What do you think?
Rate this book
The Prophecy #1
The Prophecy
Against the backdrop of worldwide, unexplainable natural disasters, Dr. Virginia Marilyn Edwards (Emmy Award-winner Kerry Washington) seeks out Agent Scott Thomas (Emmy Award-winner Laurence Fishburne) at a secretive government headquarters. Virginia claims these events are signs, and unless Agent Thomas helps her, she believes things will only get worse. Her desperation is dialed up higher with a shocking proclamation as she stands before him pregnant, weak, and weary: “Agent Thomas,” she says, “I believe I am Mary.”
Could she be the actual Virgin Mary? Could he be Doubting Thomas, whom she must convince? And what of the two other men - Jonah and Daniel - who have somehow found their way here as well and seem to hold fresh clues to this global mystery?
Could she be the actual Virgin Mary? Could he be Doubting Thomas, whom she must convince? And what of the two other men - Jonah and Daniel - who have somehow found their way here as well and seem to hold fresh clues to this global mystery?
Audible Audio
Published June 29, 2022
16 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
September 23, 2022
AMAZING!! I so enjoyed this audiobook!! It was a full cast, sound effects, and plenty of action. Pleasantly surprised it wasn't preachy and a nice spin on the traditional story's from the Bible. If you're looking for the exact tellings of the scripture, this audiobook is not for you.
August 27, 2022
Interesting premise, but poorly researched and not nearly as good as it could have been. In the hands of someone who actually had some familiarity with the biblical stories the characters were named after, a lot more depth of character and complexity of plot could have been possible. As it stands, there were only very surface correlations between the modern and historic characters of the same names, with none of the motivations or character development explored. And one main character kept referring to how he spontaneously started quoting the Lord’s Prayer aloud, despite never having learned it. . .except it wasn’t the Lord’s Prayer at all, it was the 23rd Psalm.
Maybe the author plans to write follow-up books, but I never did discern the purpose of including Jonah and Daniel in this book. They didn’t seem to play any role in moving the plot forward or resolving it, other than acting as “proof” that the Bible stories were being lived out again in modern times.
Most of the voice acting in the audiobook was very good, not surprising with the quality of actors involved. A few voice actors were over-the-top and sounded forced and like they were trying too hard, but the main characters were well done.
Overall, this felt like a first draft story that would have benefited from a good editor’s touch. It simultaneously needed to be tightened up significantly, but also deepened.
Maybe the author plans to write follow-up books, but I never did discern the purpose of including Jonah and Daniel in this book. They didn’t seem to play any role in moving the plot forward or resolving it, other than acting as “proof” that the Bible stories were being lived out again in modern times.
Most of the voice acting in the audiobook was very good, not surprising with the quality of actors involved. A few voice actors were over-the-top and sounded forced and like they were trying too hard, but the main characters were well done.
Overall, this felt like a first draft story that would have benefited from a good editor’s touch. It simultaneously needed to be tightened up significantly, but also deepened.
August 24, 2022
This version of the Immaculate Conception and the other two Hebrew Bible / Christian Old Testament stories is amazing. Its a fresh and modern look at the events that are foundational to much of the world. The accusation in the negative reviews of being "woke" is in itself, a racist sentiment. If you have an issue with Biblical narrative having non-white voices, you should pass on this podcast rather than write a ridiculous, bigoted review.
If you are curious in seeing how three of the Bible's more well known stories can be re-imagined in a modern context, then this is for you! Washington, Fishburne, Kim, Oyelowo are fantastic!
If you are curious in seeing how three of the Bible's more well known stories can be re-imagined in a modern context, then this is for you! Washington, Fishburne, Kim, Oyelowo are fantastic!
September 11, 2022
This is a stunning production in terms of quality narration.
I love everything about it but the story😬
I like parts of the story but it's not my kinda thing.
I love everything about it but the story😬
I like parts of the story but it's not my kinda thing.
July 10, 2024
The well seasoned voice actors did their thing
November 29, 2022
Like the story line and the way it was presented. Disliked the way it ended. Felt like they could have done soooo much more with it.
