The Prophecy of the Stones
Three Stones, three young girls.
One will discover the Gift.
One will recognize the King.
One will convince the two others to die.
Of three Stones only one fate will remain.
French teen Flavia Bujor wrote the novel over 6 months while she was 13 years old, and it kinda shows. Like Eragon, The Prophecy of the Stones was a bestseller in many countries but had mixed reviews, with critics suspecting that the novel's success was due more to the author's age than its quality.
In Paris, a 14-year-old girl named Joa is succumbing to illness in a hospital. She is kept alive only by a "dream" of a fantasy world, where three girls--Jade, Opal, and Amber--are chosen by a prophecy to restore goodness to the world. The girls have almost nothing in common. Jade is the spoiled daughter of a Duke; Opal is a quiet, seemingly emotionless Strange Girl; Amber is an impoverished but kindhearted peasant. Strangers at first and forced to go on a quest together because of the prophecy, they ultimately become True Companions after their shared ordeals.
Each of them is given a precious stone corresponding to their names and they attempt to unravel the meaning behind the stones and the prophecy. Their quest leads them to participate in a rebellion against the evil Council of Twelve, travel through the pristine, magical realm of Fairy Tale, and visit the Anthropomorphic Personification of Death. They discover from an oracle that they must defeat the Council of Twelve for good in order to fulfill the prophecy and free the land. In order to do this, they must find "The Chosen One" who will lead the Army of Light in the final battle.
- Action Girl: Jade can kick some ass with a sword.
- Action Survivor: Jade, Opal, and Amber
- All Just a Dream: Or Was It a Dream? It's not very clear.
- Battle-Interrupting Shout: Opal and Adrien end a battle this way.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: There's an especially Anvilicious chapter on this concept. The three main characters are described as exceptionally beautiful (even Opal), both on the inside and on the outside. But this is somewhat jarring, considering Jade's brattish tendencies.
- Because Destiny Says So: Drives the whole plot.
- Big Badass Bird of Prey
- Big Good: Elyador becomes this.
- Birthmark of Destiny: Joa has one.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Janelle, who also happens to be The Corrupter
- Black and White Morality: The main conflict is basically Good vs. Evil, with not an Anti-Hero (or Anti-Villain) in sight (with the sole exception of the Ghibduls and Elyador).
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Opal, Jade, and Amber respectively play this trope straight. However, the brunette (Jade) has the personality of the Fiery Redhead, the redhead (Amber) might as well have Hair of Gold based on her role and personality, and the blonde (Opal) is The Stoic.
- Blue Eyes: The Nameless One has the heroic variety.
- Cassandra Truth: Neophilus is not believed when he foretells the Council of Twelve's takeover
- Cat Fight: Jade, Amber, and Opal get into a fight with each other at one point, thanks to the influence of The Corrupter
- The Chosen One: Four in total.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Fairytale is protected by a "magnetic field" that only allows those who believe in freedom, individuality, and imagination to pass.
- Cold-Blooded Torture
- The Corrupter: The girls encounter a girl who manages to bring out the worst in everyone else by displacing her hatred into them.
- Creator Provincialism: The City of Thaar, described as the last remnant of the past, is actually Paris.
- Creepy Child: Opal was one
- Cruel Mercy: The reason why the Sorcerer of Darkness let the Nameless One go. That and the fact that Death was on strike.
- Daddy's Girl: Jade, who is devastated when it's revealed that the Duke is not her real father.
- Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday: The girls are sent on their quest when they turn fourteen.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Elyador
- Dark Is Edgy: The Army of Darkness and its associated Sorcerers of Darkness have darkness-based powers, which we get to see when they "seal a town in darkness".
- Dark Is Evil: The Army of Darkness (of no relation to that other Army of Darkness). But then we get...
- ...DarkIsNotEvil, by way of Elyador
- Deadpan Snarker: Elfohrys and the Nameless One have a few humorous exchanges while they are taken prisoner by the Ghibduls.
- Death by Adaptation: Joa, who lives in French and German variants, but dies in english one.
- Death Takes a Holiday: She's busy having a moping fit about how nobody's ever happy to see her, and she thinks she looks fat.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Opal
- Deus Ex Machina: You'll know them when you see them.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Joa. The twist is that the fantasy world in her dream is the future, and Thaar used to be Paris.
- Emotion Eater: The birds of prey who guard Oonagh's cave. Why such a nice lady keeps them there or chooses to live in a cave surrounded by them, I have no idea.
- Emotionless Girl: Opal at first.
- Evil Counterpart: The Army of Darkness to the Army of Light, and the Sorcerers of Darkness to the Sorcerers of Light. Kinda seeing a theme here, eh?
