RaveAtlanta Journal ConstitutionIn the Bible, Isaiah and Samuel are prophets, men considered to be proclaimers of the will of God. In Robert Jones Jr.’s bewitching literary debut The Prophets, these names take on a new significance ... The novel, with its biblical gravitas (most chapter titles and character names stem from this source), gets off to a slow start, but it does have its intrigues. A third of the way through, Jones gives readers reasons to keep turning the page ... Jones’ strength lies in his ability to build interior worlds so imaginative and lush that it would be dreamy if it weren’t such a nightmare for the enslaved people tethered to it ... Readers come to care about the characters, which means they cannot look away from the daily violence and humiliation the slaves receive ... By making real a type of literary imagining that historical fiction often leaves out or at best relegates to the margins, even with its missteps, Robert Jones Jr.’s The Prophets is an important new work and an integral addition to this period’s literary canon ...