Hoping for a season 2 of this podcast 🤞🏾
Hoping for a season 2 of this podcast 🤞🏾
August 25, 2022
It was a nonsense.
It was annoying.
The performance of every speaker was great, i really enjoyed that, but the story... I was thinking to leave it in chapter 2.
When Virgina said "I'm the virgin Mary" in the first chapter, it was an embarrassing moment.
The people acting were great. Nothing more to say.
It was annoying.
The performance of every speaker was great, i really enjoyed that, but the story... I was thinking to leave it in chapter 2.
When Virgina said "I'm the virgin Mary" in the first chapter, it was an embarrassing moment.
The people acting were great. Nothing more to say.
abandoned
February 9, 2023DNF
25% after episode 2 I thought it was an odd story.
50% after episode 4 - Just finish episode 4 and I want to quit the series. The Lord's Prayer isn't Psalm 23, it's part of Matthew 6. Why is Doubting Thomas older than Mary?
25% after episode 2 I thought it was an odd story.
50% after episode 4 - Just finish episode 4 and I want to quit the series. The Lord's Prayer isn't Psalm 23, it's part of Matthew 6. Why is Doubting Thomas older than Mary?
March 3, 2024
Audible Audiobook (8 hours) full cast narration:
Kerry Washington as Dr. Virginia Marilyn Edwards
Daniel Dae Kim as Jonah Wang
David Oyelowo as Daniel Evans
Asa Butterfield as Marcel
Steven Pasquale as Detective Cole
Laurence Fishburne as Agent Scott Thomas
The narration, audio, and editing are fantastic.
While it's possible to listen too and clearly understand as fast as 2.3x speed, as near as I can tell due to the way that audible has set up the chapters as segments, some platforms, like my pc, will play through chapter to chapter on it's own, while others, like my phone, makes me hit play after each segment. Since there are 8 chapters or segments of 30 minutes each, the faster each reader listens the sooner the reader must interact with the platform to play the next one. This could be user error or perhaps that my phone is android, I'm unsure as it's the first time I have run across this issue. I mention it as the interface is a bit awkward for this one, it seems.
This book is biblically based. There are a few similar type stories out there in the horror genre, and this one sounded intriguing.
It may just be because I have long feasted on stories built on a similar foundation that this one, at times, seemed humorous, which I believe was not the intent. I did actually laugh out loud on a couple of occasions.
It is entertaining. The narration is fantastic. It is a story that, even though classified partially as a mystery, I found didn't need a lot of brain engagement, so to have something to spend some casual time with either in bite size segments or all at once, it's not a horrible choice.
If you have consumed a lot of biblical based thriller type entertainment, you can probably pass on this one, if you have not or you prefer something lighter and find biblical based horror too scary, this story may be for you.
Kerry Washington as Dr. Virginia Marilyn Edwards
Daniel Dae Kim as Jonah Wang
David Oyelowo as Daniel Evans
Asa Butterfield as Marcel
Steven Pasquale as Detective Cole
Laurence Fishburne as Agent Scott Thomas
The narration, audio, and editing are fantastic.
While it's possible to listen too and clearly understand as fast as 2.3x speed, as near as I can tell due to the way that audible has set up the chapters as segments, some platforms, like my pc, will play through chapter to chapter on it's own, while others, like my phone, makes me hit play after each segment. Since there are 8 chapters or segments of 30 minutes each, the faster each reader listens the sooner the reader must interact with the platform to play the next one. This could be user error or perhaps that my phone is android, I'm unsure as it's the first time I have run across this issue. I mention it as the interface is a bit awkward for this one, it seems.
This book is biblically based. There are a few similar type stories out there in the horror genre, and this one sounded intriguing.
It may just be because I have long feasted on stories built on a similar foundation that this one, at times, seemed humorous, which I believe was not the intent. I did actually laugh out loud on a couple of occasions.
It is entertaining. The narration is fantastic. It is a story that, even though classified partially as a mystery, I found didn't need a lot of brain engagement, so to have something to spend some casual time with either in bite size segments or all at once, it's not a horrible choice.
