The Prophet of Akhran

Rose of the Prophet #3

by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman

Khardan, Zohra, and the wizard Mathew attempt an impossible journey across the vast desert, the Sun's Anvil, to face in combat their mortal enemies, led by Khardan's brother, Achmed

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Dragonlance

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Margaret Edith Weis is an American fantasy and science fiction author of dozens of novels and short stories. At TSR, Inc., she teamed with Tracy Hickman to create the Dragonlance role-playing game (RPG) world. She is founding CEO and owner of Sovereign Press, Inc and Margaret Weis Productions, licensing several popular television and movie franchises to make RPG series in addition to their own.
In 1999, Pyramid magazine named Weis one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons, saying she and Hickman are "basically responsible for the entire gaming fiction genre". In 2002, she was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame in part for Dragonlance.

Reviews

[Ojo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the biggest climax of an ending, but a very satisfying one.

The Prophet of Akhran is written at a quick pace, with even more thrill and action than the last book.

All the forces meet finally in an all-deciding clash, with plenty of intra-faction politics. The main antagonists are admittedly laid off with too much ease, but I wasn't expecting any different, give that the authors have always navigated the plot conflict with the element of wit and intellectual superiority in the characters, rather than sheer brawn.

The ending's not completely plot-resolving, but it is quite satisfying.

A good series

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10 for young adults
9/10 for adults who are still in touch with their imaginative side.

Always thought this 'Arabian' trilogy was the best of Weis and Hickman and seriously underrated. There's much more on offer when compared to the other Weis and Hickman novels, although the Darksword series was also very good. This was a brave fantasy for its time, exploring notions of identity. It is also a wonderfully entertaining adventure

[Logan Grey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so sad when this story ended. I love a good series because you really get to know the characters and see them evolve over time. I feel like this story could have gone on for three more books! I found this trilogy in a secondhand bookstore and didn't realize at the time that I had truly uncovered a treasure. Weis and Hickman are known for their fantasy work but this early trilogy doesn't get credit for the masterful work of storytelling that it is.

[Anna Irving · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still have the rose of the prophet sitting on my shelf, next to the empire series by fiest and wurst. They've been read and loved many times and were my youthful literary version of girl power!

[Caroline De · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weis & Hickman never fail to entertain. A fascinating look into other cultures and religions with fantastical and intriguing adventures.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

In The Prophet of Akhran, everything that has been accumulating in the previous books comes to fruition. If the desert nomads lose the war that looms over them, their tribes will cease to exist. Achmed, Khardan's brother, has forsaken his family and has instead sided with the Amir, whom he sees as a father figure. The djinn must fight against the immensely powerful Kaug, for taking him out would see a major dent in Quar's growing power; however, beating him comes at a price.

This book would have earned five stars from me if it hadn't ended the way it did. It was fantastic otherwise, but I was so disappointed with it that it lost two stars. Not just one, but two. When I finished the last chapter, I went to turn the page only to find that it was over! The book just trails off, leaving us to imagine what will happen based on a couple of clues. It felt like the actual last chapters (emphasis on the plural) had been torn out of my copy of the book.

Achmed, according to a vision, will kill Khardan and eventually rise to be emperor. The Amir will die. Lots of people in the tribes will die. Mathew will stay with the nomads as a weird sort-of wife whose love will never be reciprocated and an guardian angel whose first love is trapped with Kaug in an iron prison.

And when the Rose of the Prophet finally blooms, Khardan and Zohra just brush it off and go have an angry make-out session that turns into a love-making session, leaving Mathew to pick up the flower. Quar's defeat happens so simply. The Imam dies, and then BAM! Quar's a shriveled husk beginning for mercy.
What happened with Astafas in the previous book also didn't amount to anything. I guess Asrial must have wiped Mathew's soul clean... but I still wished Mathew had had more involvement with "the dark side," or at least that it came back to haunt him again. Mathew inadvertently murders a whole bunch of people in Kich and gets over it pretty quickly.

[Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have always loved Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman books. Their characters are vivid, detailed and unique. Their worlds are some of the best creations that I have read in science fiction fantasy.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!

But seriously what the heck guys! You got to page 380 of the third book in a trilogy and you realized you had to wrap things up. I have never seen a worst ending to a wonderful series. Nothing was concluded.! The romance that you've been waiting for for 3 books finished up in a paragraph. Too many questions are left unanswered. I never thought I would be disappointed reading one of their books. I've enjoyed the journey I just did not enjoy the conclusion.