- Evil Feels Good: Invoked in Janelle's Motive Rant
- The Evils of Free Will
- Fallen Hero: Elyador was described as a noble man who was seduced by the Army of Darkness, but eventually he realized the error of his ways and deserted. And got his memories erased.
- Fantastic Racism
- Fate Worse Than Death: Amnhor claims this happens to people who try to walk through the Seal of Darkness without magic.
- Fire-Forged Friends
- Green Eyes: Jade
- The Heart: Amber
- Hellish Horse: An Army of Darkness commander rides an "enchanted black stallion that breathed flames from its nostrils". Really.
- The Hero Dies: Joa
- Heroic Sacrifice: Jade, Opal, and Amber, but they end up living through it.
- Heroic Willpower: Jade's stubbornness, though sometimes irritating for others, is also one of her greatest strengths.
- He Who Fights Monsters: The original Council of Twelve simply wanted to spread peace, but over time they were corrupted by power.
- Humans Are Special / Mighty Whitey: Apparently the Ghibduls, the Proud Warrior Race Guys who hate all humans, have passed down a belief since the dawn of time that a man would come into their forest and lead them into a new era of harmony with other species.
- Identity Amnesia: The Nameless One/ Elyador
- I Know Karate: Jade, a 14-year-old girl with training in the "arts of war" but no first-hand experience in real battle, is described as being able to best the most experienced of the Knights of the Council.
- Just Between You and Me: The Thirteenth Councilor plays this straight at the end. It gives the girls just enough time to figure out how to defeat him.
- Kid Hero
- Knight Errant: There is an entire class of them, called hovalyns. The Nameless One is one of them.
- Kuudere: Opal is Emotionless Girl played straight initially, but she warms up. Adrien might have something to do with it.
- La Résistance: Led by Adrien against the Knights of the Council of Twelve to free the city of Nathrynn.
- Light Is Good: The Army of Light
- Lonely Rich Kid: Opal
- Loners Are Freaks: Opal sometimes got this treatment in her hometown. She didn't care.
- Love At First Sight: Opal to Adrien, Amber and Elyador. Literally. As in, the minute they lay eyes on them, without any interaction or build-up.
- Magic Land: Fairy Tale
- The McCoy: Amber
- Meaningful Name: Joa later points out that her name is the initials of Jade, Opal, and Amber. Also, her ex-boyfriend is named Eli Ador.
- Meanwhile in the Future
- Mind Rape: The Thirteenth Councilor and the Ghibduls are proficient in this, it seems.
- Mook Face Turn: The Nameless One's backstory
- Most Writers Are Adults: This book's existence is an aversion.
- Nakama: Jade, Opal, and Amber
- Eucatastrophe: Both times they fight the Council of Twelve's forces
- No Name Given: The Nameless One. But he does get a name eventually.
- Not So Stoic: Opal has a few of these moments.
- The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Council of Twelve + The Thirteenth Councilor
- Parental Abandonment: Joa is an orphan. Also, Jade, Opal and Amber end up dealing with issues relating to their true parents abandoning them.
- Plucky Girl: The three main characters.
- The Power of Love
- Prophecy Twist: Mandatory.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Ghibduls "believed that to die at their hands was a privilege and a blessing for inferior beasts".
- Psychic Link: The girls are empathetically linked to their stones, which sometimes let them form Psychic Links with each other.
- Quest for Identity: The Nameless One when he first appears is currently on one.
- Rape, Pillage and Burn: It's never shown on-screen, but the Army of Darkness does this often.
- Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Oonagh, who looks like a little girl
- Redshirt Army: If there's a battle, expect the vast majority of unnamed good guys to die.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified
- Rousing Speech
- Royal Brat: Jade is well-intentioned, but...
- Rule of Three
- Shout-Out: The part where the Nameless One gets a Plot Coupon from a magical lady in a lake sounds awfully similar to what happened to this other guy...
- Strange Girl: Opal is somewhat ostracized by her peers because of her cold looks and demeanor. She doesn't try to fix this, though.
- Supporting Leader: The Chosen One, Elyador
- Talking the Monster to Death: Opal tries to do this, but gets stabbed in the heart for her trouble. So Adrien picks up where she left off and pulls a more successful one.
- Telepathy: The Thirteenth Councilor practices this. Jade, Opal and Amber use it as well at one point.
- Theme Naming: Jade, Opal, and Amber are named after their stones.
- Third Line, Some Waiting: Between Joa, the three girls, and the Nameless One
- Thirteen Is Unlucky: The Thirteenth Councilor is the the real villain of the bunch, the other councilors don't really do anything. Possibly justified in that he is the combined spirit of the other twelve councilors.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The girls have no plan going into Thaar, so they succeed.
- The War to End All Wars: The book seems to be leading up this, but the ending reminds us that evil cannot be permanently defeated.