If you have consumed a lot of biblical based thriller type entertainment, you can probably pass on this one, if you have not or you prefer something lighter and find biblical based horror too scary, this story may be for you.
December 30, 2025
I'm not particularly well-versed in Biblical references, yet I still found this radio drama surprisingly captivating. A few characters blended at times, which made certain moments a bit confusing, but the pacing is brisk, and the plot held my attention throughout
September 29, 2022
Interesting premise. Dragged on a bit.
August 26, 2022
Begrudgingly giving this book two stars when I'd rather give it 1.5. It was free on Audible, so why not? As an ex-evangelical Christian, I was curious to see how the story unfolded. While the performances were good (and I love Kerry Washington), the story itself was a mess. For a story that was asking readers to suspend a literal interpretation of the Bible, it was too literal in and of itself. Jonah, Daniel, Mary? Really? The episodes, which I'd hoped would be like podcasts, were disorganized and poorly written. My Christian friends would probably hate it and think it heresy. My non-Christian (or ex-Christian) friends would just laugh. Such a shame. I had high hopes this one would be entertaining.
September 20, 2022
This series was sooo good! Thoroughly enjoyed it.
February 20, 2023
Interesting idea. A few simple biblical errors (Jonah wasn’t eaten by a whale, Psalm 23 is not the Lord’s Prayer, Virgin Birth of Jesus, not the Immaculate Conception which is a much later belief about Mary herself being born without sin). Most of the voice performances were strong. It was an engaging listening experience. I’m guessing the choice of Daniel and Jonah was driven by those being popular childhood stories from the Bible familiar to many listeners.
August 24, 2022
With this line up, you'd think slam dunk? Sadly it kind of pinged off the rim, bounced a few times and reluctantly went in.
What's Good:
Cast is stellar
Performances range here and there, but still good
Concept is very intriguing
Not So Good:
The plot/purpose of it all kind of gets muddled. The religious nod kind of serves as a knock before the door gets kicked in with action or revamped stories of the bible
There's this weird part in the end where they are highlighting the "struggle to be black" and "raising a black boy in the world" followed by the white political leader that is meant to be Lucifer. There's just too many woke catches to make it enjoyable. It does nothing for the plot except try to heavy-handed remind anyone who is not a POC that everything is unfair. So, it kind of left that taste at the end of the story and if they do a sequel, I'll probably let someone else enjoy it, but not me.
What's Good:
Cast is stellar
Performances range here and there, but still good
Concept is very intriguing
Not So Good:
The plot/purpose of it all kind of gets muddled. The religious nod kind of serves as a knock before the door gets kicked in with action or revamped stories of the bible
There's this weird part in the end where they are highlighting the "struggle to be black" and "raising a black boy in the world" followed by the white political leader that is meant to be Lucifer. There's just too many woke catches to make it enjoyable. It does nothing for the plot except try to heavy-handed remind anyone who is not a POC that everything is unfair. So, it kind of left that taste at the end of the story and if they do a sequel, I'll probably let someone else enjoy it, but not me.
December 7, 2025
decent story, ending is fairly predictable, but getting to that point was interesting enough. Great narration/acting, great production. 3½ stars b/c nothing is really wrong with it, there's just only so many ways a story about the Son of God arriving (again? for the first time?) in modern day can end
August 16, 2022
Interesting concept.
August 30, 2022
Interesting Retelling of the Virgin Mary story.
August 30, 2022
I found some inconsistencies but I liked the story in general. I found it very creative.
February 15, 2023
WOW! Excellent.
February 15, 2023
This story was so good! I finished it in one day! The performances & storytelling were top notch!
June 11, 2023
I really enjoyed this! The character narrations were fantastic, and the premise of the story was fabulous and engrossing!
October 19, 2023
Absolutely fabulous and mind blowing!