Did the Paladin actually die!
The Imam is he dead, haunting. He'd been brought back before from worse!?
Achmed and the Amir are they still attacking!? They had reinforcements in their way!
Did Zohra actually sleep with the Paladin?
Mathew is just resigned to his fate never to return to his own people?
Pukha!?
The romance over a dune! Come on! These characters never had a civil word to each other! And then no one notices the flowers blooming!
Twenty gods' chaos of the gem! I thought there would be some philosophical point of religious acceptance so the gem finally stopped being in chaos but you still have weak gods and strong gods

[Nell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third book in the Rose of the Prophet series, and this is the book that brings it all together and concludes the story begun in The Will of the Wanderer.

This book is the rise of the hero, there are some great desperate odds to overcome, emotional journeys continue, and some villains might just get what’s coming to them.

Khardan and Zohra continued to delight me, both great strong characters, and Matthew was quite an interesting counterpoint to the both of them. The djinn, and Pukah in particular, continued to entertain. With an amazing Pukah moment that was very important, and kinda bittersweet.

Everything was tied up very nicely in this book to conclude the series, you got some great endings for characters and also some not so great, and I felt quite contented on finishing an old favourite series that I hadn’t read in quite a number of years.

[JoAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely liked the ending this reread than I have the first time around. It is both sort of hilarious and fitting; something I didn't really appreciate before. The characters come back to the beginning, only since they've all suffered together, there's more appreciation for what they have and a refusal to change, done in the most comical way.

And though it seems an abrupt ending, there was talk throughout the series about how feelings were there, only hidden behind walls and unable to develop because of events; and the characters are so well written it's easy to read what wasn't written on the page, what comes next for them.

Matthew's journey was most heartfelt and I actually nearly teared up when he had his heart to heart moment. His addition to the nomad tribe is awesome, and their acceptance of him is wholesome too.

[BRANDON · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the Rose of the Prophet series for the first time when I was 14 or 15. I was amazed and overwhelmed to realize that Matthew was queer like me. His adventures among the nomads struck a chord with me as a gay teenager living in the Bible bet. Rereading the serious with an older, more critical eye, Mathew's story wasn't happy ever after. He was relegated to a sexless life and unrequited love. But it was a better life than I ever though I could have in rural Kentucky. This was my favorite series growing up because I could see so much of Mathew in myself and it will always hold a special place in my heart because of that.

[Jaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded to 3. The plot of this story dragged a lot, but some of the characters were fun. I enjoyed the immortal characters that moved the story along. Each djinn had its own personality and I enjoyed them. My main complaint about the story was the ending.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall the trilogy was pretty enjoyable. I like the characters and the setting wasn't the usual European medieval setting. However I felt like Weis and Hickman should have made this series 4 books instead of 3. There are still unresolved matters at hand. Book ended really abruptly.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Fantasy

[Zoë · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVED this book, and this whole series. Zohra (my absolute favourite) is so well written I feel like I can relate to all of what she’s feeling, and the subtle chemistry she and Khardan have is heart melting. And I can’t forget Mathew, this precious boy has all my respect.

[Shreyas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a great time reading this book and the series as a whole. I would have rated the book higher if not for the abrupt ending that came out of nowhere and left a bad taste it in my mouth.

Rating: 3.25/5.

Detailed review to be posted shortly.

[STU · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty standard series that has little remarkable about it.
First 2 books had a few unpredictable moments in it, but this final book was rather routine and had a reasonably abrupt ending that left me feeling dissatisfied.

[aspeccharactersoftheday]

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[James]

FIRST EDITION.

[Lena_en_libros · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encanta la fantasía, adoro la fantasía épica y soy fan de este libro. Mi película favorita, por daros una referencia, ha sido siempre "La princesa prometida". Y me gustan elfos, enanos, duendes, hadas, kenders, djinns, valerosos guerreros, inútiles paladines y temerosos magos.

Y ahora sigo con lo que es el libro.

¿Lo mágico del libro?. Su mundo. Ambientado en el desierto. Nómadas, zonas desérticas inmensas, genios, tribus pastoriles. Si tienes imaginación suficiente es hasta cálido. Ambiente total de Las Mil Y Una Noches. No conozco otro libro de este tipo que aporte tan bien esa sensación.

Lo siguiente más llamativo es cómo presenta a la Dioses: el Mundo es una gran Gema de 20 caras. Cada una de estas representa a un Dios y cada uno tiene su opuesto en la otra cara.
Promenthas, es el Dios del Bien Supremo y Astafas es su antagonista.

