Prophecy of the Sisters

The presentation of this novel is very arresting and there’s going to be big hype heralding a gothic fest, which will no doubt help the sequel that seems inevitable judging by the open-ended last chapter.

The Souls, led by Samiel since the dawn of time, seek absolute power on Earth. Their channels are twin girls and children with ‘the mark’. Throw the best bits of Revelations and some juicy bits from other ancient texts into the mix and you have a complicated Prophecy of the Sisters, where 19th-century, well-connected New York girls take the lead, despite being somewhat hamstrung by a restrictive code of manners and mores that seem a bit bewildering and somewhat risible to the modern eye.

At the centre are Lia and Alice, twins who find themselves crucial players, only not on the same side. I didn’t really warm to either. They were not quite 3D enough and the plot was over long and creaky with contrivance.