ABANDONED. Dystopian fantasy: magic clam induces precognition in boys; vampire-like immortal men; reanimated mom

[Benjamin]

Cross-posting from SciFi Stackexchange

User Xylvester asks:

This was a book from my childhood. Read sometime in the early 1990s. The title was something like "the Prophet" or "the Seer". I think the cover was green or blue with a clam shell on it.

I remember several "scenes" within the plot:

- A beach where two crucified boys are forcibly exposed to a magic clam to trigger precognition.

- A society in which the Immortals, all men, suck vitality from boys in some magic way, leaving them frail and withered. The boy changes his "energy" to female and so poisons one of them.

- The empress on top of the emperors harem decrees she will wall in all the concubines. The Immortals confront her there, but fall to pieces as they fight. She says something along the lines of "It has been a good day, I have seen the Immortals die".

- Another boy loses his mother. She is reanimated by a mage as a mindless shell (NOT a flesh eating zombie). The mage warns the boy beforehand that while he can make the body live the mind/soul will be gone. The boy insists though.

- It might be the title's seer or the boy above, but his hair grows into a "nail" that covers his face like a plate, then later drops off.

I simply cannot find the book, probably because "seer" and "prophet" are so widely used title words.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Sorry, but we don't allow cross-posting from other social media sites. Threads need to originate from the person who originally read the book. Closing.