This unforgettable book is sure to be a mainstay in African American literature for a long time to come.  With chapters that reflect the books of the Bible, and characters that reflect the characters therein, The Prophets is a liberating epic sprinkled with interruptions by a Greek chorus of African ancestral women and flashbacks to the ancestors' demise.  This is no Twelve Years a Slave—The Prophets contains many moments of exquisite joy, albeit brief ones.  Its story centers not on a man but on two teenage boys joined in the most pure love you can imagine.  Their love outshines everything else, and they are protected—ultimately—by their ancestors, and by the mystical women who raised them.  Please, read this book.   

Woo, this book is a doozy. It's been hard to compile my thoughts and verbalize how I feel.
This book is deep. It is sweeping. It is real. Even though it is only 400 pages it feels larger than anything I've read in a long time.

Jones' writing can only be described as poetic. I read that Toni Morrison was a large influence on him and that feels quite clear. While the prose is undoubtedly beautiful, there were times that style overtook content, so much so that even after reading certain sentences and paragraphs multiple times I still felt like I was left missing something. The prophet chapters especially felt this way because it felt like there was so little to hold onto.

I read the first third or so in a single sitting which I think helped me really get into the rhythm of the story and the writing. I felt invested in the story almost immediately and I was drawn in slowly but surely by each of the characters. The middle section of the book was a different experience. Because I was reading in smaller chunks it was harder to stay in the story and feel gripped by each new person introduced. While reliving the same moments through different eyes brought something new, it also drastically slowed the pace. I don't mind a large cast so I think either reducing the overlap or omitting a character or two would have helped a bit. By the last hundred pages or so though things finally started to pick up and click into place. The story was tied together and it was both riveting and gutting.

I'm not one that typically needs content or trigger warnings, but the abuse described in the last 50 pages was so visceral I was sick to my stomach. That paired with the knowledge that I'm sure it only scratches the surface of what life was really like in that time period made it truly hard to get through. I don't think this should deter anyone from reading it but it's definitely something to prepare for.

I initially got this from the library I could see myself buying it for a reread later. I suspect that each time you read it you can pull more from the pages and gain a different perspective/experience. Overall this book feels like an English teacher's dream and an important read for anyone. 

This was such a sad and beautiful read packed with nuance on the traumas inflicted by slavery in the southern US (circa 1830s), particularly in regards to Black LGBTQ+ experiences. The structure of the novel is modeled on that of the bible, which fits the theme; it is Christianity that is essentially weaponized against our main characters. I thought the setup was clever and enjoyed getting a new perspective with almost every chapter, but I also found it episodic in a way that made it easy to put the book down at any point and harder to pick it up and get back into the flow of the overall story. Nevertheless, a brilliant and heartbreaking book.

If The Prophets does not win some kind of an award this year, I’ll be very surprised. What an amazing debut!

I highly recommend listening on audio.

(I’m writing this review a month after reading this book 🙈 so apologies if it’s not very coherent! 😂)

This book is historical fiction, but it definitely leans more toward literary fiction. It’s very well-written, but some might find the writing too abstract and overdone for the story. I’ll admit, some parts were hard to focus on in the audiobook and I think it would’ve helped me to have the print book to follow along with while listening. Some audiobooks I can listen to while doing a million other things and still follow along easily; this one required and commanded more attention. (I’m not saying this is a bad thing either—just trying to explain what kind of book this is and the best way to read it.)

That being said, I found the plot to be compelling and the characters satisfyingly complex. We get into the heads of several different characters, not just Samuel and Isaiah, and we find rich and real people in all of them. I also liked seeing the story from varying points of view.

There is a lot in this book that’s unsettling, but I thought the author handled these things well. He drew necessary attention to certain horrors and injustices without glorifying them or glossing over them. But please do be aware of the content warnings.

Thank you to Libro.fm, the publisher, and the author for my ALC.

Read if you like: Civil War–era fiction, forbidden love, gray areas.

Review to come!

This is a beautifully written book. Jones Jr.'s language is astounding and majestic. It is clear that so much thought and love went into crafting this story and bringing each character to life. This is definitely a book where you'll have to pause at times just to sit and languish in the beauty of a line. It's amazing.

The beauty of the writing carries over into the depiction of queer love. Isaiah and Samuel, both strong characters in their own right, come together to form such a quiet, strong, and loving relationship. It was really interesting how Isaiah fully embraces his queerness, yet throughout the book, Samuel struggles with his attraction to Isaiah, even while fully loving Isaiah and supporting him as a partner and friend.

Jones Jr. writes the interior of a character very well, and allows us to understand the multitude of perspectives on view on the plantation, Empty. There are those who accept Samuel and Isaiah's relationship and those who see it as a force that can only bring harm to the plantation and the way of life that has been established there. There are those who hold up traditional African beliefs that have been passed down for generations, and those who wish to move on. It was especially interesting to view this contrast while also getting a glimpse into the life of the Kosongo tribe and its members when they are first infiltrated and captured by white slave traders. Their belief system was really refreshing and so outside of Western, European/American conception. I loved how Jones Jr. gives this set of beliefs the important and authority that the racist chroniclers of the slave trade failed to provide then (and I'm sure even now, too).

While there were many parts of this book that I appreciated and valued, I did feel a bit afloat at times. Much of the story uses biblical references and themes, which I just did not understand as I've no familiarity with the Bible. I feel like a lot of important moments that would have been made more significant through the religious references were lost on me, which was unfortunate. I do also think that the pace really slowed down in the middle, almost to the point where I didn't want to pick the book up and keep reading. To this end, I think some of the chapters that follow secondary characters could have been shortened or even removed. Some chapters that followed the white slaveholders I found no real purpose in, other than to emphasize how racist and horrible these people were.

The ending of this book isn't anything radical or unexpected, but Jones Jr.'s writing breathes new life and vigor into an expected conclusion. This book is worth trying just to experience Jones Jr.'s masterful prose, and I am very curious to see what more he will write in the future.