The Jaguar Prophecies - Book Review

I'm sure that as we get closer to the winter solstice of 2012, a date commonly thought of as the "end of the world" based on ancient Mayan calendars, we will be inundated by even more books and movies depicting conspiracy theories regarding the destruction of the world.

The Jaguar Prophecies by Phyllis Gunderson is a novel about an archaeology professor, Matt Howard, who through mistaken identity receives an invitation to a solar show during the fall equinox in Mexico. She misses the show but does have an encounter with a shriveled old Shaman, is drugged and wakes up with the tattoo of a jaguar on her inner arm. She is marked and now has the task of warning the world about the destruction to come.

Howard is a unique protagonist for this genre. She's female and not exactly attractive. She's a mother of a surly, pubescent girl and not necessarily winning any mother-of-the-year awards. She's sort of witty in a sardonic way that comes across as inappropriate in most situations. She's not exactly smooth. But she's likable.

The writing is even and the author is good at building suspense. I was sucked in by the first few pages. Unfortunately not much happens. Howard learns a lot about the various prophecies and astrological signs of the end of the world whether she wants to or not. It is pretty interesting and you might be inspired to get your food storage (if you weren't already inspired by the prophet). But there's not a lot of action and I wouldn't exactly call it a thriller.


I won an advance reader's edition from http://www.goodreads.com/ and the book will be released to the general public in November 2010.