Al principio los dioses estaban en el Mundo, pero se cansaron de que los mortales no dejaran de incordiales con sus peticiones. Así crearon a los Inmortales (o djinns), como representantes entre ellos y los humanos. Lo malo de esto es que los djinns llevan tanto tiempo ya entre los humanos, que han adoptado muchas de sus costumbres y debilidades, llevándolas al extremo.
En el caso de unos de los protagonistas (Ma-teo), su pueblo tiene como representante divinos a ángeles en lugar de djinns (que se asemejarían mas a genios).

Hablando de Ma-teo, es bisexual. Y esto no lo he visto en ninguna otra historia de este tipo por el momento. Seguidor del dios Promenthas, fue hecho esclavo al confundirlo con una mujer. Acaba en el harén del principe Khardan; y finalmente forma parte del trio protagonista: Khardan, Zhora y Ma-teo, siendo el punto de inflexión entre los otros dos orgullosos protagonistas obligados a entenderse y "amarse" por acuerdo entre los dioses para que no se acabe el mundo, que es el punto de partida de esta historia.

El libro tiene muy buen ritmo. Yo lo leí en tres volúmenes separados, creo que sigue siendo la edición que hay actualmente, y el final sólo me servía para empezar a devorar el siguiente. Al final, desee que hubiera más final, ya que de repente es un poco abreviado todo. Tiene notas humorísticas, como siempre, y que a gente "seria" les descolocan y abandonan la lectura, pero que a mi me encantan.

A los que os guste la fantasía, hayáis leído o no, algo de estos autores, deberíais darle una oportunidad. No es un libro muy conocido. Está entre la saga de La Espada de Joram (que me aburre horrores y del que me falta leer el cuarto, escrito por sorpresa cuando todo se había acabado en el tercero) y el Ciclo de la Puerta de la Muerte (que vuelve a ser una gran obra de estos autores).

[Vicenç Sanz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A medio camino en lo que a calidad se refiere entre la primera y segunda novelas de la saga, no acaba de hacerle justicia a lo que ésta trilogía podría haber sido.

Tiene elementos suficientes como para ser atrayente: su ambientación, diversidad de dioses y de caracteres, batallas, magia, amor, aventuras… y todo tratado con el peculiar sentido el humor que saben imprimir los autores a sus obras.

Pero quedan como una obra muy menor dentro de su ya extensa bibliografía. No tiene ni el carisma ni las sorpresas que pudieron tener la Espada de Joram, la Puerta de la Muerta o sus novelas de la Dragonlance. Y eso que en más de una ocasión tienes la sensación de estar metido en cualquiera de esos mundos gracias a los personajes y sus problemas.

El principal problema que le veo al libro es que el crescendo prometido queda muy descafeinado, siendo la guerra entre dioses apenas una nota al margen y un ligerísimo juego de ingenio con un bruto bastante tonto.

Y en el plano mortal tres cuartos de lo mismo: los personajes sufren un viaje de autodescubrimiento y una serie de aventuras para dejarlo todo dispuesto a una batalla final de la que no sabremos el resultado.

Lo mejor es que en el plano personal quedan las cosas resueltas, pudiendo tomar la trilogía como una historia de amor con el trasfondo de la guerra entre dioses y humanos.

Se deja leer y puede gustar a todos los públicos, pero está lejos de grandes exponentes más modernos del género (como Nacidos de la Bruma) o las ya nombradas obras de los mismos autores.

Simplemente se queda como una trilogía más dentro de un género que tiene trilogías de ésta calidad para aburrir.

Reseña completa en: http://darlantan8.blogspot.com.es/201...

[Kate Atonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a teenager in the late 1900’s, this series seemed very exotic set in the desert amongst two tribes of nomadic desert people. It was likely the first time I’d seen a man-dressed-as-a-woman taken somewhat seriously, with same-sex (and bisexual attraction) taken seriously. I liked fierce Zohra, how she refused to do “women’s work” and preferred to ride horses and fight, how she looked after her people even though they didn’t understand or particularly respect her.

By today’s standards, the treatment of nomadic desert tribes would likely be seen as offensive caricatures of illiterate bombasts that can barely manage three days before warring with their allies. I hate that the authors had Zohra, on a suicide mission to save her people, first beg her mother-in-law for forgiveness having realized that tending children, cleaning, and cooking food was “just as” important as fighting. (If it’s so noble, let’s honor some dudes with their share of the work.) It even back-pedaled on Matthew’s unrequited love for Khardan, honoring the sentiment as noble so long as they never acted upon it.