May 8, 2024
Interesting, not sure if there are still more episodes or not
October 3, 2025
The concept for this story is good, the Christian mythos works well for a basis of any apocalyptic setup; its utilization, however, is far from that. There is a considerable reiteration of established themes, as if the writers didn't think that the things being obviously spelled (or spoken) a couple of times is way too few for an audience to understand, which... why? Like, what makes the Audible membership base appear less intelligent and in need of constant comprehension aid?
Beyond that, the structural flaws continue. It does the weird thing of "Here is the starting point of the story, we will keep jumping back and forth between this point and back in the past to the events leading up to this point", with those events being, once again, reiterated in their essence instead of actually being unraveled in more depth. It feels like someone had a good idea, but didn't have a good idea on how to properly express it, or expand it. The last 3 episodes feel like they were just milking a finale from happening and delaying the obvious conclusion.
I also should touch down on the verisimilitude; it constantly undermines itself by having side characters act like complete tools (plot ones, but also in metaphorical phrase) by acting in the most innate way possible. E.g., your loving wife of many years comes and says she is pregnant, you know you are shooting blanks *theoretically*, your first thought it that she surely is cheating? Like, sure, fair, that is a reasonable assumption. The *certainty* is ridiculous, considering parenting tests are a thing, and not one person pitches it, while it literally would resolve half of the conflicts.
The side characters not focused on Mary are also ridiculous. "I have a photo of this guy as a kid because were in a class together, I keep it conveniently in my office so that I can provide it to you now that you wonder how he looked as a kid". What.
The voice cast is, naturally, delightful. Unnecessarily elite to have a decent presentation here, but they are doing a very good job, all being clearly distinct from one another, The sound editing around them, however, does the book no great service. Someone clearly always imagined this as a TV series, perhaps even hoped it would be good enough to be greenlit into something like that, and structured it like that. We are so often supposed to imagine scenes that are in the writer's head by vague circumstantial noise hints, and it so rarely works well enough.
I am also removing a point for how crappy it is to listen to anything in podcast format. Why was it released like that, whose idiotic notion was it that people would just set up calendar events to listen to those particular 30 mins for 2 months? People on audible are not just looking for a TV series service with no visual imagery on it, they are here for the books. Seeing structure like that makes me more likely to avoid the thing than excited to try it out, and in this case, I don't particularly enjoy engaging it in the first place.
Beyond that, the structural flaws continue. It does the weird thing of "Here is the starting point of the story, we will keep jumping back and forth between this point and back in the past to the events leading up to this point", with those events being, once again, reiterated in their essence instead of actually being unraveled in more depth. It feels like someone had a good idea, but didn't have a good idea on how to properly express it, or expand it. The last 3 episodes feel like they were just milking a finale from happening and delaying the obvious conclusion.
I also should touch down on the verisimilitude; it constantly undermines itself by having side characters act like complete tools (plot ones, but also in metaphorical phrase) by acting in the most innate way possible. E.g., your loving wife of many years comes and says she is pregnant, you know you are shooting blanks *theoretically*, your first thought it that she surely is cheating? Like, sure, fair, that is a reasonable assumption. The *certainty* is ridiculous, considering parenting tests are a thing, and not one person pitches it, while it literally would resolve half of the conflicts.
The side characters not focused on Mary are also ridiculous. "I have a photo of this guy as a kid because were in a class together, I keep it conveniently in my office so that I can provide it to you now that you wonder how he looked as a kid". What.
The voice cast is, naturally, delightful. Unnecessarily elite to have a decent presentation here, but they are doing a very good job, all being clearly distinct from one another, The sound editing around them, however, does the book no great service. Someone clearly always imagined this as a TV series, perhaps even hoped it would be good enough to be greenlit into something like that, and structured it like that. We are so often supposed to imagine scenes that are in the writer's head by vague circumstantial noise hints, and it so rarely works well enough.
I am also removing a point for how crappy it is to listen to anything in podcast format. Why was it released like that, whose idiotic notion was it that people would just set up calendar events to listen to those particular 30 mins for 2 months? People on audible are not just looking for a TV series service with no visual imagery on it, they are here for the books. Seeing structure like that makes me more likely to avoid the thing than excited to try it out, and in this case, I don't particularly enjoy engaging it in the first place.
