knew. It was a little ridiculous. There was very little interaction between them beforehand, and they only met alone once.
Then there was Reychelle herself. Yes, she had been through a lot and her friend had betrayed her, but when she returned to the place she grew up as a slave, I didn't buy it when she said she had changed and she wasn't the same person anymore. In fact, up to that point, the only thing she had been through was her friend's betrayal. The real test came afterwards. I wouldn't have thought she had changed if she hadn't said it. She changed afterwards, not before. The character development was all over the place.
I felt the climax of the first book just wasn't enough to hold an entire book. If I hadn't bought it as a trilogy, I wouldn't have any incentive to buy the second one. The ending fell flat. Looking at the entire trilogy as one book, however, does make it a little better, especially when you factor in the ending of the second book. The tension does rise, but on their own, I don't think the books can hold out.
I might read the third book one day, and I'll edit my review when I do, but I have other books that do hold my interest to read first.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I admit I'm puzzled by all the favorable reviews of these books. I found the characters to be bland, two dimensional and at times annoying (especially Krissen). Reychel is incredibly naive and trusting, which is odd considering she would have seen the worst in people during her time as a slave. Her existence before her escape wasn't exactly sheltered or happy. However, she continued to trust just about everyone she met if they seemed to be nice. This got her in trouble several times, but she didn't seem to learn anything from it. Ivy could not make her mind up which side she was on - it just depended on her mood at the moment. Krissen spent two books throwing tantrums and acting like a very spoiled three-year-old child. I kept hoping she would be killed off (spoiler: she isn't, unfortunately).

There was a great deal of talking, but little description. I never got a feel for the world, which came across - like the characters - bland and uninteresting. Compare this to The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin or Dune by Frank Herbert. They created believable, distinct worlds with characters you come to care about. That's not case the in "Cloud Prophet Trilogy."

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

i'd never heard of a cloud prophet so i'm not sure if it's something new to me or if it's original to this series. but what i do know is that this story didn't really catch me. i read the series but i might not have if the books were longer. no big twists or aha's just a casual read. i wish there had been more mystery or twists cuz i certainly found places where i could see one happening.

[Brianna Duren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, more like 3.5/5.

Each book felt more like a short story, with a small amount of pages and a storyline that didn't move as fluidly as I would have preferred. Although I won't consider it to be a story worth rereading, I did enjoy it, and it pulled me in despite it's predictability and frequent grammar/spelling mistakes.

[Earlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost done

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining YA fantasy.