It was a fun romp, the machinations of the celestials being the best part of the book, but didn’t hold up as well as I’d hoped.

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first began this series in middle school I remember being completely taken in by the first two books, but never got around to reading the third and final book in the series. The Rose of the Prophet series addressed topics such as sexual identity, and religious and cultural distrust in a fantasy setting that I was not yet ready to look at as a young boy, but I was enthralled by the world nonetheless. A fantasy world based on Arabia, it had a flavor of Lawrence of Arabia meets Aladdin. To read the Prophet of Akhran I felt a need to reread the first two books in the series as I did not remember much of them. Again I found the first 2 books to be very good, and pertinent to modern issues, but the third book to be somewhat anti-climactic. After reading the Prophet of Akhran, it made me re-rate what I thought of the first two books and may see them as somewhat less now than I did as a 14 year old. In short, the series is very original, imaginative, and addresses modern issues, but will leave the reader wondering if there should be more substance to these three books than there really was.

[Chip Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This final book of the Rose of the Prophet trilogy really did it for me. All of the loose ends were wrapped up and the mysteries revealed. While some people seem to think that the ending wasn't satisfactory, I disagree. The book ends with a pretty clear picture of what the future holds for the characters and the resolution of the plot was complete. This was my favorite book of the trilogy because of the fast pace and intense action. While the first two books seemed a bit drawn out and slow due to the neccesities of character and plot development, this book was right to the point and brought the whole trilogy to an exciting climax.

In my opinion, this final volume makes the whole trilogy really worth reading. While not Weis and Hickman's best story that I've read, I still enjoyed it very much.

[John Love IV · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book in the series that didn't totally irritate me with its writing style. It's still juvenile, but better. The characters were a little more weak and some plot moves had little or no reasons behind them.

There were so many things left unsettled, you would think they'd revisit the story.

This is not a series to rush out and buy. Buy the series for a buck or two if you come across it and save it for one of those days you just have to read something new and have no money. At best, you'll be mildly entertained. At worst, it will inspire you to get back to work so you can get something better.

These aren't horrible, just poorly written by two authors who've done so much better.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably should not give this a full four stars, but it is a thoroughly enjoyable ending to a pretty original and fun series. While it is undoubtedly pulpy and only the main characters stand out (or in fact are mentioned at all), the ones which do are endearing and interesting. Plenty of action, and a great wrap up to the story. One of Weis and Hickman's better offerings. Perhaps not quite as good as I originally thought when I read it in my early teens, it was still very enjoyable - and I suppose the healthy dose of nostalgia did not hurt.

[Lani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this series so many times that I can't really keep the books straight. See my review of The Will of the Wanderer for a general review of the whole series. Love it.

***

As others have pointed out, the book does leave you with a ... wait what!?! kind of ending. Very little wrap of a lot of loose ends. Still love the series, but I had forgotten how sharp and rushed the wrap up is.

[Iain Kaslar · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was a great book right up until the end. it has what I consider to be the WORST ending of any book I've ever read. I've read stories from children that were finished off in a more enjoyable and complete manner. It was like the authors just got sick of the story line and couldn't be bothered finishing it properly. The only way it could of possibly been worse was if it ended with, "and then they woke up and realised it was all a dream".
I can't recommend this series to anyone and if I could of given it a zero star rating I would of.

[Todd · Rating 2 out of 5]

The 3rd, and final (thank god) installment in this trilogy. They make a tidy ending to the story that left me wanting more. The characters in this trilogy could have been so much more, yet this story always came up short. I guess I expected more from the authors of "The Darksword Trilogy", Chronicles and Legends Trilogies, to say nothing of the outstand Deathgate Cycle.



An alright story that could have been SO much more.

[Sara Forsberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

All in all, I really enjoyed this trilogy. The third book brought home a concept I really love in all stories, which is the idea that good and evil are for the most part just prejudice and perspective. The ending was a little rushed but satisfying in its own way. As with all fantasy-worlds I enjoy, I wish there were more stories from this world, there are enough seeds planted for several books exploring the different ways and cultures. An enjoyable read!

[Richard Houchin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is a lot of fun! It reads suspiciously like a chronicling of a D&D campaign...but the characters are enjoyable. These books feel shallower than the other Weiss/Hickman stories I've read -- I didn't get much philosophy or ethics out of Rose of the Prophet. But hey, I once heard that fantasy novels are for entertainment; if you want to send a message use Western Union.