November 23, 2022
Audible original audio drama (not an audiobook but a movie with out video). Lots of famous names but they do little to help me like the audiobook. I like the idea of the plot, lots of crazy weather events and then biblical stories happen.. Even Virgin Mary and the birth of a modern Jesus. The story focused 4 biblical events and those are who we follow. It jumps around a lot and flashes back and forth and the characters all started to sound the same! Confused and lost. I think there was too much to cover in too little time. The stories were rushed an boring. Very little tension and very little excitement. The ending was a bit of a hanger, so there may be a 2nd to it. The part that really annoyed me was that these 4 people were lead to 1 man in Virginia. The whole time they were trying to convince him that they were sent by God to him for protection. Then the end he is in protection mode and Mary is like no I got this, I am a black woman and this is like being a black woman raising a black boy in this world! You are the "Virgin Mary" you have God's son and Lucifer and his followers want to kill you and your son! I don't see the comparison!!!! What the "f" was the purpose of going to this guy? Why did God give you signs to go to him? Why did I waste 4 hours listening to you try and convince, argue, and beg this man to believe you and protect you? I guess they needed to end on a bad ass tough girl to get those 5 star reviews!
April 17, 2024
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Narrator Performance: 🎧🎧🎧🎧.5
This was my first podcast and I absolutely loved it. I hope they decide to continue the story. I thought the biblical parallels were wonderfully worked together to create a new perspective of things in current times. However I’m not sure if some things were written incorrectly on purpose or if there was a lack of research going on. For example, SPOILER WARNING: at one point a character says that the 23 Psalm is the Lord’s Prayer. Was this because the character wasn’t religious and therefore didn’t realize he was referring to it incorrectly or what?
The cast of performers were amazing. The one thing that got to me was when Washington was making an impassioned statement and you could hear every one of her breaths. I mean, of course she would be breathless due to the emotions needed for the performance but the breaths were still hard to take.
Narrator Performance: 🎧🎧🎧🎧.5
This was my first podcast and I absolutely loved it. I hope they decide to continue the story. I thought the biblical parallels were wonderfully worked together to create a new perspective of things in current times. However I’m not sure if some things were written incorrectly on purpose or if there was a lack of research going on. For example, SPOILER WARNING: at one point a character says that the 23 Psalm is the Lord’s Prayer. Was this because the character wasn’t religious and therefore didn’t realize he was referring to it incorrectly or what?
The cast of performers were amazing. The one thing that got to me was when Washington was making an impassioned statement and you could hear every one of her breaths. I mean, of course she would be breathless due to the emotions needed for the performance but the breaths were still hard to take.
September 12, 2023
Great performances and sound effects. Started off intriguing and then went downhill. Jonah's story suffers in particular and becomes bizarrely repetitive. The first time we meet him, we learn that map coordinates have mysteriously appeared on his back...and then we flashback and follow him through discovering that this is so. It's boring because his "mystery" has already been solved. Virginia's decisions to try and live in the world at the end is nonsensical. The fact that Virginia/Mary, Jonah, Daniel, and Thomas are all people of color is touched upon but not explored. I suppose the author was hoping for a second season that hasn't materialized, because this stops just when the story truly gets going.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 13, 2022
Instantly gripping short story. Audiobook production was amazing. A very intriguing story, fastest 4 hour-ish hours.
2 reasons why it didn’t get 5 stars:
1) it shouldn’t have been a novella, it deserves a full manuscript. In the short time we have w/ the characters, the actors did a good job building their characters
2) lots of drama and fast-paced action leading up to the ending and it was a bit anticlimactic, a bit too rushed, but if there was a continuation to the series, I’d totally listen.
2 reasons why it didn’t get 5 stars:
1) it shouldn’t have been a novella, it deserves a full manuscript. In the short time we have w/ the characters, the actors did a good job building their characters
2) lots of drama and fast-paced action leading up to the ending and it was a bit anticlimactic, a bit too rushed, but if there was a continuation to the series, I’d totally listen.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews